What the Shepherd Saw

by Thomas Hardy

It might have been about eleven o'clock when he awoke. He was so surprised at awaking without, apparently, being called or struck, that on second thoughts he assumed that somebody must have called him in spite of appearances, and looked out of the hut window towards the sheep. They all lay as quiet as when he had visited them, very little bleating being audible, and no human soul disturbing the scene. He next looked from the opposite window, and here the case was different. The frost-facets glistened under the moon as before; an occasional furze bush showed as a dark spot on the same; and in the foreground stood the ghostly form of the trilithon. But in front of the trilithon stood a man.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Supernatural, Victorian, British Literature

30 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.

The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal — and literal — cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shepherd boy witnessed a crime committed under the Christmas moon near a Druidical trilithon. This was a suspenseful story with supernatural elements which also illustrated the power of the nobility over the lower class.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully written and intriguing story of a shepherd boy who witnesses something he shouldn’t while tending his sheep. Hardy always writes with the kind of realism that involves you with his characters and sets the scene so perfectly that you could be there, and this story is no exception.

Where it fell short, for me, was in leaving the story too early and not having it fleshed out enough for my tastes. I wanted more, not just because I was enthralled, but because I had so many questions that now had no answers. What makes a marvelous short-story for me is when you finish and feel as if there was nothing missing that a longer form would have supplied.

Hardy is a favorite writer; while quite well-written, this is not one of his best stories.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much to love about this atmospheric Christmastime ghost story, begun “the good old-fashioned way with a bright moonlight night and a mysterious figure.”

We have that ever-present moon, ancient stones for it to reflect off of forming what the locals called “Devil’s Door,” a sheltered pasture, a mischievous boy, a couple professing love, and, of course, a villain: “… the Duke was Jove himself to the rural population, whom to offend was starvation, homelessness, and death, and whom to look at was to be mentally scathed and dumfoundered.”

I enjoyed Hardy’s poetic descriptions of the countryside and, as always, his ideas about morality and fate.

[Tom Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

So enjoyable to read. Abrupt and lacking narrative details over time jumps but it is forgiven!

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story. I read this with the GR group "The Works of Thomas Hardy", which I highly recommend if you are a Thomas Hardy fan. Here's a link. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

I did think the ending was abrupt, which I often find with short stories. Still its worth reading. Lots of suspense and unexpected turns. Also, there is a lot here about class and power struggles.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, whether a short story or a long novel, Thomas Hardy rarely disappoints me. I must say that this quasi-Gothic tale is really peculiar for how decidedly short it is then. A must read.

Come sempre, sia una storia breve od un romanzo lungo, Thomas Hardy difficilmente mi delude. Devo dire che questo racconto quasi gotico é veramente particolare per quanto poi decisamente breve. Da leggere.

[J_BlueFlower · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the Shepherd Saw
by Thomas Hardy
Read Oct 2024

I read the “A Changed Man and Other Tales”-version.

I liked the non-judging style of writing – or at least non-judging on the surface. But I really would have like the point of the story to be more clear. What was the point?

The uneducated shepherd thinks it is alright for the Duke to do what he likes “considering that powerful nobleman to have a right to do what he chose on his own lands.” Later as educated he does not think so. Education makes a difference?

The shepherd has a limited view of things and we are borrowing his viewpoint: We expect the wife to show up the second night, and we are surprised by the wife telling the Duke the full story right away. But if she is 100% loyal to the Duke why did she go to the meeting in the first place rather than invite Ogbourne to come to their home?

Two things I did not like: Sleepwalking is such a cliché and what is completely unanswered is: What was the Duke doing there the first night?

[Mbuye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dated 1881, and first published in the anthology ‘A Changed Man and Other Tales,’ this short story offers so much in a short space to so many different kinds of readers: to fans of MR James, here is horror as satisfactory, to scholars of Thomas Hardy, here is Hardy doing what he does best: recreating a bucolic atmosphere on a cold winter's evening when it is lambing time. There is melodrama and sensation, but equally, a cold thread of realism running throughout the little tale. The whole is presented with an economy of words and events compressing a quarter century for the reader to imagine what might have happened, and what the shepherd really saw. And retribution comes in the shape of pagan gods and rituals in whose sight a dreadful oath was exacted. The setting is Christmas time, when two thousand years previously, on a night as cold, as bright, other shepherds beheld a very different sight…

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to kick off my seasonal reading with this Thomas Hardy short story. It’s set at Christmas time, though it isn’t really on a Christmas theme unless you count it as a Christmas ghost story. It was written in 1881 but like many of Hardy’s tales is set in the early part of the 19th century.

The protagonist is a young shepherd boy who is looking after the sheep one frosty, moonlit night, when he observes some mysterious goings on involving three adults. He is terrified since he sees one of them is the Duke who owns the estate.

“Fear seized upon the shepherd-boy: the Duke was Jove himself to the rural population, whom to offend was starvation, homelessness, and death, and whom to look at was to be mentally scathed and dumbfoundered.”

It’s interesting in how it illustrates the way tenants and employees were almost completely in the power of the aristocracy of the period. It’s also a decent tale in its own right.

[Anjali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the eerie mystery element of this short story. Crimes by upper-class nobility were quite common around that period. The plot is simple: a crime, a shepherd boy witnessing something he shouldn't have, hence the title. The ending confused me a little; it felt abrupt. Also, it leaves many questions unanswered—perhaps for the reader to imagine and fill in. But the overall narration and the plot are good.

[4ndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky short and sweet 🌨️
Depicts the possessiveness of lust, and straightforwardly represents the hierarchy of Patriarchy through class.
The "devil's door" was the eternal rest spot for the duke's soul.
Not a supernatural monster, but a human monster nonetheless, product of his station in privilege.

Beautifully portrayed ethical impotence through the shepherd's resigned conscience.
Reaffirms my eternal love for Hardy.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story What the Shepherd Saw was found in A Changed Man & Other Tales