The Physician Page #4

- Up there.

- Thank you.

- Which one is on ear infections?

- All of them.

Gentlemen, this is lamp oil...

...while that is vinegar for purification.

- Purification.

- That are blocks of ice for cooling patients with fever.

Okay, gentlemen. Ideas?!

- The ice?

- Ice.

- Maybe get some rest?

- He's in pain!

That's how we do it, in England.

Imagine the spheres of the universe...

as a series of concentric circles

moving within one another.

The great Aristotle claimed...

that the friction created by this

motion generates a sound...

which he termed...

"the music of the spheres."

Sometimes on a really quiet night, if

you listen really hard...

the sound is apparent to the human ear.

Master... I hear it.

Are the girls in England as

pretty as this?

- Prettier.

- Prettier?!

- Hello.

Are their bodies like cypresses, is their

hair like... like waterfalls?

- Some even have red hair.

- Red?

I do not believe it.

- All over?

- Yeah.

Praise be onto Allah for

the plenitude of creation!

Pray that some redhead English virgins

await me in paradise.

Did you leave a girl behind to

come here?

- Actually... I did.

The most beautiful girl I ever met.

Clever... gentle...

- clever...

- You already said that.

- Yeah, and beautiful.

- You already said beautiful too.

- I would've stolen this girl from you.

- I would have killed you first!

Today we pray for our brothers...

who lay in chains deep down

in the tyrant's dungeons.

But what misdeed did they commit?

- Did they murder someone? No.

- No, no.

Did they dishonor a woman? No.

Their only crime...

was to follow the laws of the

Holy Koran, o Allah.

Allah... we kneel humbly in the dust

before you and ask you...

how long do you want us to

bear this injustice?!

We call on the righteous and

generous Bar Kappara.

- Mirdin!

- Honorable Bar Kappara!

Let me introduce my friend and fellow

student...

Jesse ben Benjamin from England.

From England!

We are proud of every Jew who gets

accepted to the Madrassa.

And my future bride is from Spain.

Allow me to introduce her. Rebecca?

Come.

You may greet him.

Shalom.

Shalom.

Shalom.

I hope you will each do me the honor

of attending our wedding.

- You are too generous.

- We have much to celebrate.

It is a miracle Rebecca survived her

passage to Ispahan.

Her caravan was swallowed by the most

ferocious sand storm.

Our brave guide saved me...

and a little girl.

Thank God.

My friend!

Now you know what the business deal is.

May your marriage be blessed and happy.

- And now before we take our leave...

- Thank you.

You seem sad.

- I lost someone I cared for very much.

- Well...

now you have found me.

We must take what we can find in

this life.

So why don't we see what we can find...

here.

- Now listen to me. I never lie down for anyone for free.

- Please, be quiet.

Does this hurt?

What's her ailment?

- I haven't yet diagnosed it, master.

- Master?

If you are the master tell this maniac

to let me go.

The night is nearly over and my

purse is empty.

There is no virtue of telling him

my child...

that this young man has brought you

here [...] from good reason.

Your good reason is?

She won't survive the night.

- She looks and sounds in perfect health to me.

- It's something I can't explain.

I need to go!

My beautiful rose...

as a personal favor to me, grant my

student here a moment more...

of your valuable time.

Now that's how to talk to a lady.

Hey! People pay good money to

take those off.

Master, look!

Wake the pharmacist, fetch my bag. Run!

Where is he going?

To save your life.

Like a premonition, was it?

It's as if...

time stands still for a moment.

The fabric of reality is pulled aside

like a veil for me to see through.

- And what is it you see?

- I see nothing.

I just... feel...

I know that death is coming.

The first time was with my mother.

She died of side sickness.

- It's a curse.

- It's a gift.

You saved that girl's life tonight.

- A success but many failures.

- Well...

this is the burden every physician

must learn to bear.

- You can't look upon death as the enemy.

- Than what?

A friend?

I've calculated the orbits...

of all these stars and planets.

Filled volumes... with calculations.

I have barely scratched the real

secrets of creation.

Isn't it frustrating there's so much

you don't know?

No.

Fills me with awe.

How pale and tedious would this world

be without mystery.

Master.

Could have cured my mother's

side sickness?

That's beyond our reach.

Maybe in a hundred years.

Maybe in a thousand.

Ibn Sina!

It appears I'm about to be summoned.

- Ibn Sina!

Never approach more than five steps.

Never look him in the eye.

Should he address you, answer in

short sentences...

and always end with one of

his honorifics.

Jesse...

A-a-answer in short sentences and end

with his honorifics.

I sprained my wrist.

If you'd come earlier...

you would have seen me deftly separate

this Seljuk's head from his body.

I'm so sorry I missed it.

I'm sure the Seljuk deserved the

dissection.

He was sent with a message of a

peace treaty.

- And hence the immediate decapitation.

- Of course

The Seljuks are constantly

violating our borders.

We need to whip these wild animals...

or they will slaughter us like

a sick goat.

Do you so long war a perfect one?

The Seljuk's have nothing to lose but

the beasts beneath their saddles.

You have an entire civilization.

Is that so!

Which great artist ever glorified

a peaceful king?

War alone will bestow immortal glory

upon my name...

don't you agree?

I have studied healing arts,

O Sublime One.

I know nothing of the route

to immortality.

Did you hear that? He dare speak

openly in my presence.

I pray my palace will not collapse

from such audacity.

- Where are you from?

- He hails from England, O Sublime One.

I've read of it.

A barbaric island at the edge

of the world...

where half-naked pagans resisted

Caesar's legions.

My countrymen wear clothes now.

- O Protector of the people.

- O Protector of the people.

Tell me.

Have you seen strange countries

on your journey east?

- More than I can count.

- Oh!

Even a humble student has seen more of

the world than the Shah.

Send that stinking head back

to the Seljuks.

My son shall have a hero's burial.

What message may I bring to my Lord the Shah

from the Lord of the Seljuks?

Don't trouble yourself. I'll send my

own message.

Get one of our brothers who is

suffering from the black death.

So, the needle...

pierces the middle of the eye...

pushing the dimmed lens to the back

of the eyeball.

This allows sunlight to reach

the patient's eyes... and diminish...

Master, someone died in the market.

He had black boils all over.

A falcon's beak can pierce

a man's skull.

Did you know that, Englishman?

Please, Sublime One.

We have heard of the pustulated corpse

who expired within your city walls.

We must evacuate the city immediately.

The city has been spared the plague

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