Samson and Delilah Page #4

Let him destroy himself!

Samson!

You'll die for this, you fool!

Look!

Ahtur is down!

Give me a javelin!

He's not armed. Charge him!

l'll split that shield!

- Semadar!

- Here's a thorn for his ribs.

lnside, Semadar!

Come Samson, they'll kill us.

Look out! He's throwing!

Lock shields!

Death to her!

No, Targil! Hide, Semadar. Hide!

And death to her father!

Father!

Semadar!

My daughter!

Burn her and her father with fire!

Charge him!

He has the strength of hell.

He'll bleed like any man!

You came to this house

as wedding guests.

Fire and death are your gifts

to my bride.

For all that l do against you now...

I shall be blameless.

l'll give you back fire for fire!

And death for death.

What invisible power

strikes through his arm?

Turn away, little mistress.

Don't look anymore.

All you have in the world

is ashes and death.

Samson lives.

May his flesh rot from his bones.

Be still, old fool.

lf it takes all my life,

l'll make him curse the day he was born.

He called you a forked-tongue adder.

He's going to feel its sting.

What strength can these hands

have against him?

Perhaps greater than a lion's

and softer than a dove's.

l'll find strength, Hisham.

Strength to destroy him.

Samson! Samson! Samson!

Every Danite sheepherder knows

where to find him,

yet the man's invisible.

l know the Danites worship

an invisible god, Ahtur,

but an invisible leader!

l've wasted a year

chasing lies and rumors.

l've flogged Danites,

hung them in chains,

burned them,

but they won't give him up.

Apparently they love Samson

more than they fear you.

Give me 10,000 men,

and I'll teach him fear.

When you fail by the sword,

you ask for more swords.

You should study the ant.

- The ant?

- Yes.

The Babylonians called them Zerbabu.

The Danites call them Nemalah.

We call them ants.

See how these master ants

collect food from their slaves.

You might call them tax collectors.

We need soldiers to destroy this Danite.

You think so, Ahtur?

l think one tax collector

is worth a thousand soldiers.

A third of every herd.

But our flocks mean our lives.

Their skins clothe us.

Their milk feeds our children.

One out of three,

that's the Saran's tax.

One out of three will ruin us,

we can't pay such a tax.

You'll pay it,

until you give us Samson.

Tied up like this.

And next time, we'll take your goats!

Come on, soldier.

No! No! Stop!

You tax collectors feed on us

like vultures.

l'll have nothing left to sell.

Sell Samson to us, bound.

Bind him?

We can't even find him.

You know where he is.

Barbers know all the gossip.

My purse!

My purse!

We'll keep this

until you give up Samson.

You'll get Samson...

when the light of the Lord goes out.

You take even the light

by which we pray.

You won't pray much longer, old man.

Unless you bring us Samson

out of the wilderness.

He'll come back,

to drive you from our land.

It will be a hungry land, big eyes.

You can starve us with taxes,

strip our houses, plunder,

burn, and steal,

but we'll never betray Samson.

One rock is not a mountain, Miriam.

And one man is not a nation.

Can Samson bring back the grain

to our fields?

By burning the fields of the Philistine's?

Can Samson feed our children when they

cry for food with the gates of Gaza?

He has done to the Philistines

what they did to him.

Who else has stood against them?

He stood against them

for his Philistine wife.

- Not for us.

- His strength is our shield.

He has not shielded us.

Why should we all suffer

for what one man has done?

We will never give him up.

We'll bind him and deliver him

into the hands of the Philistines.

You deliver him to death.

While the strength

of the Lord is in him...

No man can bind Samson.

He will not raise his hand

against us, grandfather.

He will let himself be bound.

Why will men always betray

the strongest among them?

His name will be written

in the book of judges.

Bellow, you blustering ox,

so the Saran can hear you in Gaza.

Even a ruby loses luster

besides your lips.

lt will take a sapphire

and an emerald together

to match your blue-green eyes.

l have known the ways of many women...

who would fill the veins with fire...

But only one Delilah.

My Lord has given me many gifts,

but none more precious than this favor.

Little mistress! Little mistress!

You're forbidden to disturb me

when our Lord of Gaza is here.

It is a messenger from the Lord general.

He says it must not wait!

We'll see no one.

Delilah, what a dimpled dragon

you can be,

flashing fire and smoke.

But even your anger charms me

as long as it's directed at someone else.

The poor Hisham.

Let the man in.

Majesty!

Speak.

Lord Ahtur, Military governor of Dan,

Prince of Philistia,

sends greetings to the Saran of Gaza.

Yes...get on with the message.

Samson is our prisoner.

Such news deserve rewards.

Withdraw.

That was a very costly jewel.

What would you do with Samson, my Lord?

Well, we might hang him by his heels

from your balcony.

Or what would your suggestions be,

Delilah?

Make him turn the gristmill,

wipe and driven like a animal.

Where all Gaza can mock him

and laugh at him.

Humble him,

bring him to his knees.

But I thought you once admired this Danite.

As l admire the gutter-rats of Gaza.

l'm jealous of your hatred.

Don't share even that with anyone else.

We'll chain this lion-killer to

the millstone if that is your wish.

And perhaps arrange

a few little sports for him.

Anything.

Only let me be there to watch it.

Unconquerable leader of Danites,

defender of the invisible god.

You're very silent, Samson.

Thought you liked the company

of Philistines.

He prefers the company of an ass,

Lord general.

They have much in common.

An ass is wise enough

to obey his master.

Your feet must be tired, Samson.

Why don't you try walking on your knees?

Stand all, stand all!

Water bearers, to the ranks.

Let us hear you pray, Samson.

l doubt if prayers would be

much help to him now.

His real strength lies in riddles.

Excellent, your excellence.

Riddles are the sport of fools.

Then answer this one, Samson.

Out of Dan came a killer of beasts.

Whose head will pay for

his wedding feast?

Has the pledge of my people

been fulfilled?

Yes, but that's not the answer

to the riddle.

Am l truly delivered into your hands?

Truly as you're bound by ropes.

You seem to have lost

your skill for riddles.

This is the place of Lehi.

Even the sky speaks against him.

O Lord, my god, hear me.

Gird me for battle against

the swords of my enemies.

Forsake me not, o Lord,

But strengthen my arm

To destroy the lions

who've scattered thy flocks.

Oh, great skull, hear me.

Let them see thy power, o god.

They part like burning flax!

Quick! Take him!

Alive if you can! Use chains!

Lift it, you fools. My arm's pinned.

Son of the devil!

Never did mortal man fight like this.

His strength was greater

than any instrument of war.

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