One Night with the King

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MORDECAI:
From whence comes

the 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

was chosen to stand against

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.

So pervasive was their evil

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?

How would you accuse me now,

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 Samuel

put 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.

Caravans arrive every day.

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

to fight the battle for you.

- Good morning, Hadassah.

- And where have you been?

I'm sorry, Grandmother,

the markets were really busy.

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

and leave this pagan empire

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

an Agagite would arrive,

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 pass

in 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.

The caravan leaves tomorrow.

Did not the priest even say

it would be good for me?

That he would look after 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?

A drunken brawl is no place

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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