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English excerpts were checked against the linked Project Gutenberg transcriptions. Only paragraph whitespace was collapsed; spelling and punctuation were preserved. Editorial notes, introductions and translation text are excluded. Each work was originally written in English and first published before 1931; the linked records list public-domain status in the United States. All selected authors died by 1924. Copyright terms vary by country. This is not a claim of unrestricted use everywhere or of rights in modern editions.
The source attribution identifies the transcription used; this game is not endorsed by its source websites.
AI counterparts: OpenAI assistant, created 4 October 2026. Corpus version 2.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen · 1813
Public-domain original English literary text in the United States; the author’s ordinary life-plus-70 term has also elapsed. Jurisdiction-specific exceptions may apply.
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en-1342-01
Original
The only pain was in leaving her father, who would certainly miss her, and who, when it came to the point, so little liked her going, that he told her to write to him, and almost promised to answer her letter.
AI · OpenAI assistant
Her brother had discovered the necessity of economy, and explained it to them at considerable length, while ordering a second horse, which, as he very reasonably observed, would enable him to dispense with the expense of hiring one.
en-1342-02
Original
She retreated from the window, fearful of being seen; and as she walked up and down the room, endeavouring to compose herself, saw such looks of inquiring surprise in her uncle and aunt as made everything worse.
AI · OpenAI assistant
She praised the drawing rather beyond its merits; and finding that her praise was immediately followed by an offer of the original, was obliged to discover a vacant place for it among her most valued possessions.
en-1342-03
Original
On reaching the house, they were shown through the hall into the saloon, whose northern aspect rendered it delightful for summer. Its windows, opening to the ground, admitted a most refreshing view of the high woody hills behind the house, and of the beautiful oaks and Spanish chestnuts which were scattered over the intermediate lawn.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The library occupied an older portion of the building, and had received fewer improvements than the other apartments. Two deep recesses contained the books, chiefly in handsome bindings, while a table of sufficient size for every literary purpose supported a work-basket, some visiting cards, and a small collection of broken toys belonging to the children.
en-1342-04
Original
The colour which had been driven from her face returned for half a minute with an additional glow, and a smile of delight added lustre to her eyes, as she thought for that space of time that his affection and wishes must still be unshaken; but she would not be secure.
AI · OpenAI assistant
That her opinion should have been asked at all was a distinction on which she could not help dwelling, and she had already considered several improvements to the proposed arrangement, when it occurred to her that the same compliment might have been paid to everybody else; her advice was consequently less decided.
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë · 1847
Public-domain original English literary text in the United States; the author’s ordinary life-plus-70 term has also elapsed. Jurisdiction-specific exceptions may apply.
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en-1260-01
Original
At the close of the afternoon service we returned by an exposed and hilly road, where the bitter winter wind, blowing over a range of snowy summits to the north, almost flayed the skin from our faces.
AI · OpenAI assistant
I lay awake till dawn, watching a loose strip of paper stir upon the wall, while the rain, driven beneath the ill-fitting casement, gathered slowly in a dark pool on the boards beside my bed.
en-1260-02
Original
How we longed for the light and heat of a blazing fire when we got back! But, to the little ones at least, this was denied: each hearth in the schoolroom was immediately surrounded by a double row of great girls, and behind them the younger children crouched in groups, wrapping their starved arms in their pinafores.
AI · OpenAI assistant
There were books in that house, and I had touched none of them! Their glass doors remained locked: through the panes I could distinguish a volume of travels, with a torn map folded against its leaves, and this small glimpse of countries beyond the sea occupied my thoughts through many a weary hour of sewing.
en-1260-03
Original
Have I not described a pleasant site for a dwelling, when I speak of it as bosomed in hill and wood, and rising from the verge of a stream? Assuredly, pleasant enough: but whether healthy or not is another question.
AI · OpenAI assistant
What claim had she upon my confidence? She had listened patiently, it is true, and had once put aside her work to look at me: yet I remembered how readily a kindly question might be followed by a cold rebuke.
en-1260-04
Original
My ostensible errand on this occasion was to get measured for a pair of shoes; so I discharged that business first, and when it was done, I stepped across the clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker’s to the post-office: it was kept by an old dame, who wore horn spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands.
AI · OpenAI assistant
I had scarcely laid my brush aside when a bell sounded below; it was not the usual summons, and for some minutes I remained doubtful whether to obey it: then, hearing no step upon the staircase, I went down with my hair still unbound, and found the housekeeper kneeling before an open cupboard, whose contents were scattered in confusion at her feet.
Middlemarch
George Eliot · 1872
Public-domain original English literary text in the United States; the author’s ordinary life-plus-70 term has also elapsed. Jurisdiction-specific exceptions may apply.
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en-145-01
Original
But he felt a little worried and wearied, perhaps with mental debate, and without waiting for the further gayeties of the horse-fair, he set out alone on his fourteen miles’ journey, meaning to take it very quietly and keep his horse fresh.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The proposed subscription had seemed a small matter while other men were speaking of it, and he had nodded with sufficient warmth, but at home, beside his wife’s mending-basket, the five guineas acquired a troublesome distinctness which no public speech had given them.
en-145-02
Original
The first part of this speech comprised his whole store of maledictory expression, and was uttered with a slight snarl easy to imagine. But it would be difficult to convey to those who never heard him utter the word “business,” the peculiar tone of fervid veneration, of religious regard, in which he wrapped it, as a consecrated symbol is wrapped in its gold-fringed linen.
AI · OpenAI assistant
His notion of a useful neighbour was chiefly associated with the loan of a cart, and he had no wish to extend it into less ascertainable services. Nevertheless, when the widow’s chimney fell, he was on the spot before the mason, looking gravely at the scattered bricks, and making no reference to the turnips for which his cart had been wanted that morning.
en-145-03
Original
The old man paused with a blank stare for a little while, holding the one key erect on the ring; then with an agitated jerk he began to work with his bony left hand at emptying the tin box before him.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The woman kept her finger on the place while he examined the account; then, perceiving that his eyes had travelled to the opposite page, she drew the book nearer and tapped twice upon the doubtful figure with her thimble.
en-145-04
Original
She was going to say more, but she saw her husband enter and seat himself a little in the background. The difference his presence made to her was not always a happy one: she felt that he often inwardly objected to her speech.
AI · OpenAI assistant
He had intended to be generous, but her ready gratitude left him less satisfied than he expected. There was something discouraging in the discovery that a sacrifice which had occupied him all the morning could be accepted as a perfectly natural arrangement.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott · 1868
Public-domain original English literary text in the United States; the author’s ordinary life-plus-70 term has also elapsed. Jurisdiction-specific exceptions may apply.
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en-514-01
Original
The old gentleman did not say much as he drank his four cups of tea, but he watched the young people, who soon chatted away like old friends, and the change in his grandson did not escape him. There was color, light, and life in the boy’s face now, vivacity in his manner, and genuine merriment in his laugh.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The little frock lay finished on the bed, with a brave blue bow to hide the place where the stuff had given out, and the tired seamstress surveyed it with great satisfaction. Nobody would guess how often it had been unpicked, or how much courage had gone into those crooked seams, which she fondly hoped would not show by candlelight.
en-514-02
Original
Away they went fleetly and gracefully, for having practiced at home, they were well matched, and the blithe young couple were a pleasant sight to see, as they twirled merrily round and round, feeling more friendly than ever after their small tiff.
AI · OpenAI assistant
Up the narrow stairs went the basket, with a willing pair of hands at either end, and much laughing over the bumps it received, till the apples began to escape, and the charitable expedition became a scramble upon the landing.
en-514-03
Original
She put on her hat and jacket as noiselessly as possible, and going to the back entry window, got out upon the roof of a low porch, swung herself down to the grassy bank, and took a roundabout way to the road. Once there, she composed herself, hailed a passing omnibus, and rolled away to town, looking very merry and mysterious.
AI · OpenAI assistant
She had meant to make a very dignified entrance, but the string of her parcel caught on the door-knob, the paper burst, and three fat oranges went rolling solemnly across the floor. This put an end to dignity at once, and she was down on her knees after them before the astonished visitor had decided whether it would be polite to laugh.
en-514-04
Original
How still the room was as they listened breathlessly, how strangely the day darkened outside, and how suddenly the whole world seemed to change, as the girls gathered about their mother, feeling as if all the happiness and support of their lives was about to be taken from them.
AI · OpenAI assistant
There was the empty chair, and there were the slippers waiting just as they had waited every evening, and the little girl, who had been so brave over the packing, suddenly hid her face in the shabby cushion and wished that people need never go away to earn their bread.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum · 1900
Public-domain original English literary text in the United States; the author’s ordinary life-plus-70 term has also elapsed. Jurisdiction-specific exceptions may apply.
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en-55-01
Original
They had just started to cross this queer bridge when a sharp growl made them all look up, and to their horror they saw running toward them two great beasts with bodies like bears and heads like tigers.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The little man blew upon his silver whistle, but no sound came out, and presently he explained that it was a winter whistle and could not be expected to work in such warm weather.
en-55-02
Original
They carried the sleeping girl to a pretty spot beside the river, far enough from the poppy field to prevent her breathing any more of the poison of the flowers, and here they laid her gently on the soft grass and waited for the fresh breeze to waken her.
AI · OpenAI assistant
As none of them could reach the handle, they rolled a large cheese out of the pantry and stood upon it, taking care to keep exactly in the middle, for the floor sloped toward the door and the cheese was quite round and might easily carry them away.
en-55-03
Original
The balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it to the ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so much lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise into the sky.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The miller opened the little gate beside the pond, and the water ran down the wooden trough and fell upon the wheel, so that it began to turn, and every time it turned the wooden bird above the mill nodded its head.
en-55-04
Original
The four travelers walked with ease through the trees until they came to the farther edge of the wood. Then, to their surprise, they found before them a high wall which seemed to be made of white china. It was smooth, like the surface of a dish, and higher than their heads.
AI · OpenAI assistant
Inside the shop they found a row of umbrellas hanging upside down from the ceiling. A small boy was going from one to another with a watering-pot. He told them that the handles would grow crooked unless they were watered every morning, and showed them one which he had forgotten the day before.
The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1911
Public-domain original English literary text in the United States; the author’s ordinary life-plus-70 term has also elapsed. Jurisdiction-specific exceptions may apply.
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en-113-01
Original
But after a few days spent almost entirely out of doors she wakened one morning knowing what it was to be hungry, and when she sat down to her breakfast she did not glance disdainfully at her porridge and push it away, but took up her spoon and began to eat it and went on eating it until her bowl was empty.
AI · OpenAI assistant
He had always thought that making things was something other people did, and when the old man put the hammer into his hand he held it as if it might break, but after he had driven one nail into the board he wanted to drive another, and presently he had quite forgotten that anyone was watching him.
en-113-02
Original
After that she opened more doors and more. She saw so many rooms that she became quite tired and began to think that there must be a hundred, though she had not counted them. In all of them there were old pictures or old tapestries with strange scenes worked on them. There were curious pieces of furniture and curious ornaments in nearly all of them.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The shelf was much too high for her. She brought a stool and stood on it, but even then she could only just reach the edge of the blue tin. There was something inside which rattled when she touched it. She wondered if it could be money, and then she wondered if anyone would mind her finding out what it was.
en-113-03
Original
She heard a chirp and a twitter, and when she looked at the bare flower-bed at her left side there he was hopping about and pretending to peck things out of the earth to persuade her that he had not followed her. But she knew he had followed her and the surprise so filled her with delight that she almost trembled a little.
AI · OpenAI assistant
The boy had drawn a face upon his thumb, and when he put his hand through the torn curtain the face looked so cross and so very small that she began to laugh before she knew she was going to. He made it bow to her, and she laughed again, though she tried to keep quiet because they were supposed to be waiting patiently.
en-113-04
Original
They sat down and he took a clumsy little brown paper package out of his coat pocket. He untied the string and inside there were ever so many neater and smaller packages with a picture of a flower on each one.
AI · OpenAI assistant
Under the seat of the broken cart she found a doll without any clothes. Its painted eyes were quite bright, and when she shook the straw out of its hair she began to feel that it must have been very lonely.