The Hour of the Pig Page #6

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Persecution of theJews of Mainz

by the Christian Brothers.

Persecution of the Christians of Mainz

by theJews thereof.

Go away!

''The murder of

a young Jewish child...

by one of the dia--''

''diabolical Flemish brotherhoods

in the godless city of Den Haag.''

[ Mathieu ]

D'Auferre has a brotherhood.

Yes. Why should a lord

run a guild?

What do they do there?

It's all riddles,

play little boys' games.

Think of the old orders,

the most secret ones:

the Cathars

and the Templars.

They taught us in school

that the king of France...

burnt every last heretic

three generations ago.

But what if some madmen keep the faith?

Bring them back to life

a hundred years on?

It's a Cathar family.

D'Auferre.

They were Cathars.

- How did you know that?

- It's my job, Maitre. I'm your clerk.

Find out when they meet.

[ Filette ]

Which would you prefer, Richard--

A wife who was true

and virtuous...

though your neighbors

called her a false woman;

or a wife whom you knew

to be false...

though she seemed virtuous

to all the world?

Sorry.

A wife?

[ Seigneur]

That's the way, Courtois.

- [ Heavy Breathing, Whispering ]

- What?

Not here.

Oh, sh*t.

You seem well at home now,

Maitre.

[ Bell Ringing ]

[ Man ]

Wood, wode...

vermilion, madder...

wool combs, teasels.

[ Second Man ]

We can't ask more from the town.

They've done enough.

[ Seneschal ]

Linen:
two livres, dozen bolts.

- [ Seigneur ]

Too much.! Who are they?

- The merchants from Saxony.

- [ Seigneur ] Half a livre.

How much is our own?

- Half.

[ Seigneur ]

Half that or they can take it to Paris.

No, I don't like that.

I won't have it.

[ Man ]

Grease, soap, muslin.

- Do we go with Aquitaine

with the taxes?

- The corn tithes set the same?

[ Continues Chatting ]

- No, we have an agreement.

I won't go back on that.

- [ Man ] They can force us.

- They've no control over us.

I don't care who they are.

- [ Creaking Noise ]

Do we agree

to stay as we are?

[ Organ Pipes

Resounding Loudly ]

[ Pipes Resounding,

Music Playing ]

- ##

- [ Dogs Barking ]

Excuse me, I--

[ Chortling ]

[ Chortling Continues ]

- I think you're lost, Maitre.

- Lost?

Are you not?

There's the door.

[ Seigneur ]

What did you hear?

Very little.

Are you a Cathar?

My grandfather was one of the last.

Had his legs burnt off by King Philip.

- What little did you hear?

- Um, about prices. The price of linen.

Something about

the annual tithe.

- Is that it, the brotherhood?

- What did you expect?

Drinking the blood

of virgins?

Good God, look at them. They've all

one leg in the grave already.

It's how we keep control--

order and rule.

We fix tithes and prices

for the whole province.

Stop the foreign merchants underselling.

You look terrible.

A little fever.

Mind you, you can have

your tongue cut out

if you think to tell the tale.

We shouldn't meet now

until it's over.

- What have we done?

- It's not what we've done.

It's what they think we've done.

Look I have to--

I want you!

- I can't think of anything else.

- Not now. I said it.

What are you doing to me?

You disturb me. I--

All of it! I wanted to make it

work here, and it's falling apart.

All of it!

What do you want from me?

Well now, the maitre

been dipping his fingers...

in his Little Egyptian

casserole, has he?

Sweet, but stinking, is it,

the little black crack on her?

Tooth for tooth, Maitre.

Stripe for stripe.

[ Albertus ] I see a dark shadow

behind you, my son.

It seems to take the form

of a great black goat.

Can it be your

little master Satan?

- Go about your business, Domini.

- This is my business, Sheriff.

Should the priest of this parish

not witness to the Holy Fathers

what he sees with his own eyes?

You see, it works.

Stay with me tonight.

When you asked me

if I lied to you--

Just tonight.

Stay in me.

''Thou art black but comely,

my sister, my wife;

thou hast--''

[ Laughing ]

## [ Humming ]

So, Domini, an animal

has no soul and cannot

therefore be excommunicated.

No. It may be anathematized.

It's a fine distinction.

I believe clerics are undecided

as to whether a woman has a soul.

Rather elderly clerics,

I think, Maitre.

The child was Jewish,

was he not?

Is the crime of the beast

less than if he had been a Christian?

I can't say!

AJew may be below the Christian

in divine order...

but he's certainly above

the goat and the ass.

On a level, perhaps,

with the dog?

Well, it is only 30 years

since a citizen of Paris...

was burnt for sodomy because

he cohabited with a Jewess.

It was thought to be

on a level...

of copulation

with a dog.

Interesting, Domini.

So a man known to have lain

with a heathen woman might

forfeit his life for it.

But not today,

I would hope, monseigneur.

Well... are you finished,

Maitre?

Are you telling us, Domini,

that in your theology...

it is futile to

anathematize or execute...

an insentient beast?

N-No, no.

The beast may contain a devil,

and it's the devil we curse

and the vessel we destroy.

A devil in the pig? A devil

in the cat that steals the fish?

In the locust that

destroys the harvest?

Is the locust big enough

to contain a devil, Domini? A fly?

Interesting point

about the fly.

It was debated for three days

at a convocation in Rheims,

and no conclusion reached.

You don't really believe everything

you've been saying in here, do you?

This is monstrous!

Do you, Domini?

Oh, I believe it, Maitre.

Every word of it.

[ Pincheon ]

Gentlemen...

any man's death is

terrible, inexplicable.

The death of a child...

even a Hebrew child...

Maitre, more so.

It causes us to question

the natural law...

to ponder in our anguish

the purposes of God himself.

Where is order...

and rule?

And what do we do

when faced...

with the unknown

and the unknowable?

We give ourselves

up to fear!

Every day,

every one of us...

awaits in terror...

some new chaos,

some new darkness.

It is the curse

of our times...

gentlemen.

Not the black death...

but fear...

so much the blacker.

And what,

aside from our prayers...

can help us

to bear this burden?

I would say to you...

the law!

The law is not only

punishment and retribution.

The law can purge the deed, put an end

to the chapter, close the book!

When we see

justice done...

we go back

to our daily lives...

knowing at least that the

next time the fears come...

they will be subject...

to the same

immutable process.

A child is dead.

Killing the pig

won't bring it back.

But it will,

for the rest of us say:

It is done this time,

and properly done.

For now...

the circle

is full again.

Complete.

Maitre Courtois?

[ Bells Ringing ]

We wave our replication,

ask for the court's mercy.

Then I believe

we may proceed to judgment.

- The bells.

- What bells?

The festival of the Advent

has begun.

Judgment after the first

week is out.

Jesus Maria.

Well, you were born

to preach Armageddon.

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