Legend Page #7

GUMP(screaming with wrath): Squawk! Squawk!

No more talk.... Do you think you can

upset the order of the

universe and not pay the price?

Brown Tom produces ancient bag pipes, Screwball a tambourine. The

other wee folk tune up an incredible variety of oddly-shaped

instryemnts :
seashell trumpets, acorn cellos, gossets, serpentines,

blossom-bell horns, bone flutes, all manner of drums and rattles.

A wild and haunting overture begins. The rhythm is complusive.

Jack cannot control his body. His feet move against his will.

JACK(frantic):
No! I want no part of

your nonsense.

Gump leers demonically.

GUMP:
Time to dance, Jack!

Playing his fiddle, Gump is possessed, demonic.

Screwball beats on a log with a pair of shin bones. The faerie

orchestra breaks into an other-world melody. Jack leaps and jumps

like a zombie.

JACK:
No...! Please....!

BROWN TOM(chanting): Round and round and round and round,

Before you're lost, you must be found

.

The tempo increases. The musicians leap and cavort.

Jack twists and capers, dancing against his will.

SCREWBALL(chanting): In and out and up and down,

Behind each smile there lurks a frown.

Gump leaps wildly, fiddling like a demon. Jack is a prisoner of the

frenzied music.

BROWN TOM(chanting): Spin and spin and spin and spin, To learn to

lose you first must win.

Gumps hops into the fire, dancing and playing as sparks leap about

him. The music grows wilder. Jack will never survive.

SCREWBALL(chanting): Twist and reel and toe and heel,

The end to pain is to learn to feel!

Jack's face is a mask of agony. With supreme effort, he hurls

himself onto the ground, his body jerking spasmodically to the

music.

JACK(screaming):
Enough!

The faerie orchestra falters, their tempo broken.

GUMP(angry):
Is the music not to your liking?

JACK(gasping):
I....won't....go....on...Take

my life, if you must.... What I did

is unforgiveable....

(boldly) But, I did it for love! And I'd do

it again! I love Lili with all my heart and

would sooner die than break a

promise!

Gump stares at Jack. A tender expression softens his flinty eyes.

GUMP:
Hmmmm..... Love, you say....? Love is

another story....

JACK:
I meant no disrespect....

GUMP:
Answer me this riddle and

all is forgiven.

JACK:
And if I cannot?

GUMP:
Why, Jack....then 'tis your

death song I'll be playing.

JACK:
Ask away, and pray God my answer

pleases you.

GUMP:
What is a bell that does not ring,

Yet, its knell makes the angels sing?

Gump laughs, knowing Jack can't solve his riddle. Jack frowns in

concentration, then grins, as the memory of Lili's song rushes back.

JACK:
Bluebells!

GUMP:
What?

JACK:
The flower. Bluebells. To hear

then ringing means your life is

at an end.

Gump hurls his violin to the ground and stomps on it.

GUMP:
Damnation! Codfish and cockles!

Gammon and trotters!

Screwball and Brown Tom run for cover as Gump explodes in an insane

fury. He throws himself to the ground, kicking and SCREAMING.

GUMP(cont):
Rabbot noodles....! Schweinhundt

saukraut mit schlagober....!

Piddle-puddles und ka-ka crumpets....!

Piss pots and thunder mugs!

Demkopf doo-doo brains riddle-widdler!

Abruptly, Gump stands and dusts himself off as if nothing had

happened. He smiles at Jack and holds out his tiny hand.

GUMP(cont):
You bested me, Jack....

Bested me.... bested me...

JACK(modestly):
A riddle with an answer

is like an empty cup when you're

thirsty for wine.

GUMP:
Well spoke! And if it's wine you

want, it's wine we shall have.

Gump claps his hands and four tiny glasses magically APPEAR,

floating in the air before them.

Another clap and Brown Tom's hat POPS off his head, revealing a wine

bottle balanced underneath.

GUMP(cont):
A small measure of entertainment

at best.

Gumps snaps his fingers and the wine bottle floats off Brown Tom's

head, pausing to in mid-air to fill each bobbing glass.

GUMP(cont):
Elderberry wine....no finer drink

under heaven.

Each one takes a glass. Gump raises his in a toast.

GUMP(cont):
Here's to Jack....riddle-solver....

dancing fool, and faerie friend.

They all clink glasses. Jack regards his with suspicion.

JACK:
I'm honoured, Gump....But no more tricks!

GUMP(to the others): Here be precious summertime frozen

into a winter memory and the blamed

fool won't drink faerie wine for fear of

enchantment.

They all drink, Jack with some relunctance. The faeries enjoy the

wine. Jack gags, as if he's swallowed fire.

JACK(coughing):
Pranks....! Is that all you're good

for....! I've lost Lili....! Gump!

Help me! Use your magic to find her....

set the world right.

GUMP:
Changing this frozen hell is beyond

my modest powers.

JACK:
Is there nothing you can do?

GUMP:
If you want more tricks, I'm your

man.... but, for big questions, you must

go elsewhere.

JACK:
But don't you care what's happened?

GUMP:
Course we care.... What good's the

world locked in a season of death?

No folks to scare on a summer's

night....

BROWN TOM:
No babies to tickle....

SCREWBALL:
No lovers to tease....

GUMP:
No more spells to cast....Does that

sound like an enjoyable prospect?

JACK:
We must find the answer!

GUMP:
That we must. But first, we better

see that no harm's come to the

unicorns.

SCREWBALL:
I sadly fear the worst....

Gumps claps his hands and everyone is magically holding

luminous flower lanterns.

46C EXTERIOR DEEP FOREST NIGHT

Seen from a distance, the lantern-lit faerie procession glows like

foxfire between the massive trees.

46D EXTERIOR SNOW (LILI TRACKS GOBLINS) NIGHT

Princess Lili tuns swiftly between the frozen trees, following the

tracks of the goblins. The quilt is torn, her hair dishevelled. She

pauses at the top of a small, steep hill.

The tracks of the goblins' sleigh pass below.

Lili jumps from the hilltop, leaving the quilt floating behind like

a discarded skin. It is an incrediable leap.

She lands with the sureness of a wild woodland creature and runs

off, hair streaming behind, following the trail of the sled.

47 EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA NIGHT

The faerie procession moves out of the woods onto the frozen meadow.

FAERIES(singing together): What can you do when there's Nothing to

be done?

Sing a little song

And have fun, fun, fun....

The silhouette of the unicorn is glimpsed in the glow of the faerie

lanterns.

Led by Jack, the faeries run towards the recumbent stallion.

Wisp stoops and picks up an arrow dropped by the goblins.

GUMP:
This is goblins' work....

Powerful demons are agaisnt us!

Jack kneels sadly beside the ice-glazed unicorn.

The SOUND of CRASHING HOOFBEATS alerts the faeries as the mare

unicorn thunders out of the trees.

BROWN TOM:
Take cover, laddies!

The faeries dive for protection. Only Jack stands his ground.

The mare charges straight at Jack. He is knocked to his knees as she

gallops past.

The unicorn wheels about. Jack scrambles to his feet.

She charges again, skidding to a stop on the frozen grass. Her

alicorn is aimed straight at Jack's throat.

GUMP:
Run, Jack!

Rate this script:2.8 / 4 votes