Page 84 - Unit 3 - Exercise 1A

Page 84 - Unit 3 - Exercise 1A

The Three Strangers

One cold, wet night in 1825, a poor shepherd and his wife invited some friends to their cottage. They wanted to celebrate the birth of their first child. Their cottage was on a path which hich strangers didn’t use very often. But while the shepherd and his guests were performing , someone knocked at the door. ‘Come in!’ shouted the shepherd.

A tall, dark stranger, about forty years old, entered. ‘Can I rest here for a bit?’ he asked. ‘Of course,’ said the shepherd. ‘Come in and have a drink with us.’ ‘Thank you,’ said the stranger. ‘And you should sit by the fire,’ said the shepherd. ‘You look very cold.’ The shepherds and farm workers didn’t want to find the first stranger because they liked him.

Not long after, there was another knock at the door. ‘Come in!’ shouted the shepherd for the second time.

Another stranger entered. He was older than the first, and he was wearing a grey suit.

Tm on my way to Casterbridge,’ he said. ‘Can I rest here for a while?’ ‘Of course!’ said the shepherd. ‘Come and sit by the fire.’ And he gave this man a drink, too.

For some reason the shepherd’s wife didn’t like the second stranger and she asked, ‘What kind of work do you do?’ The man in grey replied with a song.

‘There isn’t much I need,.

To set the criminals free. A piece o f rope, and a tai! hanging post, And that’ll be enough for me. ‘

Immediately, everyone knew that he was a hangman. He was on his way to Casterbridge prison to hang a poor clockmaker. ‘That clockmaker only stole a sheep to feed his children, because he had no work,’ said the shepherd’s wife. ‘You shouldn’t hang a man for that.’ ‘I just do my job,’ said the second stranger.

Just then, there was a third knock on the door and the shepherd opened it. A third stranger was standing there. He looked into the cottage, but when he saw the two men by the fire, his face went white. Then he turned and ran away.

A minute later, everybody heard a gun. Everybody knew what it meant. ‘Someone has escaped from Casterbridge prison.’ said the hangman. ‘It must be that man who came to the cottage just now and then ran away. We should all look for him.’ The men all left the cottage.

A little later, the first stranger returned, and then the hangman came back, too. ‘There are enough men looking for the prisoner,’ the two men agreed. ‘They don’t need us, too.’ They finished their meal and then walked away from the cottage in opposite directions.

The other men soon found the third stranger and brought him back to the shepherd’s cottage. Two policemen were waiting for them. ‘That’s not the prisoner who escaped,’ said one of the policemen. ‘Who are you?’ Tm the prisoner’s brother,’ said the third stranger. ‘I was on my way to see my brother for the last time, when I stopped here tonight.’ ‘But why did you run away?’ ‘Because I saw my brother here. He was sitting by the fire with the hangman!’ ‘So that first stranger was the clockmaker!’ said the shepherd’s wife.

The next day, the shepherds and farm workers looked for the clockmaker again. They never found him. But they didn’t really want to find him, because they all agreed with the shepherd’s wife: you shouldn’t hang a man who only stole a sheep because he had no money to feed his children.