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

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1669
The Goose with the Golden Egg by Clay Lane

Don’t get greedy when things are going well.

THE story of a man whose impatience and greed cost him everything.

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1670
The Dog and the Bell by Clay Lane

Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

A SPITEFUL little terrier with a penchant for nipping people on the ankle didn’t quite understand why his master had given him a jolly little bell.

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1671
The Debtor and his Pig by Clay Lane

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

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1672
The Crow and the Pitcher by Clay Lane

Brute force is no substitute for quick thinking.

As the old military maxim goes, Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.

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1673
‘I Remember’ by Thomas Hood

A poem of nostalgia tinged with regret.

Thomas Hood is better known for his humorous verse; this is a poignant little reflection on childhood innocence lost.

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1674
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.

The Ancient Mariner has wantonly killed an albatross, and brought death and destruction on his ship. Surrounded now by the dead bodies of the crew, a new and ghostly sight meets his eyes.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

June 3 NS

May 21 OS

The Theotokos of Vladimir : It is one of the world’s most recognisable works of art, and a symbol of God’s blessing on all Christian Rus’.
When Godric Sang with Angels : On Easter night, monk Reginald woke from a doze to find the aged hermit Godric singing lustily.
Fairway : Use each noun below in two sentences, first as the subject, and then as the object of a verb.
England Expects : Lieutenant John Pasco not only flew the most famous signal in British history, he helped write it.
Running Late : Use these adverbial clauses in your own sentences.
Peggy’s Dog : Some lines from the comic verse of Thomas Hood, for reading aloud.
An Interruption : Report this conversation without using direct speech.
Tender Plants : Prince Albert regretted the destructive power of the Art Critic.
Lost for Words : Join these ideas together into a single sentence, using ‘although’ or ‘though’.
Loan Words : Match these words to the language they come from, whether Old Norse, Malay or Welsh.
Evidence : Join these ideas together to form a single sentence, using the relative pronoun ‘who’.
Fatal Vow : Robert Pierrepont called heaven to witness that he would never pick a side in the Civil War.
Lost and Found : What would you in these difficult situations?
They Might Not Need Me : Read these lines of verse out aloud.
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