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.

Tudor Era

The Plea of Pocahontas

In 1607, settler Captain John Smith was captured by the Algonquin near the English colony at Jamestown, and watched his captors’ ceremonies with rising anxiety.

Length: 119 words

Aesop of Samos

The Hare Who was Afraid of his Ears

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

Length: 59 words

Character and Conduct

A Little Savoir Faire

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.

Length: 113 words

Extracts from Christian Literature

Fire and Ice

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.

Length: 119 words

Discovery and Invention

A Good Morning’s Work

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

Length: 119 words

Lives of the Saints

The Lion and the Lamb

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

Length: 112 words