A story by Virginia Woolf (1919) — a hot day in a garden, a snail, and four couples walking past.
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This is a famous English story, told here in simple English and in the present tense — as if you are standing in the garden now. Nothing big happens. Read slowly, and watch.
It is a hot afternoon in July. In Kew Gardens, in London, there is a flower-bed full of red, blue and yellow flowers. The wind is moving the flowers, and the coloured light is falling on the brown earth, on a grey stone, and on the shell of a snail.
People are walking past the flowers. First, a man and a woman with two children. The man is walking a little in front. He is thinking about the past.
"Fifteen years ago I came here with Lily," he thinks. "I asked her to marry me, here, by the lake. I remember her shoe, with a silver buckle. And I remember a dragonfly. I thought: if the dragonfly lands on that leaf, she will say yes. But it never landed. She said no. And that is good — because now I am here with Eleanor and the children."
He turns to his wife. "Eleanor, do you ever think about the past?"
"Of course," she says. "For me, the past is a kiss. Twenty years ago I was painting by a lake with five other girls. Suddenly an old woman kissed me on the back of my neck. My hand shook all afternoon. That was the first real kiss of my life."
They walk on with the children and disappear among the trees.
1. What is Simon remembering?
2. What is Eleanor's memory?
1. Fifteen years ago he asked a woman called Lily to marry him, here by the lake. She said no. He remembers her shoe and a dragonfly.
2. A kiss on the back of her neck from an old woman, twenty years ago, when she was painting by a lake.
In the flower-bed, the snail is moving. It is moving very slowly, but it knows where it wants to go. A dead leaf is in its way. Should it go round the leaf, or over it? The snail is thinking.
Now two men are walking past. The young one is quiet and calm. The old one is talking and talking, and moving his head and his hands. He is talking about the spirits of the dead. "They are speaking to me from Heaven," he says. "With this war, the spirits are everywhere."
The old man sees a woman in a dark dress far away. He takes off his hat and hurries towards her. But the young man, William, takes his arm and touches a flower with his stick. The old man looks at the flower, bends down, and begins to talk to it — about forests in Uruguay, and a beautiful woman, hundreds of years ago. William is patient. He is not smiling. He is used to this.
Behind them, two older women are walking. They are looking at the old man's back. "Is he mad?" they are thinking. Then they go back to their own conversation: "Nell, Bert, Lot, Cess, Phil, Pa… he says, I says, she says, I says… sugar, flour, fish, sugar, sugar, sugar."
One of the women stops in front of the flowers. She is not listening any more. She is just looking at the flowers. Then she says: "Let's find a seat and have our tea."
1. What is the old man talking about?
2. What does William do when the old man hurries towards the woman in the dark dress?
1. The spirits of the dead, who are speaking to him from Heaven — and then forests in Uruguay and a beautiful woman.
2. He takes his arm and touches a flower with his stick, to stop him. The old man looks at the flower and talks to it.
The snail has decided. It is going under the leaf. It puts its head into the cool brown space under the leaf — and two more people are walking past.
They are very young: a boy and a girl. They are not saying much. "Lucky it isn't Friday," he says. "Why?" "You pay sixpence on Friday." "What's sixpence? Isn't it worth sixpence?" "What is 'it'?" "Oh… you know what I mean."
They are standing at the edge of the flower-bed. Together they are pushing the end of her umbrella into the soft earth. His hand is on her hand. Their words are small, but their feelings are very big. They are at the beginning of everything.
"Come on, Trissie. It's time for tea," he says. "Where does one have tea?" she asks. Her voice is excited. She is looking everywhere — at the flowers, at the trees, at a Chinese building far away — and forgetting about tea. But he takes her on.
It is very hot. A bird is hopping in the shade. White butterflies are dancing above the flowers. The glass roofs of the palm house are shining. An aeroplane is humming in the sky. People are sitting under the trees, and their voices are rising — happy voices, children's voices, voices full of wishes. And under it all, the buses of London are turning their wheels, and the city is murmuring, and the flowers are flashing their colours into the air.
1. What are the young couple doing with the umbrella?
2. What sounds and colours end the story?
1. They are pushing the end of it into the soft earth, together, his hand on her hand.
2. People's voices under the trees, an aeroplane, the buses of London turning their wheels, and the flowers flashing their colours into the air.
This story is like a camera in a garden: it shows what people are doing right now. For that, English uses the present continuous: am / is / are + verb-ing.
Complete with am / is / are + the -ing form.
1. The snail (move) very slowly across the earth.
2. A man and a woman (walk) past the flowers.
3. The old man (talk) about spirits.
4. The two women (look) at his back.
1. is moving
2. are walking
3. is talking
4. are looking
Make the negative or the question.
1. The young couple (not / say) very much.
2. (the girl / listen) to the boy? — No, she isn't. She is looking at the flowers.
3. The heavy woman (not / listen) any more.
4. (the butterflies / dance) above the flowers? — Yes, they are.
1. aren't (are not) saying
2. Is the girl listening
3. isn't (is not) listening
4. Are the butterflies dancing
Careful with the spelling!
1. sit → The people under the trees.
2. shine → The glass roofs in the sun.
3. lie → A dead leaf on the ground.
4. hop → A bird in the shade.
5. hum → An aeroplane in the sky.
1. are sitting
2. are shining
3. is lying
4. is hopping
5. is humming
In the Speak tab, be the camera: say what everyone in the garden is doing, right now.
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) printed this story herself in 1919, with her husband, on a small printing machine in their dining room. It came out a few months after the end of the First World War. That is why the old man hears the dead — and why nobody in the garden is surprised.
Nothing happens in the story. Four couples walk past. A snail goes under a leaf. But look at the couples: a married couple thinking about the past, a man who is not well in his mind, two working women, and two young people at the start of love. It is like a whole life, in one afternoon, in one garden.
This is the heart of the lesson — do all three out loud. The timer helps you keep going: fill the time with details.
Describe the story like a camera: the flowers and the light → Simon and Eleanor → the snail → the old man and William → the two women → the young couple and the umbrella → the voices and the city.
Use the present continuous for everything people are doing, and at least five key words (garden, flower, snail, leaf, butterfly, couple, kiss, remember, tea, hot).
Some people say: 'Nothing happens — this is not a story, it is a painting.' Do you agree? Give your opinion and two reasons. Then say the opposite for one minute.
Choose a place and describe it like a camera: who is there, and what is everyone doing right now? Use the present continuous.
Not sure what to talk about? Choose one: