In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again.
The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living. But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away? What will Silas do then? What could possibly comfort him for the loss of his only friend?
The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living. But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away? What will Silas do then? What could possibly comfort him for the loss of his only friend?
Glossary
- absence being away or absent
- adopt to take another person’s child into your family to become your own child
- bitter feeling disappointed and angry
- blush (v and n) to become red in the face when ashamed or shy
- butcher someone whose job is to cut and sell meat
- carol a song usually sung at Christmas
- chapel a room or building used for religious meetings
- cheerful feeling happy or causing other people to feel happy
- confess to tell the truth about something you have done wrong
- cottage a small, simple house, usually in the country
- curl (n) a piece of hair that grows round and round, in rings
- dairy a place where milk is kept and butter, cheese, etc. are made
- devil the enemy of God, or a bad, evil person
- drain (v) to make land dryer by causing the water to run off it
- draw lots to decide something by taking pieces of paper (with numbers or writing on them) out of a covered box
- duty something you feel you have to do because it is right
- engaged having promised to marry someone
- evil (adj and n) very bad or wrong
- farrier someone who puts new shoes on horses
- firm (adj) strong and determined
- fit (n) a sudden illness, when a person is unconscious for a time
- forgive to say or show that you are not angry with someone
- gamble (v) to play games of chance (e.g. card games) for money
- gentleman a man of good family, usually rich
- gin a strong, colourless alcoholic drink
- guilt a feeling that you have done wrong
- hunt (v and n) to chase and kill wild animals
- landlord a man who controls a public house
- linen a special kind of cloth (more like cotton than wool)
- loom a machine for weaving cloth
- Master a title used for an experienced workman (not used now)
- minister a religious leader (e.g. a chapel minister)
- moan (v) to make a long, sad sound that shows you are unhappy
- New Year’s Eve 31st December, the day before the New Year
- orphan a child whose parents are dead
- pedlar a person who travels from place to place selling things
- pile (n) a lot of things on top of one another
- poacher a person who catches animals from other people’s land
- porridge a cooked breakfast cereal, eaten hot
- power being able to do something (sometimes unusual things)
- quarry a place where stone, sand, etc. are taken out of the ground
- relieved glad that a problem has gone away
- religion (adj
- religious) a belief in a god or gods, and the different ways of showing the belief
- scornful feeling strongly that something or someone is worthless
- service a religious meeting in a church or chapel
- shortsighted being able to see clearly only things that are close
- soul the part of us that some people believe does not die
- Squire the title for the most important gentleman or landowner in a country area (not used now)
- suspicious not believing or trusting someone
- toddle (of a very young child) to walk with short uncertain steps
- trust (v and n) to feel sure that someone is good, right, honest, etc.
- vicar a priest in the Church of England
- weak not strong, easily persuaded
- weave to make cloth using a loom