War Horse Page #6

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Get back!

Listen to him, sir.

We cant leave him.

- Whats he doing?

- Its a trap.

No, I dont think so.

- I think hes trying to help.

- Scare him back into his hole.

Its a white flag, ent it?

You see the white flag!?

Im just after tending to

this here horse, is all!

Get back, you stupid git!

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want,

He leadeth me into green pastures,

He lay me down

beside the still waters...

Poor beastie.

Poor babbie.

Its alright.

Its alright.

Dont buck and wriggle so,

Youre only shredding yourself.

Youll blind yourself.

Bugger me worthless. I didnt think

to bring gloves or something to cut the

I thought perhaps you might need

these.

For the barbed wire?

Yeah, yeah I... Ummm, thanks.

Cheers.

Cheers...

Thanks.

That... Thats a very long strand.

When you cut it,

its going to release

this

and this, and this,

and theyll

coil back rather violently,

which Im afraid will only wound the poor

fellow further.

You speak good English.

I speak English well.

May I?

What if we cut his head free first?

So he wont try to stand up and

blind himself?

- And then...

- Pity you didnt bring a second pair.

Then I could cut the wire here

WE NEED MORE WIRE CUTTERS!

His blind spot.

The cutters wont frighten him.

If you could cut

here, holding this wire...

- I could...

- Say no more, Im right behind you.

And you understand whats happening,

do you not, O Best Beloved?

That you

must lay so very nice and still.

Theres a lad,

youre a remarkable horse, you are,

helping us help you.

Theres a lad.

Theres a remarkable lad.

So hows things in yonder trench?

Delightful. We read, we knit

sweaters,

and we train our rats to

perform circus tricks.

Well, if ever you need any more

rats, we can always send ours over.

Cause weve more than we need,

strictly speaking.

- Besides, they scare off all the pretty girls.

- Our girls arent afraid of rats.

Big strapping German girls, eh?

Kind what gives robust massages?

Every Thursday!

And they bring rum

cake on your birthday.

Look at that horse!

Look at the

muscles hes got,

them long legs.

Theyre made for running, horses.

Runnin away from danger.

Running away is all they have.

Yet we taught em opposite.

Running into the fray.

- War horse

- Yeah.

War horse.

And there he is.

What a strange beast youve become.

And now?

I take him back with me, yeah?

Since I supplied the cutters, the

horse is mine.

This is fair, no?

In a pigs eye. Hes English, plain to see.

- Oh, you mean because hes so filthy?

- Because hes so smart.

And youre

none too clean yourself.

We could box.

And the winner gets

the horse.

No, thanks, pet.

Must be careful not

to start a war.

Do you have a coin of any sort?

- Coin toss?

- Yeah.

- All right, Fritz youre on.

- My name is not Fritz

it is Peter.

Peter Im Colin.

- You call it, Colin.

- Heads.

Thats the face of my Kaiser

and he does not

look pleased with me.

The horse is yours.

Gone quiet, hasnt it?

Yes.

But wait half an hour and well be shooting

again.

Im a terrible shot, Pete, dont believe

Ill ever hit the target.

Thanks

Cheerio, mate.

- Youll take good care of him, yes?

- I will.

Our strange beast.

And you take care of your own

strange self.

Colin!

A pair of German cutters

in memory

of your handsome friend from Dusseldorf.

Thanks.

Ill use em back in the garden in

South Shields.

You keep your head

down, now, Pete me lad!

Remarkable! A remarkable horse!

Were full up. Move on.

The gas got him

we had to wait till morning.

This cant be all of us.

This is all.

All walking wounded,

away to the dressing station!

Away to the dressing station!

- Whats this doing here?

- We need a vet, sir.

There are no vets. Weve scarcely

any horses left.

Hes cut all over, but this leg

heres got the worst of it.

- Its probably tetanus. Its no good.

- Please, sir

Ive all these men to take care of,

corporal, you can see that, cant you?

Please, sir, this horse can pull

through anything.

What is it?

Its a horse they found, wandering about in

No Mans Land.

- Down you go.

- What kind of an horse?

Bloody miraculous kind of an horse,

be my guess.

Nothing makes it out

of No Mans Land.

Miraculous horse..

He was alive, ysee, sir, where

nothing survives,

so to me and me mates,

to the men, sir, hes

- Well, we have high hopes for him -

- You should shoot him now.

- Oh, but I cant.

- Itd be a mercy, lad,

that legs not going to mend.

Sergeant.

Put him out of his misery.

Ladies, if you please.

All right, back off.

Back off.

Go on. Do it again.

Joey?

Hello, Joey.

Where you been then, hey?

Where in the world you been?

Do you know this man?

- Whats your name?

- Narracot.

- Private Albert Narracott, sir.

- This is a random horse, Narracott,

and too badly injured.

- Is this man in your care?

- Yes, sir.

Hes not random at all, sir!

Hes my horse,

I raised him, in Devon. Sir,

look at his legs!

Hes got four

white socks,

hes brown all over and he has a

white mark here like so

Take him back.

- Come on, son.

- Wait! You cant see cause of the mud.

Four white socks!

All right, break it up. Clear off,

the lot of ya.

You see, sir?

Hes not random at all.

We will attend to your horse.

Patch him up best we can.

Treat him like

the soldier he is.

Thank you, sir.

Gentlemen!

Gentlemen!

It falls on me to give

you some important news.

At eleven oclock today,

in two minutes time

the War will come to an end.

The King and Queen thank you for your

service.

We have been victorious

even if at a higher price than

many of us might have imagined.

When the bells ring out

and they will in a moment,

for the first time for four years

let us remember our brothers fallen in the

field.

And thank God for the end of this

struggle and victory.

I dont understand, sir.

Officers horses only.

All other horses are to be auctioned

immediately.

That is a complete and bloody outrage.

Its the lads horse, sir, from Devon.

He raised him up from a pup, he did.

Trained him right up to the day when

the army came to town.

These arent my orders, sergeant.

Youll have to take him to market.

Thats all.

Weve all clubbed together.

Its everything we have.

Theres twenty-nine pounds there.

Buy him back.

- Does the Major know?

- The Major put in ten.

Mums the word where the Majors

concerned. Your friend on the crutches over there

even asked the Major to say that

Joey was his, an officers horse,

so that he could go back with the

others.

Come on, Narracott! Get a move on. We dont

want to miss the show.

Seven pounds! Seven pounds there!

Seven pounds! Eight pounds here!

Eight pounds! Ten pounds here!

Any advance? Sold!

Youre alright. Nobodys gonna bid more than

fifteen for a thoroughbred.

They want work horses.

Next one.

We start at four pounds.

Four pounds.

- 5 pound.

- five pounds here

Any advance?

- seven pound!

eight pound. eight pound!

- Nine!

- ten pound!

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