The Hour of the Pig Page #7

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I'd swear you

almost believed it.

[ Pincheon ]

Oh, I believe it...

or I wouldn't

prosecute.

Do you want to know

your future, Courtois?

Look at me.

I am what will become

of Maitre Courtois...

the country lawyer,

in 20 years.

Well... 30 years.

You'll do well here.

You learn fast and...

you're good.

But it's pearls

to swine,you know.

That's what they are,

these poor country folk.

Suspicious,

superstitious, selfish...

lubricous,

salt of the earth...

scum of the earth.

Go back to the city

where you belong.

Don't grow old and tired

in a place like this.

- You'll never go back?

- Uh-uh. No.

They make a lot of money

now in Paris...

but somehow I don't think

they love the law.

I think you do.

Once perhaps.

But now--

I can't remember now.

Pincheon...

there were things behind

all this neither of us knew.

No...

Maitre.

## [ ''Tota Pulchraes'' ]

##

This is the real inferno

ofJehan d'Auferre.

A few hectares of goose-bumped flesh,

illustrating...

the absolute corruption

of power.

- Disappointing, I know.

- Is it true what they say

about your hunt?

- My--

- The chase.

They say you use human

quarry for the chase.

Oh! I did once, yes.

Made quite a scandal.

- To the death?

- Good God, no. I'm not a barbarian. No!

There were a few bumps and bruises,

but they were well paid for it.

##[''De Tous Bien Pleure'']

##

[ Barking ]

- Did you remember the silk, Maitre?

- What? Maria!

Silk from Paris!

Uh, no.

- Oh, well. Maybe soon.

- Yes.

[ Seigneur ]

Look at them.

The forbidden fruits,

they think all this is.

But you and I know,

Courtois...

that the only entertainment

worth the coin...

is offered by the

true object of desire.

##

Don't worry. She's here willingly.

I told you I pay well.

[ Woman Laughing ]

Samira!

Well now,

what can we do?

- The boy insulted her.

- A hazard of her profession,

I'd have thought.

She didn't know who he was.

Let her go, please.

What was that, Courtois?

I don't think we heard you.

We were talking about the future.

There's still time to settle things.

You wouldn't be expected to give

up all your little weaknesses,

just be circumspect about them.

And of course, you'd understand

where your loyalties lie.

Divine animal, a little wild.

I can see the temptation.

Let her go...

in the morning.

The guard can make use of her

'til then... if they're not too drunk.

[ Speaking Arabic ]

[ Hissing ]

[ Shrieking ]

What did you say in there?

The curse?

It's... what you call it?

For children?

- Nursery rhyme?

- It's the way you say it.

[ Courtois ]

Come and drink with me, monsieur.

Here's to the eyes and ears

ofJehan d'Auferre.

You can tell him he's won.

You've all won.

Tell him the advocate

is going back to the big city.

But I think all you

good Christians look on...

while the devil walks about

and about in your neat little town.

And there's not one of you

dares speak.

You've seen everything here,

Monseigneur Creeper In The Dark.

Have you seen one man

without fear?

You're a melancholy fellow,

Mathieu.

It's our last night. Shine yourself up

and we'll go to a brothel.

A brothel.

There won't be one in

this piss-ass town,

but there'll be one in Laviers.

Maitre,

this is the brothel.

The Abbeville Inn

is the Abbeville whorehouse.

You mean that skinny girl?

You pay her for it?

- I never gave Maria a sou.

- It's all in the price

we pay by the week.

They put it down

as the lodging tax.

[ Whinnies ]

You see, Maitre,

the mind has a little eye.

It shows us in our dreams

what we've looked on when

we're awake, but not seen.

There is darkness all about you.

You can bring the light.

- Look to the boy, Maitre.

- Do not be too sure, Maitre Courtois.

For indeed I have

recently seen one I could

wish to make a prisoner.

[ Filette Chortling ]

[ Seigneur's Voice ]

It seems of no consequence,

but the boy's death was unnatural.

And a kind of fear

spreads here... easily.

Best if it's

done with quickly.

[ Courtois' Voice ]

And if the animal's innocent?

It may be the pig contains a devil.

Opinions differ.

I remember once

in Joinville--

Why did I see

that face?

[ Boy ]

Here.! Here.! Help me.!

Here.!

Hey.! Hey.!

Here.!

- [ Whinnies ]

- Hey, hey, hey!

Good night.

## [ Whistling ]

[ Boy ]

Help.!

Help.! No.!

Help me.!

[ Groaning ]

- Hey!

- No! No!

[ Grunting ]

Hey!

- Who was it? Did you see his face?

- No.

[ Loudly ]

Did anybody see?

[ Windows, Doors Closing ]

[ Whinnies ]

Who are you?

I am all eyes and all ears,

but not forJehan d'Auferre.

Who then?

You said it yourself,

my friend.

I am the one

who has no need for fear.

Ah.

He tried to take

another boy.

NotJewish this time.

None left.

- They told me it would be stopped!

- Did they?

Well, it won't stop,

not while a priest perjures

his immortal soul...

to protect a monster...

to keep his comfortable living

and all his little amusements.

You're funny, Domini...

with your ''new knowledge

we wise men keep to ourselves,''

and your special kind of shriving

from the ladies.

It was only a game,

I told you.

With every one of them?

Or were there two or three

who were afraid

you just might mean it?

- Look to the boy.

- What?

You said the witch said,

''look to the boy.'' So, did you?

Yes. I found a little heap of bones

and another good citizen too scared to--

Wrong--

Wrong boy.

Your son killed that child,

monseigneur.

You'll deny it, and I'll prove it

if it takes 20 years of my life.

I won't deny it.

I don't know it, but it is possible.

He has the devil in him,

certainly.

And he did injure a child once

in one of his private little games.

I had a priest in joinville

exorcise him.

We spend our summers there.

It worked for a time,

then we found him nailing dogs to trees.

Three of them crucified,

the middle one

above the others naturally.

They'd have burned him

if they'd seen it.

And the other child,

the one who died before?

Yes, that one as well

perhaps.

He's my bane, Courtois,

always has been.

- But this kind of thing--

- We can't allow to get out.

One law for the rich--

Yes!

Always.

Seigneur, I will have

your son arrested on my account

and with my authority.

And I will have a new trial

under a new judge.

And whether or not it brings down

Armageddon on our heads...

I'll have the boy in that courtroom,

and I can get to the truth.

You may not think it,

but I'm lawyer enough for that.

I don't doubt it, but

I'm afraid it won't be possible.

You see, my son left France

this morning for England, in fact.

They have Mussulman surgeons

there, and he may be helped.

I think without an accused

in human form,your story will

lose something in the telling.

Let it be, Courtois.

I give judgment tomorrow,

and we'll let the Egyptians go

in peace when it's done.

It's only a pig.

No, no. Not that pig.

Not now.

We can stop the coach

from Angers, Maitre.

Find me the villain with the wife,

Valliere, the one who killed the man.

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