Chapter 5 of The Serf is here in full — 301 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The Serf is here in full — 301 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The three trees of Monkshood Glade. How fresh the morning air was in the wood! A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold. A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun. An early summer morning in a great wood!
Chapter 5 of The Serf is here in full — 301 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/60 · 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.
plural of “breeze” — a slight wind (usually refreshing)
From this reading “A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.”
a distinguishing emblem
From this reading “A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.”
a tract of land with few or no trees in the middle of a wooded area
From this reading “The three trees of Monkshood Glade.”
plural of “hymn” — a song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)
From this reading “A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.”
having the sense of smell
From this reading “A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.”
plural of “spear” — a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon
From this reading “A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.”
inflected form of “stab” — use a knife on
From this reading “A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.”
the brush (small trees and bushes and ferns etc.) growing beneath taller trees in a wood or forest
From this reading “A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.”
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.
In this reading “A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.”
In this reading “An early summer morning in a great wood!”
In this reading “A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.”
In this reading “An early summer morning in a great wood!”
In this reading “A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.”
In this reading “How fresh the morning air was in the wood!”
In this reading “A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.”
In this reading “How fresh the morning air was in the wood!”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading An early summer morning in a great wood!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
plural of “beast” — a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
plural of “breeze” — a slight wind (usually refreshing)
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
a distinguishing emblem
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
neither warm nor very cold; giving relief from heat
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
greatly pleasing or entertaining
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time
From this reading An early summer morning in a great wood!
past form of “flash” — gleam or glow intermittently
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
the trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
recently made, produced, or harvested
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
a tract of land with few or no trees in the middle of a wooded area
From this reading The three trees of Monkshood Glade.
coins made of gold
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading An early summer morning in a great wood!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
plural of “hymn” — a song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
plural of “leaf” — the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
the number that is represented as a one followed by 6 zeros
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
a poisonous herb native to northern Europe having hooded blue-purple flowers; the dried leaves and roots yield aconite
From this reading The three trees of Monkshood Glade.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The three trees of Monkshood Glade.
North American woodland herb similar to and used as substitute for the Chinese ginseng
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
having the sense of smell
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
the sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous form
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
plural of “spear” — a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
inflected form of “stab” — use a knife on
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
the warmest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox
From this reading An early summer morning in a great wood!
the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The three trees of Monkshood Glade.
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading The three trees of Monkshood Glade.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A delicious smell of leaves and forest beasts scented the cool breezes, and birds of all colours sang hymns to the sun.
plural of “tree” — a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading The three trees of Monkshood Glade.
the brush (small trees and bushes and ferns etc.) growing beneath taller trees in a wood or forest
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
in the company of; together with
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
From this reading How fresh the morning air was in the wood!
of the color intermediate between green and orange in the color spectrum; of something resembling the color of an egg yolk
From this reading A million yellow spears flashed through the thick leaves and stabbed the undergrowth with gold.
Chapter 5 of The Serf by Guy Thorne holds 301 sentences, grouped into 61 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 5 holds 301 sentences of The Serf, unabridged, divided into 61 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The Serf by Guy Thorne exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 301 sentences, grouped into 61 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 61 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 61 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 5 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 Serf by Guy Thorne on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3706 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41829 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41829, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 308 minutes of reading across 742 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Serf section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of The Serf 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 Serf, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
