Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

Myths and Legends

A Fatal Slip

Prince Agib hears the tale of a boy confined to an underground chamber for forty days, and dismisses it as superstition.

Length: 114 words

Russian History

Samuel Greig

Scotsman Samuel Greig so impressed his superiors at the Admiralty in London that he was sent as an adviser to the Russian Imperial Navy.

Length: 113 words

Lives of the Saints

Abba John and the Lost Guide

A guide loses his way on the edge of the merciless Egyptian desert, but Abba John is too kind-hearted to tell him.

Length: 58 words

Myths and Legends

Rose and Thorn

William Sleeman passes on an anecdote from one of the Persian classics, to show that truth should not be used for evil ends.

Length: 59 words

Anglo-Saxon Era

King Alfred’s Lyre

Charles Dickens explains how King Alfred the Great overcame the Great Heathen Army in 878, with the help of a little music.

Length: 112 words

Charles Kingsley

Waters of Strife

Master-sweep Grimes meets a woman who knows more about him than he feels comfortable with.

Length: 113 words