Europe

Europe is the promised destination at the center of the final arrangement for George Glenn’s flock: his will leaves them his fortune so they can travel there, as he had promised. The destination is never described as a place the sheep have reached. Instead, it gathers force as a hope secured by legal provisions, given shape by the flock’s own pastoral imaginings, and made imminent when Rebecca agrees to shepherd them.

The Destination Promised in the Will

The lawyer’s reading turns Europe from a promise associated with George into a concrete purpose for his estate. After the lawyer names the amount of George’s remaining fortune, he announces that it is left to the sheep so they can go to Europe. He confirms that the bequest is legally valid and that he will administer the money. The will therefore makes Europe more than a figure of speech: it is the stated destination for which the flock’s inheritance is intended.

That promise also acquires emotional weight through Rebecca’s story about a little girl with two fathers, one secret and one acknowledged. In the story, the girl and her secret father fall out; later, he writes that he plans to travel to Europe and wants to see her first. She hides her happiness and keeps him waiting, and he dies before they meet. The story presents Europe as part of George and Rebecca’s painful history: a journey he planned, and a reunion that never took place. It lends the flock’s future journey an intimate connection to the promise George made and to the loss Rebecca is beginning to face.

A Journey Governed by Care

The will does not leave the journey’s practical arrangements to chance. The sheep need an authorized representative to accompany them as their shepherd, and George’s instructions specify that person’s rights and duties. Those duties include having stories read aloud to the sheep for at least half an hour each day. The lawyer is to check that the conditions are met, making him not only the administrator of the money but also an external monitor of the flock’s care.

Other conditions define what Europe is meant to offer the sheep. None may be sold or slaughtered, and breeding is to prioritize a dense fleece rather than economic efficiency. The representative receives a salary, but it decreases whenever a sheep dies. Together, these clauses frame the journey as a protected future for the flock, not simply a transfer to a new pasture. The sheep are beneficiaries of the will, while the shepherd’s authority is limited by terms designed to preserve their lives and welfare.

Choosing Who Will Lead Them

The villagers’ response makes the appointment a contest over who will control the journey and the fortune. Some appear interested in the paid position, but remain quiet while Gabriel stands beside the lawyer. When the lawyer asks whether anyone else wants the job, Rebecca volunteers. Her willingness matters to the sheep: they are relieved that Gabriel will not be the one taking them to Europe.

Gabriel tries to attract the flock with his gentle Gaelic singing, but Othello steps forward, looks at him, and calmly trots to Rebecca. The others gather around her in turn. Their unanimous choice gives the sheep a visible part in a legal process that initially depends on the lawyer’s judgment: Rebecca is appointed not merely because she offers herself, but because the flock follows her. The lawyer then wishes George Glenn’s sheep a good time in Europe and closes his briefcase.

The Flock’s Imagined Europe and Its Departure

The sheep understand little of the legal discussion, but they understand the destination. As they return to the meadow, Europe becomes, in their minds, a huge pasture full of apple trees. That image gives the unfamiliar journey a form they can recognize: not a map or an itinerary, but an abundant grazing place. Their imagined Europe stands in contrast to the vulnerable future they might have faced without George’s inheritance and the will’s protections.

At the novel’s end, Rebecca tells the sheep they are leaving for Europe the following day, very early, and warns them not to be sleepy. Tess follows her into the caravan. The departure is now immediate, but the evidence ends before the flock reaches its destination. Europe remains both a real journey arranged through George’s estate and a hope the sheep have pictured in their own terms: a place ahead, still unseen, where the flock can go together.