<P> Gabriel Oak is a young shepherd . With the savings of a frugal life, and a loan, he has leased and stocked a sheep farm . He falls in love with a newcomer eight years his junior, Bathsheba Everdene, a proud beauty who arrives to live with her aunt, Mrs. Hurst . Over time, Bathsheba and Gabriel grow to like each other well enough, and Bathsheba even saves his life once . However, when he makes her an unadorned offer of marriage, she refuses; she values her independence too much, and him too little . Feeling betrayed and embarrassed, Gabriel offers blunt protestations that only foster her haughtiness . After a few days, she moves to Weatherbury, a village some miles off . </P> <P> When next they meet, their circumstances have changed drastically . An inexperienced new sheepdog drives Gabriel's flock over a cliff, ruining him . After selling off everything of value, he manages to settle all his debts but emerges penniless . He seeks employment at a hiring fair in the town of Casterbridge . When he finds none, he heads to another such fair in Shottsford, a town about ten miles from Weatherbury . On the way, he happens upon a dangerous fire on a farm and leads the bystanders in putting it out . When the veiled owner comes to thank him, he asks if she needs a shepherd . She uncovers her face and reveals herself to be none other than Bathsheba . She has recently inherited her uncle's estate and is now wealthy . Though somewhat uncomfortable, she employs him . </P> <P> Meanwhile, Bathsheba has a new admirer: the lonely and repressed William Boldwood . Boldwood is a prosperous farmer of about forty, whose ardour Bathsheba unwittingly awakens when--her curiosity piqued because he has never bestowed on her the customary admiring glance--she playfully sends him a valentine sealed with red wax on which she has embossed the words, "Marry me". Boldwood, not realising the valentine was a jest, becomes obsessed with Bathsheba and soon proposes marriage . Although she does not love him, she toys with the idea of accepting his offer; he is, after all, the most eligible bachelor in the district . However, she postpones giving him a definite answer . When Gabriel rebukes her for her thoughtlessness regarding Boldwood, she dismisses him . </P> <P> When Bathsheba's sheep begin dying from bloat, she discovers to her chagrin that Gabriel is the only man who knows how to cure them . Her pride delays the inevitable, but finally she is forced to beg him for help . Afterwards, she offers him back his job and their friendship is restored . </P>

Thomas hardy novel far from the madding crowd