The Copybook

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

463

© Richard Rice, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Hare Who was Afraid of his Ears J.B. Rundell

After the Lion cracks down on horns right across his kingdom, a nervous Hare gets to wondering exactly what counts as a horn.

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464

Photo by Jabez Hughes, from Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Little Savoir Faire George W. E. Russell

At the Berlin Congress of Powers in 1878, the draft of the Prime Minister’s keynote speech had his anxious aides scuttling about like ants.

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465

Terje Sørgjerd, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Fire and Ice The Old English Genesis

When the angels rebelled against their Maker, they demanded a kingdom of their own in a land without him — and he gave them what they wanted.

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466

© Allan Warren, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Good Morning’s Work William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire

When Joseph Paxton, then just twenty-three, came to Chatsworth as Head Gardener he wasted no time getting settled in.

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467

© Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Lion and the Lamb St Bede of Jarrow

St Bede examines the connection between Passover and Easter, and shows how the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ complete a pattern.

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468

Attributed to George Morland (1763-1804), via Royal Museums Greenwich and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Smuggler and a Gentleman Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

Harry Paulet was going about his unlawful business when he spotted a French fleet slip quietly out of Brest and into the Atlantic.

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