Chapter 8 of The Witch, and Other Stories is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Witch, and Other Stories is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“I have, dear friend. Fourteen of us ran away. Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them. Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name? They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
Chapter 8 of The Witch, and Other Stories is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
give a benediction to
From this reading “Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.”
motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions
From this reading “Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?”
make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
From this reading “Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?”
your parents
From this reading “Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of thirteen and one
From this reading “Fourteen of us ran away.”
of or relating to punishment
From this reading “They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!”
cause to go somewhere
From this reading “They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!”
state of subjection to an owner or master or forced labor imposed as punishment
From this reading “They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Fourteen of us ran away.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
give a benediction to
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
dearly loved
From this reading “I have, dear friend.
make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
your parents
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
the cardinal number that is the sum of thirteen and one
From this reading Fourteen of us ran away.
a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading “I have, dear friend.
the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “I have, dear friend.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I have, dear friend.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Fourteen of us ran away.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
of or relating to punishment
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
inflected form of “run” — move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading Fourteen of us ran away.
a rational motive for a belief or action
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
cause to go somewhere
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
state of subjection to an owner or master or forced labor imposed as punishment
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
express in words
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Fourteen of us ran away.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading They will send me back to penal servitude, you know!
in the company of; together with
From this reading Some folks, God bless them! ran away and took me with them.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Now you tell me, on your conscience, good man, what reason have I to disclose my name?
Chapter 8 of The Witch, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov holds 204 sentences, grouped into 41 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 8 holds 204 sentences of The Witch, and Other Stories, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Witch, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 204 sentences, grouped into 41 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 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 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 8 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 Witch, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4578 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1944 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1944, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 381 minutes of reading across 916 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Witch, and Other Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of The Witch, and Other Stories 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 Witch, and Other Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
