The Copybook

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

1567

© 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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1568

© 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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1569

© 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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1570

© 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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1571

© 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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1572

Photo by Lalupa, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Martyrdom of St James the Great Clay Lane

James, brother of John the Evangelist, was executed for his faith by a close friend of the Emperor Caligula.

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