The Copybook

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

1645

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

The Goose with the Golden Egg by Clay Lane

Don’t get greedy when things are going well.

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1646

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

The Dog and the Bell by Clay Lane

Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

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1647

© Bibi St-Pol, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Debtor and his Pig by Clay Lane

There are no lengths to which some people won’t go.

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1648

Rajesh ramesh gaikwad. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Crow and the Pitcher by Clay Lane

Brute force is no substitute for quick thinking.

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1649

© Pauline E, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

‘I Remember’ by Thomas Hood

A poem of nostalgia tinged with regret.

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1650

US National Archives and Records Administration, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Music of Silence by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Coleridge’s epic poem, the Ancient Mariner, amid the horrors of a ship of dead men, sees a sight both beautiful and surreal.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 1 NS

April 18 OS

Flying Scotsman : In 1928, a train service linking London and Edinburgh became the world’s longest non-stop run.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, the note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
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