text: The title character of this novel disobeys a town council by waving a homemade flag on the carriage of a Royal Personage.
full_question: The title character of this novel disobeys a town council by waving a homemade flag on the carriage of a Royal Personage. After finding a starved goldfinch in a cage, one character in this novel finds a man dead in Abel Whittle's cottage. A character in this novel suffers a seizure after seeing a "skimmity-ride". A merchant in this novel loses his money after receiving bad advice from a weather prophet. After Lucetta miscarries and dies in this novel, Donald Farfrae remarries with Elizabeth-Jane, who the title character had drunkenly sold. For 10 points, name this Thomas Hardy novel in which Michael Henchard gains and loses the title office.
first_sentence: The title character of this novel disobeys a town council by waving a homemade flag on the carriage of a Royal Personage.
raw_answer: The Mayor of Casterbridge