Old book illustrations wordshop

Once upon a time, there was a gardener who had two sons. One day of May, as he was working in his garden, he noticed a small bird of a kind he had never seen before.
- That is one beautiful bird! he said to himself; if I could only catch it!
He managed to catch the small bird, and he put it in a cage, with the intention to offer it as a present to his lord. In its cage, the bird laid an egg, which was yellow as gold.
On the following day, the gardener’s wife had to go to town, to bring some eggs to her lord. As she was one egg short to have a full three dozen, she took the egg of the small bird and put it among the others; then, she went to town. When the lord saw the gold yellow egg, he was surprised, and he said to the gardener’s wife:
- What’s this egg?
- Well, My lord, I was one egg short to complete my three dozen, so I took this yellow egg, which was laid by a small bird that we have at our house. …Read more »

GILLYFLOWER⁽¹⁾ s. Bot. herbaceous plant in the cruciferae family, which includes about fifteen species. Some of them are cultivated in gardens, because of the scent and beauty of their flowers: a bunch of gillyflower.
- Also applies to the flowers of …Read more »

Madame de Maintenon¹ was a woman of much wit, which the good company, in which she had at first been merely suffered, but in which she soon shone, had much polished; and ornamented with knowledge of the world, and which gallantry had rendered of the most agreeable kind. The various positions she had held had rendered her flattering, insinuating, complaisant, always seeking to please. The need she had of intrigues, those she had seen of all kinds, and been mixed up in for herself and for others, had given her the taste, the ability, and the habit of them. Incomparable grace, an easy manner, and yet measured and respectful, which, in consequence of her long obscurity, had become natural to her, marvellously aided her talents; with language gentle, exact, well expressed, and naturally eloquent and brief. Her best time, for she was …Read more »

CHEETAH. Mamm. type of carnivore of the large family of cats. The cheetah (felis jubata, Schreb;), also called hunting leopard or maned leopard, lives in Southern Asia and Africa. It looks like an enormous cat; but it is …Read more »

P0LARISC0PE S. (from polarization; gr. skopeô, I examine). Phys. Device which allows the polarization phenomenon to be perceived, when occuring with a low intensity. The polariscope shown in our figure is made of a wooden base, on which a square glass plate (ab), whose bottom was painted in black, is placed; this is the polarizer. Two stands made of wood (cd) are fixed on each side of this glass plate at an angle …Read more »

Asia is the oldest populated part of the world; it is the cradle of mankind. It is also there that science and civilization fisrt showed their good influence upon men. If you look at the chart, you will see that it is, after America, the largest of the four parts of the world. From Malacca, which is the southernmost point, to its northern end, Asia is more than thirty seven hundred miles long, and there are a little less than five thousand and eight hundred miles from the Dardanelles, in the west, to the Eastern end of Kamchatka.
Asia covering such a huge area, we can naturally expect a wide variety of climates; cold is excessive in the north, and heat unbearable in the southern regions.
It is near the equator, where heat spreads its empire, that the biggest and the most terrible quadrupeds, elephants, rhinoceroses, lions and tigers, are to be found. It is also in these regions that we find …Read more »

Once upon a time, on the Leguer river, there was a miller who took his rifle one day, to go hunting for swans and wild ducks by the mill pond. It was in December, the weather was cold, and the ground was all covered in snow. Upon arriving at the pond bank, he saw a female duck frolicking in the water. He aimed at it, shot and was astounded to see, right after the shot, a beautiful princess standing beside him, coming from he didn’t know where and who talked to him like this:
- Thank you, my good man! I have been around this place for a very long time, living in the shape of a wild duck, because of a spell cast on me by three demons which give me no rest. You brought me back to my human shape and can set me free completely, with a little bravery and tenacity.
- And what should I do for that? Asked the surprised miller.
- Spend three nights in a row in the old ruined manor which you can see up there.
- And what is there? The devil perhaps?
- Alas, it’s not only one, but twelve devils which will torment you. They will throw you …Read more »