Goltzius and the Pelican Company Page #9

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- No!

- Well then, no more dancing.

I want my lover.

Release John the Baptist.

No! Never!

- Never!

- Herod. Herod.

Margrave, men.

Just give her what she wants.

Fulfill the ending of the story.

There are plenty more birds in the trees

and you have me for ever.

We all know what happened

to John the Baptist.

Give her what she wants.

His prick and his head

do not have to remain on his body.

- Do it.

- Very well.

- You can have what you want.

- Have him brought here.

I want him to see me dance as well.

Bring him! Fetch him!

Now dance!

Dance!

Now, you must pay the price.

You must let me take what you agreed.

I will not be intimidated.

Go on!

Give it to her.

Give her the worthless head

and the pathetic prick she so desires.

Give her what she asked for.

No, you wouldn't dare!

Wait.

Wait. What about your...

What about your reputation

for mercy, for clemency?

If you do it, you will be cursed!

I will curse you,

and you will die a miserable death.

You will be eaten by worms.

Ooh-hoo, worms!

Adaela, the wordy worm.

The noisy worms!

Margrave, her predisposition for worms

needs attention.

If she says

you will be consumed by worms...

...then she will be right.

Shut your noisy mouth, Boethius.

Do it! Do it! Do it!

She provokes you. Do it!

She is making a fool of you.

Do it!

Yeah.

Then the whole thing turned sour.

It was meant to be

an acted metaphor.

It became a bloody reality.

I had transgressed.

Moving to the New Testament

had shifted my focus.

Adaela suffered such

that she could turn her life

into a personal mythology

that would always dramatise her

and give her existence

a black and melodramatic focus.

Maybe I was the one

who suffered most.

I am the Margrave!

It was time for my best speech.

My lords, maybe it is the greatest irony

that the most unrepentant

non-believer, William Boethius,

a man who has often explained

his beliefs here in this court,

should play the pan of one

of the most prominent true believers

and prophets of Christianity,

Johannes the Baptist,

and be executed in his place.

Shame. Shame.

Maybe we might take

the metaphor further

and consider that William Boethius

is a prophet of the unbelief to come,

like Johannes was a prophet

of Christus and Christianity.

Boethius may be an exception now,

but in the future,

his sort might be the common

and perhaps the ordinary,

in a way that believing Christians

are now the common and the ordinary.

50,000 for a new printing press.

100,000 for an illustrated

Old Testament.

Please sign.

We expect to see results.

The Margrave's power is not so little.

His arm of influence

could be considerable.

All the way to The Hague

in the Netherlands.

Princes talk not infrequently to princes.

We had got what we wanted -

exactly and absolutely.

And I certainly got what I wanted.

I now had the time and the freedom

to afford to do exactly

what I had always wanted to do,

which is to paint.

It has not gone unnoticed

that you carry with you

a book of drawings to which,

if I am not mistaken,

you constantly make contributions.

I'm willing to give you, um...

50,000 for it.

You may take the money now.

But soon in Rome we will meet.

I expect you to bring me

your little book.

You see how I trust you?

I met Cardinal Ricardo in Rome,

and Susannah was there.

Susannah's face stays with us all,

as indeed do other

characteristics of her anatomy.

50 copies of the illustrated

Old Testament, as demanded.

I am to deliver them in person,

and, if satisfactory,

we enter into the second part

of the commission -

an illustrated book of Ovid.

"Leda and the Swan",

"Ganymedus and the Eagle",

"Europa and the Bull",

"Callisto and Diana".

Lo, f***ed in a cloud of Jupiter.

And "Danae and the Shower of Gold".

And the Margrave is no longer in charge.

He is considered insane,

and ferried about his palaces

on a wheeled bed.

Don't cry.

Don't, don't. It's all right.

You see?

The mood of the court is

entirely changed.

They say that winter has been banished,

and the court is gay and infectious.

I look forward to return.

And I wish you, of course,

every lechery

that you could wish for yourself.

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