DUNE Page #24

---

A group of Fremen rushes towards the body, shrouds it in a carpet and carries it off into a corner of the cave. Chani sadly helps Paul to get dressed. Paul is radiant, drunk with his victory.

CHANI:

Why did you behave like a murderer?

Paul’s happiness immediately clouds over. From the other side of the cave, Stilgar remarks.

STILGAR:

When the time comes when you’ll have to defy me to take my place, I hope you won’t play with me as you did with Jamis. We kill with dignity!

PAUL:

(sadly)

I wasn’t playing with him. I couldn’t... I didn’t want to.

JESSICA:

It’s the first time my son has killed a man with a side-arm.

All the Fremen murmur admiringly.

STILGAR:

That’s why you asked him to surrender? Now we understand. It’s good to know we haven’t taken a scorpion in among us.

Stilgar runs towards Paul and kisses him. Chani comes over to them. The Fremen shout a cry of triumph. A few “Mahdi” can be heard.

STILGAR:

You must have a man’s name. Which would you like?

PAUL:

What’s the name of the mouse that jumps through the desert?

STILGAR:

Muad’Dib! That’s a good choice. Muad’Dib has the wisdom of the desert. She sleeps by day and hunts at night. She’s fertile and doesn’t abandon her young. Muad’Dib, we wish you welcome among us.

Stilgar puts the palm of his right hand on Paul’s forehead, then kisses him, murmuring ““Muad’Dib”. Chani follows suit, then the other Fremen kiss Paul and call him “Muad’Dib”.

A group of old fremen women is preparing the funeral ceremony. There is not much light. Jamis’ body is lying shrouded in a carpet. He is much smaller than when he was alive. Near him a transparent flask, containing six liters of murky water, has been placed.

Around the body, the women are arranging an eight-petal flower with the help of variously colored cloth pieces. In a corner Paul is resting, leaning on his mother’s knees. Chani arrives, carrying a steaming dish in her right hand. With her left hand, she takes the flask filled with water, and goes and places it, together with the dish, at the feet of Paul and Jessica. On one plate, two roast birds are bathed in a blue spice sauce. Paul starts eating. Chani hands him the flask full of water.

CHANI:

It’s Jamis’ water. It belongs to the victor, so that he can recover the water lost during the fight.

PAUL:

(with disgust)

I don’t want it.

CHANI:

But... it’s water!

Jessica realizes the importance which Chani attaches to water.

JESSICA:

(to Paul, in the VOICE)

Take the water!

Paul understands, changes his attitude immediately and takes the flask.

CHANI:

Water was the first creation; it produced life.

Paul, overcoming his revulsion, takes a long drink out of the flask.

CHANI:

Now, eat!

Jessica and Paul eat the birds. The spice immediately affects Paul who becomes motionless, falling under a vision.

INTERIOR:
GOVERNMENT PALACE HALL - PAUL’S VISION.

Paul, now adult, is standing in front of the Emperor, his family, the soldiers, the Fremen, the Bene Guesserit and the Guild representatives. At his feet Feyd Rautha is lying dead. Count Fenring attacks Paul and sinks a dagger into his back. Paul collapses, dead. Jessica and Chani scream.

INTERIOR:
SIETCH CAVE.

The floral arrangement around Jamis’ body has been finished. On the periphery of the cave green hanging tapestries can be seen. The Fremen, all wearing green coats sit around the body, forming an eight-cornered star which prolongs the eight petal flower design.

Stilgar and Chani are standing beside the body. Paul and Jessica, at the other end, are also wearing green coats. The Fremen are intoning a funeral hymn while swaying backwards and forwards.

A Krys is shining on Jamis’ body. The few possessions left by Jamis are lying beside him; a distilling device, a manual, a handkerchief, an automatic hammer, hooks, and a balisette.

Paul presses the flask containing Jamis’ water. A line shows how much water is left.

STILGAR:

Where the root is, there the ash is. Jamis return to the place where days disappear. Jamis has given his water back to the water.

FREMEN:

As long as we live, Jamis will live!

Chani brings a large vase. She takes the flask held by Paul and pours the remaining water into the large vase. Chani is also holding a leather bag full of water, which she pours into the vase.

STILGAR:

Jamis had thirty three liters, seven drams and three seconds of the tribe’s water. We bless that water.

ALL THE FREMEN:

Blessed be it!

Stilgar takes out a series of rings from a casket. He counts them like coins.

STILGAR:

Thirty three liters, seven drams and three seconds.

There are three types of ring. Stilgar gives them to Chani, who shows them to Paul.

CHANI:

This is Muad’Dib’s share. Let him keep it and give it back at the end of his life for the good of the tribe.

ALL:

Bilal Kaifa.

Chani gives him the rings, Paul not knowing what to do was them, keeps them in his hand.

CHANI:

Later I’ll show you how to wrap them in a handkerchief so that they don’t ring when silence is necessary.

Paul hands the rings back to Chani.

PAUL:

Could you keep them for me?

The Fremen smile and whistle maliciously. Chani blushes, and gives the rings back to Paul. Stilgar laughs softly.

STILGAR:

You don’t know our customs, Muad’Dib. Proposing to a woman that she keep your water measures means...

Paul looks at Chani and understands. On the adolescent’s face, love and anguish can be seen. Paul takes her hand and gives her back the rings.

PAUL:

Can you keep my rings?

CHANI:

Where I am the water, let you be the tree!

THE FREMEN:

Bilal Kaifa.

The Fremen solemnly intone a chant and surround the body. Chani and Paul carry away the large vase containing the water.

INTERIOR:
WATER CAVE.

Chani and Paul come down a stairway cut into the stone. They are in an enormous cave, the ground of which is a basin full of water. The distant banks are hardly visible. The reflections of the water transform the cave into a cathedral. Paul stops dead at the sight of this place:

PAUL:

I know this place. I saw it in a dream.

INTERIOR:
DREAMY EFFECTS

Bloody images of a religious crusade: fires, bodies, fanatical Fremen screaming “Muad’Dib” ... Paul, now an adult, is at the head of the Fremen, brandishing a blood-stained Krys. Madness can be read on his face.

INTERIOR:
WATER CAVE.

Chani and Paul are coming down the bottom steps to the stairway. They are standing in front of a water-counting machine. Paul helps Chani to empty the water. A needle show the quantity of liquid poured out.

CHANI:

Exactly thirty three liters, seven drama, and three seconds.

Paul bends down to touch the water. Chani stops him.

CHANI:

Men dying of thirst came here and didn’t touch this water. We now have more than thirty three million decalitres of it.

PAUL:

How long have you been collecting this water?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes