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(Redirected from Shepherd of the Hills)
'''The Shepherd of the Hills''' is a book written in 1907 by author Harold Bell Wright. It depicts a mostly fictional story of mountain folklore, and has been translated into seven languages since its release. It is also depicted in a popular outdoor play numerous times each week in eleven of twelve months each year, in Branson, Missouri. The play features more than 80 actors, 40 horses, and an actual nightly burning of the cabin. [1] [2]
Author Harold Bell Wright began visiting the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas in 1898, at the bidding of his physician, who recommended two vacations a year in a more suitable climate for health reasons. In following his doctor's advice he became acquainted with John and Anna Ross, known locally as 'Old Matt' and 'Aunt Mollie'. The people he encountered during his eight summers spent camping on the Ross's land were the inspirations for his characters in the book. [3] [4]
The story depicts the lives of a mountain people living in the Ozarks and the mystery surrounding an old man called 'The Shepherd of the Hills', who's called 'Dad Howitt'. The backdrop storyline surrounds the pretty Samantha Lane, called 'Sammy', and her love of 'Young Matt', Grant Matthews. 'The shepherd', an elderly, mysterious, learned man, escapes the buzzing restlessness of the city to live in the backwoods neighborhood of ''Mutton Hollow'' in the Ozark hills.
The story slowly builds up to an inevitable confrontation between 'Young Matt', and the story's bad guy, 'Wash Gibbs'. Gibbs leads a marauding gang of outlaws, called 'The Baldknobbers', who terrorize the countryside wearing frightening masks with horns at their top, and who rob banks and settlers as they see fit. It centers around the backdrop of 'young Matt' and 'Sammy' becoming lovers, but with 'Wash Gibbs' being jealous, and wanting 'Sammy' for his own, and with another ''city feller'' named Ollie, who also wishes to marry 'Sammy'.
The ''main'' story, however, is the ''history'' shared by Grant Matthews Sr., called 'Old Matt', and 'the Shepherd', involving the daughter that 'Old Matt' lost, and her orphaned son, young 'Pete'. Throughout the story, there is a ghostly person, masked, and always hiding in the shadows, who befriends young 'Pete Howard'. 'Dad Howitt' spends his time alone, and acts as a mediator and friend to the mountain people, trying to recover from his tragic past, which includes the assumed madness and subsequent suicide of his only surviving child, his artist son.
The Shepherd has become friends with the Matthews family, the strongest, most respected family in the hills. They love and trust him. Unbeknownst to them, the man who betrayed their daughter, the father of her illegitmate son, little Pete, was the Shepherd's son.
Years earlier, the Sheperd's son had returned home after spending time painting in the mountains, and one of his paintings became famous, as did the son. That painting was of a young girl, pretty, standing beside a creek, and was the Matthews girl, daughter to 'Old Matt'. The son had fallen in love with the Matthews girl, but he believed that his father's pride of family and place would never allow him to be reconciled to a marriage to an Ozark country girl. He packs up his paintings and returns to the city, leaving the girl with the impression that he's returning, but from the city he sends her a letter explaining that hs father's pride and high social position make it impossible for him to ever marry the girl. He keeps the girl and his relations with her a secret from his father, but this secrecy drove a wedge between the young man and his father, although his father never understood why. Meanwhile, his love for the Matthews girl and his guilt over abandoning her was slowly driving him insane.
Some years passed, and the son became increasingly depressed, and eventually leaves behind his city life, feigning a suicide. He goes to the Ozarks and learns the Matthews girl is dead, but that he has a son who suffers from some mental instability. The young man hides in the woods, befriending his son and living like a hermit, trying to atone for the wrongs he has done.
'The Shepherd' is suffering a mental breakdown of his own over the presumed death of his son (his wife and daughter died many years before). A pastor, he realizes that his faith has never been real to him, that he has no knowledge or understanding of the Good Shepherd he is supposed to be representing as a pastor himself, and this crisis of faith pushes him over the edge. His doctor recommends he take a long vacation, so he changes his name and spends some time wandering around the country, rediscovering and strengthening his faith. Eventually he moves to the hills to connect with what his son loved most. Here he finally learns of his son's secret, the subsequent death of the Mathews girl's death, and that young 'Pete' is his grandson. He keeps this and his true identity from everyone, knowing that 'Old Matt' has sworn he will kill the son who abandoned his daughter as well as his proud and arrogant father if ever he sees them. He also hopes to do what he can to atone for his son's crime and intends to spend the rest of his life helping these people and teaching them about the true Shepherd.
It is later discovered, although only as he lies dying of a gunshot wound, that the ghostly character who lurks in the shadows throughout the story is the son. He has befriended his biological son 'Pete' and only allows himself to be seen by him. His father, 'the Shepherd', discovers this only shortly before his son is shot while risking his life to save others. We learn that his son had lived for these many years in the mountains, finding it to be the only way to be close to his son, young 'Pete'.
'The Shepherd' then confesses his identity to 'Old Matt,' and tells him that the betrayer of his daughter is still alive, but dying and desires to be forgiven. After 'the Shepherd's' confession, 'Old Matt', angry, finds it within himself to forgive both father and son, and he and 'the Shepherd' go to the bedside of the 'Shepherd's' dying son.
The son looks on at the painting of the Matthews girl, seemingly unaware that her family and his father was present. He speaks to her, then he speaks of their life together, saying "I loved her, I--LOVED--HER. She was my natural mate. My other self. I belonged to her, she to me".
For a time he lays exhausted, then he rises on his arms, and says, "Do you hear her? She is calling. She is calling again! Yes sweetheart, yes dear, I am coming!" With that, the son dies.
The story then skips ahead many years, to an artist wandering through the mountains, looking for inspiration. He meets an older man, and they address one another in the usual manner. The two men converse casually for a time. For a few days they see one another regularly, conversing, and one day the old man invites the artist to his home. Inside, the artist takes special note of how nicely decorated the home is, and is especially interested in one room, where paintings of good quality are hanging. He notices that the largest painting is veiled, hiding its content. The old man never offers to show the young artist that painting, and the young artist does not ask, but remains curious. The artist leaves the mountains, but returns the following summer.
He is greeted by the mountain folk, those closest to the old man, and discovers that the old man had died. It was then that as per requested by the old man, the veiled painting is revealed to the young artist, who then becomes excited, knowing it immediately as the famous lost painting painted by 'Mad Howard', as the 'Shepherds' son had been dubbed. The young artist asks excitedly "Where did you find it!" At which time they enter into another room, as they begin telling the story of the Matthews girl, the artist, the guilt-ridden old man, and the larger story of atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption.[5]
★ The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theatre Official Website
★ Text of the story at Project Gutenberg
'''The Shepherd of the Hills''' is a book written in 1907 by author Harold Bell Wright. It depicts a mostly fictional story of mountain folklore, and has been translated into seven languages since its release. It is also depicted in a popular outdoor play numerous times each week in eleven of twelve months each year, in Branson, Missouri. The play features more than 80 actors, 40 horses, and an actual nightly burning of the cabin. [1] [2]
Author Harold Bell Wright began visiting the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas in 1898, at the bidding of his physician, who recommended two vacations a year in a more suitable climate for health reasons. In following his doctor's advice he became acquainted with John and Anna Ross, known locally as 'Old Matt' and 'Aunt Mollie'. The people he encountered during his eight summers spent camping on the Ross's land were the inspirations for his characters in the book. [3] [4]
| Contents |
| Plot summary |
| External links |
Plot summary
The story depicts the lives of a mountain people living in the Ozarks and the mystery surrounding an old man called 'The Shepherd of the Hills', who's called 'Dad Howitt'. The backdrop storyline surrounds the pretty Samantha Lane, called 'Sammy', and her love of 'Young Matt', Grant Matthews. 'The shepherd', an elderly, mysterious, learned man, escapes the buzzing restlessness of the city to live in the backwoods neighborhood of ''Mutton Hollow'' in the Ozark hills.
The story slowly builds up to an inevitable confrontation between 'Young Matt', and the story's bad guy, 'Wash Gibbs'. Gibbs leads a marauding gang of outlaws, called 'The Baldknobbers', who terrorize the countryside wearing frightening masks with horns at their top, and who rob banks and settlers as they see fit. It centers around the backdrop of 'young Matt' and 'Sammy' becoming lovers, but with 'Wash Gibbs' being jealous, and wanting 'Sammy' for his own, and with another ''city feller'' named Ollie, who also wishes to marry 'Sammy'.
The ''main'' story, however, is the ''history'' shared by Grant Matthews Sr., called 'Old Matt', and 'the Shepherd', involving the daughter that 'Old Matt' lost, and her orphaned son, young 'Pete'. Throughout the story, there is a ghostly person, masked, and always hiding in the shadows, who befriends young 'Pete Howard'. 'Dad Howitt' spends his time alone, and acts as a mediator and friend to the mountain people, trying to recover from his tragic past, which includes the assumed madness and subsequent suicide of his only surviving child, his artist son.
The Shepherd has become friends with the Matthews family, the strongest, most respected family in the hills. They love and trust him. Unbeknownst to them, the man who betrayed their daughter, the father of her illegitmate son, little Pete, was the Shepherd's son.
Years earlier, the Sheperd's son had returned home after spending time painting in the mountains, and one of his paintings became famous, as did the son. That painting was of a young girl, pretty, standing beside a creek, and was the Matthews girl, daughter to 'Old Matt'. The son had fallen in love with the Matthews girl, but he believed that his father's pride of family and place would never allow him to be reconciled to a marriage to an Ozark country girl. He packs up his paintings and returns to the city, leaving the girl with the impression that he's returning, but from the city he sends her a letter explaining that hs father's pride and high social position make it impossible for him to ever marry the girl. He keeps the girl and his relations with her a secret from his father, but this secrecy drove a wedge between the young man and his father, although his father never understood why. Meanwhile, his love for the Matthews girl and his guilt over abandoning her was slowly driving him insane.
Some years passed, and the son became increasingly depressed, and eventually leaves behind his city life, feigning a suicide. He goes to the Ozarks and learns the Matthews girl is dead, but that he has a son who suffers from some mental instability. The young man hides in the woods, befriending his son and living like a hermit, trying to atone for the wrongs he has done.
'The Shepherd' is suffering a mental breakdown of his own over the presumed death of his son (his wife and daughter died many years before). A pastor, he realizes that his faith has never been real to him, that he has no knowledge or understanding of the Good Shepherd he is supposed to be representing as a pastor himself, and this crisis of faith pushes him over the edge. His doctor recommends he take a long vacation, so he changes his name and spends some time wandering around the country, rediscovering and strengthening his faith. Eventually he moves to the hills to connect with what his son loved most. Here he finally learns of his son's secret, the subsequent death of the Mathews girl's death, and that young 'Pete' is his grandson. He keeps this and his true identity from everyone, knowing that 'Old Matt' has sworn he will kill the son who abandoned his daughter as well as his proud and arrogant father if ever he sees them. He also hopes to do what he can to atone for his son's crime and intends to spend the rest of his life helping these people and teaching them about the true Shepherd.
It is later discovered, although only as he lies dying of a gunshot wound, that the ghostly character who lurks in the shadows throughout the story is the son. He has befriended his biological son 'Pete' and only allows himself to be seen by him. His father, 'the Shepherd', discovers this only shortly before his son is shot while risking his life to save others. We learn that his son had lived for these many years in the mountains, finding it to be the only way to be close to his son, young 'Pete'.
'The Shepherd' then confesses his identity to 'Old Matt,' and tells him that the betrayer of his daughter is still alive, but dying and desires to be forgiven. After 'the Shepherd's' confession, 'Old Matt', angry, finds it within himself to forgive both father and son, and he and 'the Shepherd' go to the bedside of the 'Shepherd's' dying son.
The son looks on at the painting of the Matthews girl, seemingly unaware that her family and his father was present. He speaks to her, then he speaks of their life together, saying "I loved her, I--LOVED--HER. She was my natural mate. My other self. I belonged to her, she to me".
For a time he lays exhausted, then he rises on his arms, and says, "Do you hear her? She is calling. She is calling again! Yes sweetheart, yes dear, I am coming!" With that, the son dies.
The story then skips ahead many years, to an artist wandering through the mountains, looking for inspiration. He meets an older man, and they address one another in the usual manner. The two men converse casually for a time. For a few days they see one another regularly, conversing, and one day the old man invites the artist to his home. Inside, the artist takes special note of how nicely decorated the home is, and is especially interested in one room, where paintings of good quality are hanging. He notices that the largest painting is veiled, hiding its content. The old man never offers to show the young artist that painting, and the young artist does not ask, but remains curious. The artist leaves the mountains, but returns the following summer.
He is greeted by the mountain folk, those closest to the old man, and discovers that the old man had died. It was then that as per requested by the old man, the veiled painting is revealed to the young artist, who then becomes excited, knowing it immediately as the famous lost painting painted by 'Mad Howard', as the 'Shepherds' son had been dubbed. The young artist asks excitedly "Where did you find it!" At which time they enter into another room, as they begin telling the story of the Matthews girl, the artist, the guilt-ridden old man, and the larger story of atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption.[5]
External links
★ The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theatre Official Website
★ Text of the story at Project Gutenberg
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