Far from the Madding Crowd. Thomas Hardy

omas Hardy

      Far from the Madding Crowd

      FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

      First published in 1874, this novel was an immediate bestseller. The story takes place in the fields and farms of the quiet English countryside, when harvests were gathered by hand, when carts were pulled by horses, and when people’s lives followed the pattern of the changing seasons.

      That quiet rural world has long since gone, of course, but the passions that rule people’s lives have not changed. Within the everlasting circle of springtime and harvest, love burns as fiercely, as uncontrollably, as ever.

      The beautiful Bathsheba Everdene has her own farm and does not need to marry. But she cannot fight off love for ever. There is the shepherd, Gabriel Oak, whose love for Bathsheba is quiet and steady. There is Farmer Boldwood, a serious, middle-aged man, who has never been in love before. And there is Sergeant Troy, a handsome young soldier in his bright red coat … Bathsheba is self-confident and independent, but she has much to learn about the violent passions of love.

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DPOxford University Press is a department of the University of OxfordIt furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide inOxford New YorkAuckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei TorontoWith offices inArgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine VietnamOXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countriesThis simplified edition © Oxford University Press 2008Database right Oxford University Press (maker)First published in Oxford Bookworms 19922 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1No unauthorized photocopyingAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address aboveYou must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirerAny websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the contentISBN 978 0 19 479223 3A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of Far From The Madding Crowd is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0 19 479204 2ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Illustrated by: Ron TinerWord count (main text): 24,490 wordsFor more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library, visit www.oup.com/bookwormswww.oup.com/bookwormse-Book ISBN 978 0 19 478634 8e-Book first published 2012

      PEOPLE IN THIS STORY

      Bathsheba Everdene

      Mrs Hurst, her aunt

      Liddy, Bathsheba’s maid

      Maryann, the cleaning-woman in Bathsheba’s house

      Benjy Pennyways, Bathsheba’s farm manager

      Gabriel Oak, a shepherd

      Farmer William Boldwood, the owner of a large farm in Weatherbury

      Sergeant Frank Troy, a soldier

      Fanny Robin, a maidservant

      The maltster, in Weatherbury village

      Jacob Smallbury, the maltster’s son

      Billy Smallbury, Jacob’s son

      Joseph Poorgrass, a villager in Weatherbury

      Jan Coggan, a villager in Weatherbury

      Laban Tall, a villager in Weatherbury

      1

      Gabriel Oak falls in love

      Gabriel Oak was a sensible man of good character, who had been brought up by his father as a shepherd, and then managed to save enough money to rent his own farm on Norcombe Hill, in Dorset. He was twenty-eight, a tall, well-built man, who did not seem, however, to think his appearance was very important.

      One winter morning he was in one of his fields on the side of Norcombe Hill. Looking over his gate, Gabriel could see a yellow cart, loaded with furniture and plants, coming up the road. Right on top of the pile sat a handsome young woman. As Gabriel was watching, the cart stopped at the top of the hill, and the driver climbed down to go back and fetch something that had fallen off.

      The girl sat quietly in the sunshine for a few minutes. Then she picked up a parcel lying next to her, and looked round to see if the driver was coming back. There was no sign of him. She unwrapped the parcel, and took out the mirror it contained. The sun shone on her lovely face and hair. Although it was December, she looked almost summery, sitting there in her bright red jacket with the fresh green plants around her. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled, thinking that only the birds could see her. But behind the gate Gabriel Oak was watching too.

      ‘She must be rather vain,’ he thought. ‘She doesn’t need to look in that mirror at all!’

      As the girl smiled and blushed at herself, she seemed to be dreaming, dreaming perhaps of men’s hearts won and lost. When she heard the driver’s footsteps, she packed the mirror away. The cart moved on downhill to the toll-gate. Gabriel followed on foot. As he came closer he could hear the driver arguing with the gatekeeper.

      ‘My mistress’s niece, that’s her on top of the furniture, is not going to pay you the extra twopence,’ said the driver. ‘She says she’s offered you quite enough already.’

      ‘Well, if she doesn’t pay the toll, your mistress’s niece can’t pass through the gate,’ replied the gatekeeper.

      Gabriel thought that twopence did not seem worth bothering about, so he stepped forward. ‘Here,’ he said, handing the coins to the gatekeeper, ‘let the young woman pass.’

      The girl in the red jacket looked carelessly down at Gabriel, and told her man to drive on, without even thanking the farmer. Gabriel and the gatekeeper watched the cart move away. ‘That’s a lovely young woman,’ said the gatekeeper.

      ‘But she has her faults,’ answered Gabriel.

      ‘True, farmer.’

      ‘And the greatest of them is what it always is with women.’

      ‘Wanting to win the argument every time? Oh, you’re right.’

      ‘No, her great fault is that she’s vain.’

      A few days later, at nearly midnight on the longest night of the year, Gabriel Oak could be heard playing his flute on Norcombe Hill. The sky was so clear and the stars so visible that the earth could almost be seen turning. In that cold, hard air the sweet notes of the flute rang out. The music came from a little hut on wheels, standing in the corner of a field. Shepherds’ huts like this are used as a shelter during the winter and spring, when shepherds have to stay out all night in the fields, looking after very young lambs.

      Gabriel’s two hundred and fifty sheep were not yet paid for. He knew that, in order to make a success of the farming business, he had to make sure they produced a large number of healthy lambs. So he was determined to spend as many nights as necessary in the fields, to save his lambs from dying of cold or hunger.

      The hut was warm and quite comfortable inside. There was a stove, and some bread and beer on a shelf. On each side of the hut was a round