let me tell you about winds

He regresado el viento de estos días anteriores. Mientras las lamas de la persiana tabletean ocurre esto delante de mis ojos:

KATHARINE
I can't sing.
(the audience groans)
but I can tell a story.
(to Almásy, who has
arrived)
I might need a prompt. Do you have
your Herodotus? I've noticed you
carry it…

ALMÁSY
I'm sorry - what have you noticed?

MADOX
Your book. Your Herodotus! Almásy
looks uncomfortable.

KATHARINE
(reacting quickly)
It doesn't matter. Really. I
think I can muddle through. Okay -
The Story of Candaules and Gyges.
King Candaules was passionately in
love with his wife -
(Geoffrey whistles
proudly)
One day he said to Gyges, the son
of somebody, anyway - his favorite
warrior -

ALMÁSY
(quietly prompting her)
Daskylus…

KATHARINE
(smiles)
Yes, thank you, Gyges, son of
Daskylus - Candaules said to him I
don't think you believe me when I
tell you how beautiful my wife is.
And although Gyges replied he did
find the Queen magnificent the King
insisted he would find some way to
prove beyond dispute that she was
fairest of all women. Do you all
know this story?

The men all encourage her to continue her story.

INT. THE PATIENT'S ROOM. NIGHT.

- and Hana's voice CONTINUES THE STORY as she reads to the
Patient who listens, eyes closed, still in the desert.

HANA
(reading from the
Herodotus)
I will hide you in the room where
we sleep, said Candaules. She
stumbles over the word.

THE PATIENT
Candaules

HANA
(not neurotic)
Candaules…you're laughing at me.

THE PATIENT
I'm not laughing at you. Go on,
please.

HANA
When my wife comes to lie down she
always lays her garments one by one
on a seat near the entrance of the
room, and from where you stand you
will be able to gaze on her at your
leisure…

EXT. BASECAMP AT POTTERY HILL. NIGHT.

KATHARINE
(her story continuing)
And that evening, it's exactly as
the King had told him, she goes to
the chair and removes her clothes,
one by one, until she stand naked
in full view of Gyges. And indeed
she was more lovely than he could
have imagined.

Almásy stares at her, framed by the velvet black sky.
Katharine turns to looks at him.

KATHARINE (CONT'D)
But then the Queen looked up and
saw Gyges concealed in the shadows.
And though she said nothing, she
shuddered. The next day she sent
for Gyges and challenged him. And
hearing his story, she said this -

CLIFTON
Off with his head!

KATHERINE
- she said Either you must submit
to death for gazing on that which
you should not, or else kill my
husband who shamed me and become
King in his place.

Clifton makes a face of outrage. For Katherine the story has
collapsed. She wants it to be finished.

KATHERINE (CONT'D)
So Gyges killed the King and
married the Queen and became ruler
of Lydia for twenty eight years.
The End.
(an uncomfortable moment)
Do I spin the bottle? Almásy
shrinks away from the fire,
disappears into black.

MADOX
(to Clifton)
And let that be a lesson to you!

Y esto:

EXT. THE DESERT. DAWN.

The sand is piling up against the two cars, the tent is swept
from its moorings, the water cans are hurled up too, and then
plunge ominously into sand drifts as if going under an ocean.

ALMÁSY (O/S)
…let me tell you about winds.
There is a whirlwind in Southern
Morocco, the Aajej, against which
the fellahin defend themselves with
knives.

The Ghibli from Tunis rolls and rolls and produces a rather
strange nervous condition… And we hear Katharine's laugh.

INT. CAR. DAWN.

Almasy sits alongside Katharine, whose head is against his
shoulder. He continues his story of winds.

ALMÁSY
- there is the Harmattan, a red
wind. Which Mariners called the sea
of darkness. Red sand from this
wind has flown as far as the south
coast of England, producing showers
so dense they were mistaken for
blood. Almasy checks to see if
Katharine is still awake.

KATHARINE
Fiction. We had a house on that
coast and it never rained blood.
Go on. More.

ALMÁSY
All true. Herodotus, your friend,
tells of a wind - the Simoon - so
evil that a nation declared war on
it and marched out to fight it in
full battle dress, their swords
raised.


THE ENGLISH PATIENT, by Anthony Minghella. Based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje. Revised Draft (*) August 1995 Copyright (c) 1995 The Saul Zaentz Company