The first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body out of the bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not imagine what it looked like; it turned out to be too hard to move; it went so slowly; and finally, almost in a frenzy, when he carelessly shoved himself forwards with all the force he could gather, he chose the wrong direction, hit hard against the lower bedpost, and learned from the burning pain he felt that the lower part of his body might well, at present, be the most sensitive.
— from Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

H2 anchor The Eagle and His Captor AN EAGLE was once captured by a man, who immediately clipped his wings and put him into his poultry-yard with the other birds, at which treatment the Eagle was weighed down with grief.
— from Aesop's Fables Translated by George Fyler Townsend by Aesop

d they wanted to make him emperor—emperor over them all—emperor of County Cork, but he said, No, walking delegate was good enough for him.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain

Very merry at, before, and after dinner, and the more for that my dinner was great, and most neatly dressed by our own only maid.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

He had been afflicted with ill health from his infancy, through which Elizabeth and I had been his constant nurses: his disposition was gentle, but he was incapable of any severe application.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

When they had sat awhile and begun to discourse, with great awe, of the judgements of heaven, the bishop bade the rest go out for a time, and spoke to the priest, Acca, after this manner: “A dread vision has even now appeared to me, which I would have you hear and keep secret, till I know what God will please to do with me.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, the Venerable, Saint

Likewise, in the faces of a choir of angels who are flying in the air round the Madonna, dancing with graceful movements, and appearing to sing, he painted a gladness truly [Pg 119] angelic and divine, above all because he made the angels sounding diverse instruments, with their eyes all fixed and intent on another choir of angels, who, supported by a cloud in the form of an almond, are bearing the Madonna to Heaven, with beautiful attitudes and all surrounded by rainbows.
— from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi by Giorgio Vasari

But there the Duke was given to understand That in a gondola were seen together Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica; Besides, Antonio certified the Duke They were not with Bassanio in his ship. SOLANIO.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Now, it was Madame von Dose who gave me a Frederic-d’or for bringing her a bouquet or a letter from the Captain; now it was, on the contrary, the old Privy Councillor who treated me with a bottle of Rhenish, and slipped into my hand a dollar or two, in order that I might give him some information regarding the liaison between my captain and his lady.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

The boys walked round and round the tree and made little excursions in every direction without getting a single trace of the campfire.
— from Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds; Or, The Signal from the Hills by Archibald Lee Fletcher

This man no doubt was greatly impressed by the wonderful works and noble character of Christ.
— from Heart Talks by Charles Wesley Naylor

Both men and women were all over the place, and much vigorous dancing was going on.
— from The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon by Cornélis De Witt Willcox

The Boudeuse and Etoile were engaged in working to windward along this new land (as it was thought to be) until the 26th, when, having doubled its eastern point, to which the significant name of Cape Deliverance was given, they were enabled to bear away to the North-North-East.
— from Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by John MacGillivray

Then the dean promised to write, and when Gunlaug got his letter, she could no longer contain herself, she must tell her sailors and other acquaintances, that her daughter was going to be something great, and wanted her to go to her.
— from The Fisher Girl by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

The torch-bearers danced up and down with glee, and the mysteries waltzed to the quick piping of the Willis-Whistlers.
— from Aaron in the Wildwoods by Joel Chandler Harris