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The Witch
The Witch

Chapter XI

Chapter 11 of The Witch is here in full — 212 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.

By Mary Johnston • Curated US English Learning Edition
Cover illustration for The Witch
Context Illustration Reading 1/42 · 5 lines
English subtitles · tap any word to listen 1 / 5
THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.
In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.
Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.
They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.
The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?
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AI-generated narration by OpenAI · Slow US English
LEARNER DICTIONARY
Archivist
/ˈɑːrkɪvɪst/
Editorial verification pending

A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.

The Witch

Chapter XI

Chapter 11 of The Witch is here in full — 212 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.

Reading 1/42 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5

Line 1
THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.
/ðə pleɪɡ leɪt ðæt ˈwɪntər ˈæftər lɔːŋ ˌɪˈmjuːnəti blæk ˈsɪknəs keɪm tuː ðə taʊn wɪð ðə ɡreɪt tʃɜːrtʃ ənd ðə ˈkæsəl ənd kæst ə lɔːŋ ˈkrʊkəd ˈfɪŋɡər əˈkrɔːs ðə ˈrɪvər ənd ɪn ðə dərˈekʃən ʌv ˈhɔːθɔːrn ˈvɪlədʒ/
Line 2
In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.
/ɪn ðə striːts ʌv ðə taʊn bɜːrnd ˈfaɪərz ʌv ˈdʒuːnəpər/
Line 3
Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.
Line 4
They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.
/ðeɪ stɑːpt bɪˈfɔːr ðɪs haʊs ðeɪ stɑːpt bɪˈfɔːr ðæt haʊs/
Line 5
The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

Learner Dictionary

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.

crooked adjective US /ˈkrʊkəd/

having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned

From this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
Hawthorn noun US /ˈhɔːθɔːrn/

a spring-flowering shrub or small tree of the genus Crataegus

From this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
immunity noun US /ˌɪˈmjuːnəti/

the state of not being susceptible

From this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
juniper noun US /ˈdʒuːnəpər/

desert shrub of Syria and Arabia having small white flowers; constitutes the juniper of the Old Testament; sometimes placed in genus Genista

From this reading “In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
plague verb US /pleɪɡ/

cause to suffer a blight

From this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
shrank verb US /ʃræŋk/

inflected form of “shrink” — wither, as with a loss of moisture

From this reading “The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
sickness noun US /ˈsɪknəs/

impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism

From this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
Waking adjective US /ˈweɪ.kɪŋ/

Risen from sleep; conscious.

From this reading “Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.”

Velmora curated lexicon

Word partnerships in these lines

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.

across the river preposition + article + noun counted as “across … river”

In this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

4,535 times in 426,211 chapters
in the direction preposition + article + noun counted as “in … direction”

In this reading “THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.”

27,551 times in 426,211 chapters
In the streets preposition + article + noun counted as “in … street”

In this reading “In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.”

27,424 times in 426,211 chapters

All words in this reading · 51

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.

adeterminerUS /ə/

used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
acrossprepositionUS /əˈkrɔːs/

from one side of something to the other

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
afterprepositionUS /ˈæftər/

later than; following

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
andconjunctionUS /ənd/

used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
beforeprepositionUS /bɪˈfɔːr/

earlier than; in front of

From this reading They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
blackadjectiveUS /blæk/

being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
burnedadjectiveUS /bɜːrnd/

treated by heating to a high temperature but below the melting or fusing point

From this reading In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
cameverbUS /keɪm/

inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
castverbUS /kæst/

put or send forth

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
castlenounUS /ˈkæsəl/

a large and stately mansion

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
churchnounUS /tʃɜːrtʃ/

one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
crookedadjectiveUS /ˈkrʊkəd/

having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
death-cart

Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

Pending verification
directionnounUS /dərˈekʃən/

a line leading to a place or point

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
fingerverbUS /ˈfɪŋɡər/

feel or handle with the fingers

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
firesnounUS /ˈfaɪərz/

plural of “fire” — the event of something burning (often destructive)

From this reading In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
greatadjectiveUS /ɡreɪt/

relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
HawthornnounUS /ˈhɔːθɔːrn/

a spring-flowering shrub or small tree of the genus Crataegus

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
hearverbUS /hiːr/

perceive (sound) via the auditory sense

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
housenounUS /haʊs/

a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families

From this reading They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
immunitynounUS /ˌɪˈmjuːnəti/

the state of not being susceptible

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
inprepositionUS /ɪn/

inside something, or within a place, period, or state

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
junipernounUS /ˈdʒuːnəpər/

desert shrub of Syria and Arabia having small white flowers; constitutes the juniper of the Old Testament; sometimes placed in genus Genista

From this reading In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
LATEadjectiveUS /leɪt/

being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
longadjectiveUS /lɔːŋ/

primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
mightmodal verbUS /maɪt/

used to say something is possible but not certain

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
nightnounUS /naɪt/

the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
ofprepositionUS /ʌv/

belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
onepronounUS /wʌn/

used to mean any person in general, including the speaker

From this reading The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
PLAGUEverbUS /pleɪɡ/

cause to suffer a blight

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
rivernounUS /ˈrɪvər/

a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
shrankverbUS /ʃræŋk/

inflected form of “shrink” — wither, as with a loss of moisture

From this reading The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
sicknessnounUS /ˈsɪknəs/

impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
stopverbUS /stɑːp/

come to a halt, stop moving

From this reading The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
stoppedadjectiveUS /stɑːpt/

(of a nose) blocked

From this reading They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
streetsnounUS /striːts/

plural of “street” — a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings

From this reading In the streets of the town burned fires of juniper.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
thatconjunctionUS /ðæt/

used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
THEdeterminerUS /ðə/

used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
TheypronounUS /ðeɪ/

the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject

From this reading They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
thisdeterminerUS /ðɪs/

used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned

From this reading They stopped before this house, they stopped before that house.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
thoughtnounUS /θɔːt/

the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about

From this reading The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
toparticleUS /tuː/

used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
townnounUS /taʊn/

an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
trembledverbUS /ˈtrembəld/

past form of “tremble” — move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways

From this reading The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
VillagenounUS /ˈvɪlədʒ/

a community of people smaller than a town

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
WakingadjectiveUS /ˈweɪ.kɪŋ/

Risen from sleep; conscious.

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

Velmora curated lexicon
wheelsnounUS /wiːlz/

plural of “wheel” — a simple machine consisting of a circular frame with spokes (or a solid disc) that can rotate on a shaft or axle (as in vehicles or other machines)

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
willmodal verbUS /wɪl/

used to talk about the future, or about willingness

From this reading The thought trembled and shrank—one night will they stop before this house?

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
winternounUS /ˈwɪntər/

the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1
withprepositionUS /wɪð/

in the company of; together with

From this reading THE PLAGUE LATE that winter, after long immunity, black sickness came to the town with the great church and the castle, and cast a long, crooked finger across the river and in the direction of Hawthorn Village.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
youpronounUS /juː/

the person or people being spoken to

From this reading Waking in the night you might hear the wheels of the death-cart.

Velmora grammar entry · CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Chapter 11 of The Witch by Mary Johnston holds 212 sentences, grouped into 43 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.

What does chapter 11 of The Witch contain?

Chapter 11 holds 212 sentences of The Witch, unabridged, divided into 43 reading sections.

This page carries chapter 11 of The Witch by Mary Johnston exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 212 sentences, grouped into 43 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.

How do I study chapter 11 of The Witch?

Work through the 43 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.

Each of the 43 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.

Can chapter 11 be read aloud to me?

Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 11 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.

Questions about reading The Witch

Common questions about reading The Witch by Mary Johnston on this page, its source edition and its audio.

Is this the complete text of The Witch?

Yes. All 7109 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #53109 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.

Which edition of The Witch is used?

Project Gutenberg eBook #53109, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.

How long does The Witch take to read?

About 592 minutes of reading across 1422 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.

How to read The Witch section by section

How to work through The Witch section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.

  1. Open a chapter

    Choose one of the 32 chapters of The Witch to begin.

  2. Read one section

    Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.

  3. Listen and tap

    Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.

Vocabulary met early in The Witch

Words and structures a reader meets early in The Witch, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.

Obvious
A word that appears in the opening chapter of The Witch; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.
Print
A word that appears in the opening chapter of The Witch; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.
Punctuation
A word that appears in the opening chapter of The Witch; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.
Errors
A word that appears in the opening chapter of The Witch; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.