Chapter 3 of The Fairies and the Christmas Child is here in full — 128 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter III
Chapter 3 of The Fairies and the Christmas Child is here in full — 128 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Rose Marie and the Poupican. It was spring time when we left for Brittany. Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again. So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her. The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
Chapter 3 of The Fairies and the Christmas Child is here in full — 128 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading “The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.”
a former province of northwestern France on a peninsula between the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay
From this reading “It was spring time when we left for Brittany.”
a farewell remark
From this reading “So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.”
past form of “promise” — make a promise or commitment
From this reading “So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.”
any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
From this reading “Rose Marie and the Poupican.”
the region of the United States lying to the south of the Mason-Dixon line
From this reading “The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.”
the season of growth
From this reading “It was spring time when we left for Brittany.”
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading “The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
be restored
In this reading “So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.”
In this reading “The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.”
In this reading “So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
anew
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Rose Marie and the Poupican.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
a former province of northwestern France on a peninsula between the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
a farewell remark
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Rose Marie and the Poupican.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
on one occasion
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Rose Marie and the Poupican.
past form of “promise” — make a promise or commitment
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
From this reading Rose Marie and the Poupican.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
the region of the United States lying to the south of the Mason-Dixon line
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
the season of growth
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading So I said goodbye to my Flower-Fairy, and promised that if I could I would come back one day to see her.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Rose Marie and the Poupican.
in or at that place or location
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading The sunny air of the south had done Father good, and now he was almost well.
at the time that
From this reading It was spring time when we left for Brittany.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Father had been there once with Mother, and thought he would like to go again.
Chapter 3 of The Fairies and the Christmas Child by Lilian Gask holds 128 sentences, grouped into 26 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 3 holds 128 sentences of The Fairies and the Christmas Child, unabridged, divided into 26 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of The Fairies and the Christmas Child by Lilian Gask exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 128 sentences, grouped into 26 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 26 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 26 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 3 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading The Fairies and the Christmas Child by Lilian Gask on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1633 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #37547 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #37547, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 136 minutes of reading across 327 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Fairies and the Christmas Child section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The Fairies and the Christmas Child to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in The Fairies and the Christmas Child, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
