The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

1195

© Nojos88, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Heracles and the Birds of Lake Stymphalia Clay Lane

Our hero is sent to deal with some man-eating birds, but cannot reach their lakeside refuge.

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1196

© Babbsack, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

St Nicholas and the Empty Granary Clay Lane

The saintly Bishop helped the captain of a merchant ship to cut through the red tape, and save his town from starvation.

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1197

© Walter Baxter, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Cuthbert and the Phantom Fire Clay Lane

The Northumbrian saint warned of an enemy who would stop at nothing to silence the good news.

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1198

© Stephen Glauser, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Marooned! Robert Louis Stevenson

Jim Hawkins, on a remote desert island, has escaped pirates only to be caught by a shadowy figure among the trees.

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1199

© Rajesh Tripathi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Britain’s Best Gift to India Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles reminds us that until we brought the railways to India, we had little to boast about as an imperial power.

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1200

British Library Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

India’s First Railway Clay Lane

The opening of the Bombay to Thane line was the real beginning of British India.

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