Summary of James Herriot's All Things Bright and Beautiful

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 I had to go out to help Harold Ingledew with a sick sheep. It was difficult to stay asleep in the windy yard, and when I returned between the sheets while still enjoying many of the benefits of sleep, the system began to crumble.

#2 I managed to slip back into my trance, and my mind played lazily with the phenomenon of Harold Ingledew. I was shocked to hear singing coming from the Ingledew’s kitchen window, loud raucous singing echoing around the old stones of the yard.

#3 I went to see Harold’s sheep, but the singing began before I could see them. It was freezing outside, and through the black archway, I could see a Siberian wind blowing.

#4 I rushed back to the window. Harold was back in his chair, pulling on a vast boot and taking his time about it. As he bellowed, he poked owlishly at the lace holes and occasionally refreshed himself from the bottle of brown ale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669368625

IRB Media

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Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I had to go out to help Harold Ingledew with a sick sheep. It was difficult to stay asleep in the windy yard, and when I returned between the sheets while still enjoying many of the benefits of sleep, the system began to crumble.

#2

I managed to slip back into my trance, and my mind played lazily with the phenomenon of Harold Ingledew. I was shocked to hear singing coming from the Ingledew’s kitchen window, loud raucous singing echoing around the old stones of the yard.

#3

I went to see Harold’s sheep, but the singing began before I could see them. It was freezing outside, and through the black archway, I could see a Siberian wind blowing.

#4

I rushed back to the window. Harold was back in his chair, pulling on a vast boot and taking his time about it. As he bellowed, he poked owlishly at the lace holes and occasionally refreshed himself from the bottle of brown ale.

#5

When I went to help the ewe, I found a lamb inside her. I took the lamb away and put him on the ground, but he immediately started breathing again. The ewe seemed to be feeling better without her burden.

#6

I had to drive to the bottom of the village to turn. As I came past the house again, the sound forced its way into the car. It was Harold humming under his breath, as comfortable as if he was by his own fireside.

#7

The author was in bed with his wife when he realized how blessed he was. He had reached the state of total numbness, and he couldn’t remember much about his return to the yard at Skeldale House. But he knew that everyone was asleep except his neighbors, who had an hour left to kill.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

I got up and walked to the window. It was going to be a fine morning and the early sun glanced over the weathered reds and greys of the jumbled roofs, some of them sagging under their burden of ancient tiles.

#2

I began to watch Jock, the dog at Robert Corner’s farm, as I finished stitching the foal’s leg and began to tie on a bandage. He was slinking about the buildings, a skinny little creature who without his mass of black and white hair would have been an almost invisible mite.

#3

Jock was an outstanding sheepdog trialist, and Mr. Corner had won many trophies with him. He had purchased a bitch, and they were training the pups. They were like seven Jocks, meagre, darting little creatures flitting noiselessly about the buildings.

#4

The author visited a farm that had sold its sheepdogs. He was surprised to find that the dogs had all been sold, and that Jock, the oldest and most experienced, was still there. I think he was as relieved as the author was that Jock was left alone with his supremacy unchallenged.

Insights from Chapter 3

#1

The spring season in the Dales is always exciting. I have always loved the smell of sheep and the sound of their bleating. I would soap my left hand and begin to feel for a space around the