Far from the Madding Crowd
성난 군중으로부터 멀리
Thomas Hardy (1874)
The Story
Tap a word to translate it. Select text to highlight it or add it to your study plan.
Gabriel Oak was twenty-eight years old, and everyone in Norcombe agreed he was a steady, decent farmer.He was not a striking man to look at, but people trusted him, and his smile made his whole face crinkle with warmth.One quiet December morning, he was walking across his sloping field when he noticed a wagon coming down the hill road below.
The wagon was piled high with furniture, plants, and a caged canary, and on top of it all sat a young woman in a bright red jacket.The wagon stopped suddenly — the tailboard had fallen off somewhere on the road — and the driver ran back to find it.Left alone on the load, the young woman waited, glancing now and then to check if he was returning.
When she was sure no one was watching, she reached for a small package tied in paper and untied it.Inside was a little mirror, and she lifted it and studied her own reflection, smiling slowly at what she saw.Gabriel, still watching from behind the hedge, thought there had been no real reason for her to look at herself at all.
When the driver came back, she quickly hid the mirror away, and the wagon rolled on toward the tollgate at the bottom of the hill.There, the gatekeeper and the driver argued over a few pennies of toll, and the young woman refused to pay a penny more.
Gabriel had followed on foot, and hearing the small dispute, he stepped forward and paid the missing pennies himself.The gatekeeper opened the gate, and the young woman glanced down at Gabriel for only a moment before telling her driver to move on.She did not thank him, not even with a word, though she must have known what he had done.
After the wagon disappeared down the road, the gatekeeper remarked that she was a handsome young woman.“She has her faults, though,” Gabriel replied, thinking of the mirror behind the hedge.When the gatekeeper asked what fault he meant, Gabriel said simply, “Vanity” — and walked on.
Full translationTry the story first — open this only to check your understanding.
가브리엘 오크는 스물여덟 살이었고, 노르콤 사람들은 모두 그가 착실하고 반듯한 농부라는 데 동의했어요. 그는 눈에 띄게 잘생긴 남자는 아니었지만 사람들은 그를 믿었고, 그가 웃을 때면 얼굴 전체가 따뜻하게 주름졌어요. 어느 조용한 12월 아침, 그는 경사진 밭을 가로질러 걷다가 저 아래 언덕길로 마차 한 대가 내려오는 것을 보았어요.
그 마차에는 가구와 화분, 새장에 든 카나리아까지 잔뜩 실려 있었고, 그 꼭대기에는 붉은 재킷을 입은 젊은 여성이 앉아 있었어요. 마차는 갑자기 멈춰 섰어요. 길 어딘가에서 짐받이 뒤판이 떨어져 나갔던 것이었고, 마부는 그것을 찾으러 되돌아 뛰어갔어요. 짐 위에 홀로 남겨진 젊은 여성은 마부가 돌아오는지 이따금 살피며 기다렸어요.
아무도 보고 있지 않다고 확신하자, 그녀는 종이로 싸인 작은 꾸러미를 꺼내 끈을 풀었어요. 그 안에는 작은 거울이 들어 있었고, 그녀는 거울을 들어 자신의 모습을 비춰 보며 천천히 미소 지었어요. 산울타리 뒤에서 여전히 지켜보던 가브리엘은, 그녀가 그렇게 자신을 비춰 볼 특별한 이유가 없었을 거라고 생각했어요.
마부가 돌아오자 그녀는 재빨리 거울을 숨겼고, 마차는 다시 언덕 아래 통행료 징수소를 향해 굴러갔어요. 그곳에서 문지기와 마부는 몇 펜스의 통행료를 두고 실랑이를 벌였고, 젊은 여성은 한 푼도 더 내지 않겠다고 버텼어요.
걸어서 뒤따라온 가브리엘은 그 작은 실랑이를 듣고 앞으로 나서서, 모자란 통행료를 직접 내주었어요. 문지기가 문을 열어 주었고, 젊은 여성은 잠깐 가브리엘을 내려다보더니 마부에게 그만 가자고 말했어요. 그녀는 그가 무엇을 해 주었는지 분명 알았을 텐데도, 말 한마디로도 고맙다는 인사를 하지 않았어요.
마차가 길 저편으로 사라진 뒤, 문지기는 그녀가 미인이라고 말했어요. "하지만 저 여자에게도 결점이 있지요." 가브리엘은 산울타리 뒤에서 본 거울을 떠올리며 대답했어요. 문지기가 그게 무슨 결점이냐고 묻자, 가브리엘은 그저 이렇게 말했어요. "허영심이지요." 그러고는 걸어갔어요.
Original text
Now read the original
You just read an easy retelling. Here is the same passage exactly as the author wrote it — unabridged, split into short readings.
Chapter 1 · 2,010 words · 4 short readings
Read the originalComprehension Check
1. Why did the wagon suddenly stop on the hill road?
2. What did the young woman do while she waited alone on the wagon?
3. What fault does Gabriel name at the end of the scene, and why?
Vocabulary
adjective
steady
착실한, 안정된
Gabriel Oak was twenty-eight years old, and everyone in Norcombe agreed he was a steady, decent farmer.
가브리엘 오크는 스물여덟 살이었고, 노르콤 사람들은 모두 그가 착실하고 반듯한 농부라는 데 동의했어요.
Your Summary
In 1–2 sentences, say what Gabriel means when he calls the young woman's fault "vanity," and what the scene reveals about each of them.
Source: Adapted from the opening of Chapter 1 ("Description of Farmer Oak — An Incident") of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (1874; Project Gutenberg #27, long in the public domain). This simplified retelling and its Korean translation are original text written for SeoJae Story.
Read this with your book club
Share this chapter with your book club and discuss it together.