The Copybook

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

1561

© Peter Trimming, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Fox and the Bramble Clay Lane

A fox tries to save herself from a fall, but finds she would have been better off taking the tumble.

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1562

© Mike Pennington, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Eagle, the Jackdaw, and the Shepherd Clay Lane

An over-excited jackdaw goes out of his league, and pays the price.

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1563

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

St Hild at Whitby St Bede of Jarrow

Hild founded an abbey that poured out a stream of priests and bishops for the revitalised English Church.

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1564

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

The Partridge and the Cockerels Clay Lane

It’s hard when messed-up people treat you badly, but if you take it personally it only makes it worse.

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1565

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

The Farmer and the Buried Treasure Clay Lane

An affectionate father came up with an imaginative way to get his sons to work on the farm.

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1566

© Christine Matthews, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

In the Nick of Time Clay Lane

Anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp had a court order preventing Thomas Lewis being shipped off to slavery, but he had to find him first.

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