Chapter 1 of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE. BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF BLUE BEARD. Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
Chapter 1 of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife is here in full — 160 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/32 · 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.
the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
From this reading “THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.”
a large and stately mansion
From this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
aromatic Old World herb having aromatic threadlike foliage and seeds used as seasoning
From this reading “STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL.”
United States comedian and film actor (1880-1946)
From this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
plural of “garden” — a plot of ground where plants are cultivated
From this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
United States general who served as military director of the atomic bomb project (1896-1970)
From this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
lacking spontaneity or originality or individuality
From this reading “STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL.”
confined on all sides
From this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
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 “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
In this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
In this reading “THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.”
In this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
In this reading “Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.”
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 Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
in the past
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
a large and stately mansion
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
aromatic Old World herb having aromatic threadlike foliage and seeds used as seasoning
From this reading STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL.
United States comedian and film actor (1880-1946)
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
plural of “garden” — a plot of ground where plants are cultivated
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
Christian martyr; patron saint of England; hero of the legend of Saint George and the Dragon in which he slew a dragon and saved a princess (?-303)
From this reading BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
United States general who served as military director of the atomic bomb project (1896-1970)
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
a metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
From this reading STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL.
immediately past
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “as” or “too” or “so” or “that”; amounting to a large but indefinite number
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
used to form the superlative
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
impressive in appearance
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
lacking spontaneity or originality or individuality
From this reading STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
confined on all sides
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading STEREOTYPED BY VINCENT L. DILL.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading THE Wonderful Story OF BLUE BEARD, AND HIS LAST WIFE.
a late time of life
From this reading Many years ago, a noble castle stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens, groves, and fields.
Chapter 1 of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife by George [Illustrator] Cruikshank holds 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 1 holds 160 sentences of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife by George [Illustrator] Cruikshank exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 160 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 1 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 Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife by George [Illustrator] Cruikshank on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 160 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #44558 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #44558, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 13 minutes of reading across 32 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of The Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife 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 Wonderful Story of Blue Beard, and His Last Wife, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
