Ivanhoe Page #2

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I come in peace, milord.

May God reward your mercy.

In peace, I greet you.

Make a place for him at the table,

and give him food and drink.

If hearsay does not lie, you have a ward

of surpassing beauty, milord.

Why is the hall dimmed by the absence

of the brightest flame in Saxon England?

Because, sir knight, we Saxons have learned

to hide our light under a bushel.

Are we condemned never to pay homage

to her?

No Saxon princess seeks homage from

the men who took her lands by conquest...

...threw down her ancient laws

and put her subjects to the sword.

Those well-chewed scraps of bile

were better thrown to the dogs...

...than to Normans.

While such as you were sulking

here at home...

...we held the infidel at bay

in England's name...

...and fell before his fury.

If our blood is red enough

to bleed for England...

...it's red enough to pay homage

to any woman:

Saxon, Norman, Dane or Celt.

Then pay me your homage, sir...

...and let me be the judge of its gallantry.

We pay you homage, milady.

But it must be silent homage,

for words would fail it...

...just as they have failed my friend,

and all but failed me.

I thank you, sir knight.

There are questions

that I would ask of you...

...as soon as your tongue is loose again.

At your command, milady.

What is the news from the Holy Land?

Alas, milady, I can add little

to what you must already know.

The war has ended

in a truceless truce once more...

...and Richard vanished upon the wind

that once made up the better part of him.

Richard should've stayed at home

and kept England...

...and left Jerusalem to be lost

by knights like you...

...who lost it anyway.

Are you for Richard, milord, or for John?

Richard and John had the same mother

One was a Norman

So, what was the other?

Both were Norman, true.

But Richard, with all his faults,

was for England.

And John?

John is for John.

Then you're against John?

That's another Norman question.

Shall I answer it for you, milord?

No, I would have my questions

answered first. Sir knight...

...I believe there were tournaments

between Saxon and Norman knights...

...to prove which was more valiant.

- Aye, milady, in the Holy Land.

The Saxons were at last taught

to bow to their betters.

And yet, I hear the Saxons

won the tournaments.

How does a Saxon lady come to know

so much of such distant matters?

Only from the tales I hear, sir knight.

And I was told that

in the tournament at Acre...

...Richard of England led five

of his Saxon knights into combat...

...and vanquished all

who challenged them.

The one who fell was named De Bracy.

And another, Bois-Guilbert.

True, milady. I blush, but I admit it.

I can still feel the dust in my mouth.

Is it out of your teeth yet, Guilbert?

A broken saddle girth caused my fall,

not the bumpkin of a knight I tilted.

And who was this bumpkin of a knight?

He named himself Wilfred of lvanhoe.

- Ivanhoe?

- Aye, milady.

A friend of Richard's

who vanished as suddenly as his king.

What manner of knight

was he to look upon?

I never saw his face.

Few men did.

But he wore a dragon charge

upon his shield.

I shall know him by that,

if we ever meet again.

- And why did he vanish, sire?

- Because he was a coward.

Coward?

Aye, a coward who fled when there

was no Richard to hide behind...

...before I could challenge him

to meet me.

Then I give you the challenge that lvanhoe

would give to you were he here, sir knight.

And I bid you drink to his honor

as a fellow knight.

And you, milord.

Will you drink to his honor too?

To lvanhoe.

- To lvanhoe.

- To lvanhoe.

Why this Saxon passion

for a stranger, milady?

Lvanhoe was not always a stranger

to these halls.

He's a stranger now.

He was my son.

Was?

Have I been cheated?

You mean he's dead?

He is to me.

I have come at my foster child's request.

Nothing else would've brought me.

What do you want of me?

- Your hand first, sire.

- I do not give it.

Milord, he is still your son.

What do you want of me?

Be brief, for I want none of you.

I will be brief, then.

I have found the king.

- The king is dead.

- He is alive...

...held by Leopold of Austria.

It's all here in his hand.

Read it yourself.

John has left him in chains

so he can steal his throne.

As those two Norman knights in your castle

could testify, if you put them to the sword.

Is it Richard's hand?

Perhaps. Written before they killed him.

I heard his voice, I tell you.

The king is alive.

What is the ransom?

- There's not that sum in England.

- You could pay your share of it.

For what, to buy back Richard's corpse?

I'll use what money I have left to slay

the living Normans, not dig up the dead.

- You'll leave your king to rot, then?

- I'll leave him to mad, wild fools like you...

...who can do neither harm nor good.

Then you force me to choose

between my father and my king.

Choose? Choose between whom?

You have no king, and I have no son.

I bid you take no part in this

nor look upon his face again.

Begone from here within the hour.

What will you do now?

Follow Bois-Guilbert to Ashby

and meet him in the lists.

Be cautious, lvanhoe.

Don't be afraid, Rowena.

Richard will be king again, and we shall be

there to see the crown set upon his head.

Look for me at the tournament

and pray for me.

- Farewell.

- Farewell, and God protect you.

Sir lvanhoe, I heard an old bear

and a young bear growling.

Which one would leave the den?

The young bear, Wamba.

- Alone?

- Alone.

No, sire. I will go with you.

My servant's collar and all.

Is your heart not here

with the Lady Rowena?

No, sire. My heart is in there, with yours.

Then henceforth,

you shall be my squire, Wamba.

Squire? Squire Wamba?

Wamba the squire. Oh, if it weren't for this,

I'd be a gentleman.

We'll have that collar off as soon as

we're away from here.

What...?

Help! Help!

Bind them together, Wamba.

How badly are you hurt?

Only a little.

My home, Sheffield town...

...I want to go back there at once.

- Alone at night? You'd perish.

Even so, I must go back to Sheffield.

Then I shall take you there.

I've trussed them up,

like capons.

Bring our horses and meet me

in the courtyard.

- But, Sir lvanhoe, I have no horse.

- Then steal one.

A gentleman at last and my first task

is to steal a horse.

Take quarters at the sign of the longbow.

I'll join you.

- Master. Master.

- Enough, enough.

All's well with me. Let us in.

- Are you recovered?

- Yes, yes.

And much beholden to you

for your kindness, sire.

Yet there is one question I would ask.

- What is it?

- I heard the jester call you "lvanhoe."

But lvanhoe is Cedric's son,

and Cedric called him dead.

Who are you, then?

I am King Richard's envoy.

Does that make us friends or foes?

It does not make you my foe, sire...

...but then, I am allowed no king.

- Why not?

- Because I am allowed no country.

I am deeply in your debt, sire.

Tell me how I can repay you.

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