Far from the Madding Crowd 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. 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".
The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife The King who would have a Beautiful Wife or The King Who Wanted a Beautiful Wife is an Italian fairy tale collected by Laura Gonzenbach in "Sicilianische Märchen". Thomas Crane included in his "Italian Popular Tales", and Andrew Lang, in "The Pink Fairy Book". Italo Calvino included a variant The Three Crones, from Venice, in "Italian Folktales". A king was determined to find a beautiful wife. He himself, searched high and low to find the love he so desired, but he failed to do so . Finally, he sent a trustworthy servant