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One Night with the King
MORDECAI:
From whence comesthe purpose of a person's life?
Come it by chance, a casting of the lot,
or does a call of destiny
beckon to each of us?
Many have wondered
about my little Hadassah
and why a simple Jewish orphan
the annihilation of her people.
And yet the mystery of the girl
most know as Esther
begins not where one might think,
but 500 years earlier
with a single act of disobedience.
King Saul of the Israelites
had been sent by the Prophet Samuel
to wipe out
an ancient child-sacrificing enemy.
that not even their oxen nor sheep
were to be spared,
and above all, no survivors left breathing.
My lord, I give you Agag,
king of the Amalekites.
We have also seized for you his livestock.
Even his queen.
What dark portent bid me haste
to cross this land of ours?
O Prophet?
I carried out your lord's command.
Then why do my ears
ring with the lowing of oxen
and the bleating of sheep?
Your Majesty, the Amalekite queen,
she escaped.
We have the king.
What is one woman?
You fool,
she is with child.
MORDECAI:
While the Prophet Samuelput a swift end to King Agag,
Agag's queen,
fleeing with the seed of vengeance
growing within her,
the Jews never found.
HADASSAH:
Uncle Mordecai!Rebecca, what kind of housekeeper
do you think you are?
Serves you right
for bringing home your work.
HADASSAH:
The caravan arrived this morning.
Well, Susa is the capital of the new world.
Not from Jerusalem.
Well, perhaps
you ought to go back and ask them
if they'll arrive the same time next year.
Next year? You promised.
- Rebecca!
- REBECCA:
Fight your own battles.You don't pay me enough
- Good morning, Hadassah.
- And where have you been?
I'm sorry, Grandmother,
There's a new caravan in from...
- Sore subject.
- Uncle Mordecai,
does not your own heart
long to see our people restored to glory?
It does.
Did not Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon
and free our people from captivity?
He did.
But do we embrace our freedom
to embrace our destiny?
- Of course not.
- MORDECAI:
Lord,I pray to you day and night
to give me the patience of Job,
give me the wisdom of Solomon.
And what do you give me?
You give me the endless equivocations
of a beautiful, young woman.
Look.
Hadassah, always dreaming.
Maybe...
Here, then, you be the princess.
While many Jews had forgotten
the acts of centuries past,
the descendants of Agag had not.
For Agag's queen did indeed survive
and gave birth to a son.
And she forged for him a mark,
prophesying that one day
a descendant of Agag,
who would finally exact vengeance
upon the Jews.
Hadassah, read us a story!
Read us a story!
A story? You want a story?
- GIRL:
Hadassah, help!- Over here.
Are you okay?
HADASSAH:
"And King Saul said to David,"'You cannot go before this Goliath
"'for you are but a youth.'
"David replied,
"'While keeping my father's sheep,
there came a lion and a bear.
"'And I slew them both.
"'This Goliath shall be as one of them
for he defied the armies of the Lord."'
As will Jesse Ben-Joseph,
should he but take one step closer.
With peace, Haman.
- There's little but random news I bear.
- I judge that.
Rumor has it
Queen Vashti plans not to attend
the King's banquet this evening,
in protest of the war.
Apparently the King has no idea.
Some see random news.
Others, opportunities.
Of course,
this is why you are a dispatch rider,
and I am a prince of the Fars.
Tell me, Agagite, what do you do with
the extra darics you connive from me?
I have 10 sons, my lord,
and a wife that makes many demands.
(CHUCKLES)
Ten sons?
You serve the great king well.
Come, come. Go you now.
Speak of me
as you lavish your wife and sons.
ABIHAIL:
Happy birthday, Hadassah!HADASSAH:
A stone ball?Remember, Hadassah,
it is the glory of God
to conceal a matter,
the honor of kings to seek it out.
It's from the Promised Land.
Your great-grandmother
brought it with her.
And like you, its true treasure
is etched within.
PRIEST:
Reconsider my proposition.There is much need for leadership
in Jerusalem.
More stew, my lord?
I don't suppose that in your entire caravan
you have a cook one half as good
as our Rebecca.
Here you are but a poor palace scribe,
one who passes as a Persian, at that.
Are you a Jew?
Or have you become a Gentile?
We're a small people
caught up in a vast and violent empire.
We have capricious princes
who could order our annihilation
with the flick of a finger.
And your presence in the palace
might prevent it?
Probably not.
Look, tell me what I want to hear about.
Tell me about the Temple.
What ecstasy to stand in the presence
of the Almighty!
Like the intimate embrace
of a husband and wife.
It's so much deeper
than mere mortal love.
Oh, hello.
MORDECAI:
Now, it came to passin the days of King Xerxes,
who ruled over the empire
of the Medes and Persians,
from Ethiopia to India,
that in the third year of his reign,
he decreed a season of feasting.
Rumors of war were in the wind, however,
and some thought this the King's way
of stalling off a much-debated decision
to march on Greece
in retaliation for his father's death
four years before.
MAN:
Queen Vashti, Your Majesty.Enter.
The night's festivities
hold not your interest, dear?
It is long since you summoned me here.
- Your hands have not been idle.
- Not idle,
not gifted either.
MORDECAI:
Later, Hadassah,we'll discuss this later.
I have run out of laters.
Did not the priest even say
it would be good for me?
You have so much of your
mother and father in you, you know?
And perhaps
I'm just being a very selfish old man.
Do you really want to go to Jerusalem?
Truly.
Then go with my blessing.
Thank you.
Rebecca!
Yes, well,
I will be late coming back tonight.
The feasting has been extended.
All Susa is invited.
All of Susa?
for a young lady of purity.
Then why is a good Jew like you going?
All the scribes have to go!
There is war in the air!
(ALL CHATTERING)
The Queen indeed
holds her own feast in protest.
All is prepared as you have asked.
You do know why the princes have asked
you to extend the feast another night.
You are too late
if you seek me to deny them.
Especially now.
Such clamoring to march upon Greece
and avenge my father's death.
How long have you dreamt
of molding Persia
into a pillar of learning and culture?
A flame to make even
the greatness of Greece but a shadow?
You know as well as I,
this is not something that is won in battle
but in the hearts of men.
You would have me do nothing, then?
You're no warrior,
no soldier.
I'd have you stay,
enhance your kingdom,
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"One Night with the King" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Sep. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/one_night_with_the_king_15265>.
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