The Gentle Euphemia or Love Shall Be Lord of All

Set in medeval Europe, Trollope’s tale recounts Euphemia, the daughter of Count Grandnostrel, succumbing to her love for Lord Mountfidget. Having heard of Euphemia’s beauty, Mountfidget seeks to drink “blood-red wine” with her father and begin courting her. Euphemia, however, has devoted herself to the tutor, Alasco, a grey-bearded classical scholar, and denies she will ever be overcome by love. Meanwhile, Mountfidget journeys to Grandnostrel with a plentiful supply of swine and beeves (steers), but along the way, his livestock is confiscate and killed due to a royal statue, which mandates that no livestock should be driven on the highway. Mountfidget arrives empty-handed and is refused entry into the castle; Grandnostrel even orders his archers to fire poison arrows at Mountfidget, whose is grazed on the neck. Euphemia and Alasco abscond into the woods where they come upon the cottage in which Mountfidget has taken refuge. Alasco has Euphemia deliver a cure for the poison of the arrow. The story concludes with all going back to the castle and the foreshadowed union of Euphemia and Mountfidget.