Goltzius and the Pelican Company Page #5

---

- Shame on you!

- Deceit!

And deceit and deceit, and deceit on her.

And on her husband,

who was so tirelessly loyal.

He stayed away

because he preferred

- the company of his soldiers.

- Hey, what now?

Are you seeking excuses for David?

Are you accusing Bathsheba's

husband of being a sodomite

to excuse David's miserable behaviour?

- God had a purpose.

- Ah! You may depend he did!

Enough! Take this man

and shut his mouth.

Objection, objection.

You invited us here because

of your reputation for free speech.

Because you do not like

what he says, you shut him up?

What is that, free speech?

So that he can speak with a dirty mouth?

And you Margrave,

you certainly did enjoy yourself.

Because I saw you smile

and I saw you sweat a little

and I saw you lift your backside

as your prick rose.

And when I looked in your

window at half past midnight,

I saw you sucking your wife's nipples

and rubbing your fingers into her c*nt.

Shut up! You had no business

looking in my window!

And why? Because it wasn't

your wife you were abusing,

but her two little 14-year old sisters?

Enough! Shut him up.

Stop this wheel.

Get him! Take him away!

Take him away! Arrest him!

Get out!

You could say

the story really starts here.

Signor Quadfrey?

Madam.

I have something for you.

I am certain it is Herr Goltzius' property.

My husband and his brother

had appropriated it.

Good Lord!

Goltzius has been looking

for that, believing it stolen.

He will be pleased to have it returned.

You see, we are all in it.

And with, sometimes,

alarming frankness.

You see madam, here you are,

easily identifiable by your fulsome belly.

I feel that you could touch and hold

and breathe

in the company of a woman

with much care.

Madam, on that stage I was acting.

I am surprised that,

though you all profess to be

in the new trade of printing,

you are all so accomplished

on the stage.

There are pans of the anatomy, madam,

that appear to know what to do

without rehearsal.

Consequently,

there is... much satisfaction

in a good natural performance

simply for its own sake.

I wish I could believe that of myself.

Oh, do I hear of disappointment?

Do I detect evidence of a belief

in a poor performance?

That cannot surely be,

otherwise, I imagine madam...

...you would not be inhabiting

the fulsome good shape I see before me.

I should also say that the printing

presses of the northern world

have always been closely associated

with the acting profession.

There was, and is, a third reason.

Commercial necessity.

The Pelican Company was

on short shrift.

We were only running

so far in advance of our debts.

Performing on the stage

was only a way

to make it possible for us

to perform in books.

The two are not so very,

very, very...

...very different.

Hey toad.

You can be the Margrave.

Slimy in character, if not looks.

Sluggish.

Are you sluggish?

Amphibious.

A watery sort of complexion.

And...

warty body.

I wouldn't know.

We would have to strip

the Margrave and see.

Persistently living close to water.

Hidden genitals, no big prick.

No big prick?

Come on, show me your prick.

I don't see your prick, toady.

So perhaps you're female?

Wouldn't know about the Margrave.

Don't think he's a female.

He fancies Adaela.

"The Princess and the Toad"!

Watch out

you don't turn into a prince, toady!

Oh, if you touch my Adaela,

you'll end up with a stake in your heart.

Hey! A awaken!

A croaker!

Does that mean... Does that mean

someone is gonna die?

Where is Boethius?

You mean the heretic?

In jail, where he belongs

What will happen to him?

For the moment I suspect simply nothing.

Later - interrogation, education.

Torture.

You mean to get him

to change his mind? I doubt it.

We wouldn't bother our engineers.

They are expensive.

What, anyway, is torture nowadays?

Watching that younger daughter of Lot

the other night,

not being able to touch her, hold her,

kiss her, stroke her body,

was torture.

Signor, on Boethius

your use of torture would not work.

You'd be surprised, you really would.

Physical pain changes everyone's mind.

I will make you a bargain.

Release this man from

the possibility of his torture

and I will endeavour to release you

from the possibility of your torture.

Why on earth

would you want to support

a man who denies God?

Because, Margrave, he is intelligent,

amusing and he makes me think,

and think hard.

He upsets every complacency

and prejudice that is in me,

and I like that.

That man is valuable to me.

And, may I suggest - to you.

Only as a creature

who has introduced me

to his mistress's delightful,

desirable body.

But, Mr. Pornographer,

see what you can do.

I give you one day and one night.

Then, who knows?

Your writer needs his fingers to write.

Madam, you are married

to the Margrave of Alsace.

A mighty match.

And you are very pregnant.

Could you be really aware

of the time you are spending here

alone with me?

Yes, lam.

Why are you prepared

to take such mighty risks?

I, I saw you as...

I wanted to see my husband.

And I was... I was jealous

of what he was not and you were.

Soon, I will give birth to a boy.

And then my freedom,

any freedom will be gone.

Completely gone.

I will be the Mother Queen.

- A fated...

- Hm, oh, yeah!

...and very closely watched

and never private woman.

Give me a last night of freedom

with a man who could play the ideal...

...which I might want to see

in my husband.

Madam, I'm sure and certain...

...that your child will be

breast-fed by a wet nurse.

So I will have access.

So I, alone, will have access

to suckle your breasts.

Roman Charity.

The suckling of an adult male on milk-

straight from the source,

so to speak, huh?

Classic story is Cimon and Pero.

The elderly Cimon is imprisoned

by his political enemies

to a death by starvation.

His daughter, Pero,

mother of a young baby,

visits him in prison

and feeds him from her breast.

Supreme sacrifice?

A love for a father that knows no limit?

Paternal demand

that brooks no disobedience?

Belated sublimated incest?

Sheer titillation?

Successive painters uphold sacrifice,

emphasize devotion, expose hypocrisy,

advertise the erotic,

debase daughterly concern.

Come.

Take me,

as you look Bathsheba, King David.

Go! Go, Quadfrey!

- Quadfrey, for Christ's sake!

- We are discovered.

Get going, swim downstream.

Have you been watching us all the time?

Yes. You weren't so bad.

I've got a bigger prick than you

and her arse looked inviting.

I liked the way

she had your prick on reins...

- F***ing shut f***ing up.

- You'd better get out, and quick!

There's a trapdoor.

Adaela will surely be there.

See if you can get her to hide you.

For Christ's sake,

they'll have your prick as a trophy.

Go! You will lose your head

if they catch you.

His head?

He'll lose his prick first.

Have you noticed there are

no black children in this palace?

You'd think there should be,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes