- 2 days ago
Jim Henson's The Storyteller S01E05 Hans My Hedgehog
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00When people told themselves their past with stories,
00:13explained their present with stories,
00:16foretold the future with stories,
00:20the best place by the fire was kept for the storyteller.
00:30A story.
00:53Imagine a cold night and a dark night.
00:58A night like this one.
01:01And imagine a bed with a farmer and his wife fast asleep,
01:04snuggling up for warmth.
01:06And in this bed, the farmer, shivering, reaches out for his wife.
01:12But instead of a head, he finds a foot,
01:15because his missus is rubbing noses with their dog,
01:18who sleeps every night at the end of the bed.
01:21What kind of dog?
01:23I don't know. A dog. Some kind of dog.
01:26Some kind of dog. Terrific story.
01:30Should I bark?
01:32Oh, no!
01:34Just for tonight.
01:36Don't be dense, woman.
01:37One night, walnut. It might work.
01:40Sleeping upside down? What good's that gonna do?
01:43Midwife said it sometimes helps.
01:46You're not gonna get a child.
01:48If you want company, get a widow woman up from the village.
01:51I'll come up this end.
01:54I'm proper frozen.
01:58But the farmer's wife didn't want no widow for company.
02:03She wanted a baby.
02:05And she'd wanted this child for what seemed a lifetime
02:08until she couldn't bear to watch the lambs born,
02:11or the calves come, or the eggs hatch.
02:13It hurt her soul.
02:14And she drove the farmer mad with her cranky books
02:18and her cranky charms and remedies.
02:21They're stings.
02:23That's good.
02:25That's good?
02:26I'm making you a nice tonic and all.
02:28To be drunk night and morning.
02:30I want a child.
02:32I don't care if it were a strange thing
02:34made of marzipan or porridge.
02:36If it were ugly as a hedgehog.
02:37I want a baby to wrap in a bundle
02:42and sink to it and snoodle with
02:44and hug to bits.
02:49Now, to say you wouldn't care
02:51when you want something is a dangerous thing.
02:55That woman wanted a baby so bad
02:57she couldn't care what she got.
03:00If she got a hedgehog,
03:01she'd bring it snout to her breast.
03:04Here's twitch that shouldn't be listening.
03:06And no sooner said than done
03:09she got her wish, the farmer's wife.
03:11She's all swollen stomach
03:13and thinks it's the baths he took
03:15or the sleeping upside down.
03:17But in fact, of course,
03:18it's the saying you wouldn't care
03:20what you got, what gets you jiggered.
03:22As everyone knows what heard a proper story.
03:25She has her boy.
03:27And straight away, there he is.
03:29Little ball.
03:30As ugly as sin with a pointed nose
03:33and sprouting hair everywhere.
03:35Hedgehogs do not have hair.
03:39They have quills.
03:45But this hedgehog baby
03:48had quills as soft as feathers
03:50and his mother held him to her breast
03:53and wrapped him in a bundle
03:54and snoodled him and hugged him to bits.
03:56And she gave him the name Hans.
04:00Hans, my hedgehog, she called him.
04:03Oh, yes.
04:04The mother loved her baby all right.
04:07But not everybody did.
04:09What?
04:10There's a hedgehog.
04:11What a laughing stock.
04:15Guys, get out of here.
04:17Come on, mate.
04:18Come on, yes.
04:20Bring the freaks in there.
04:22Don't watch you in there now.
04:23What are you doing?
04:24We're going home.
04:25What about our chores?
04:27That's the end of parading ourselves in public.
04:30Don't cry, my sweet.
04:32Don't even cry like a proper baby.
04:36Could you shut that squealing?
04:37And the farmer grew to hate his son,
04:44Hans the Hedgehog Boy.
04:47Out in the field,
04:48he chopped and sighed and bundled and milked,
04:50but all the while,
04:52the shame of what had befallen him
04:53turned a knot in his heart.
04:56One moment, the rage welling up in him,
04:58the next, tears,
04:59huge tears splashing his boots.
05:04And time passed by.
05:06Day following day,
05:08Weak chasing weak,
05:09and the Hedgehog Boy grew up.
05:12Hey, Beastie!
05:13You, Clitterchub!
05:14Orange-a-chub!
05:14Triple Black!
05:15Hog heads!
05:16Grupple Hog!
05:17Grupple Hog!
05:19And Hans, my hedgehog,
05:21learned he was strange,
05:22and he learned he was ugly,
05:24and he learned to be sad,
05:26and he learned the name that was given him.
05:31Grupple Hog!
05:37Grupple Hog!
05:38Grupple Hog!
05:41Grupple Hog!
05:42That's enough!
05:44Out!
05:46Out!
05:48Out!
05:50I see.
05:51From now on, I'll eat out there with the other beasts!
05:54Hans!
06:03Hans!
06:06Hans!
06:12Come on!
06:13Hans heard them, but he wouldn't answer.
06:16He lay there all night, his rooster for company,
06:19and thought and thought until he thought a hole in the ground.
06:23And his mother couldn't sleep, and his father wandered the dark hours,
06:27a great needle in his heart.
06:30In the morning, weary, the farmer returned.
06:34By the step asleep was his son, the grovel hog.
06:38I've trudged all night for you.
06:40You'll never eat for a week off my food.
06:43Father, I want you to do some things for me.
06:46Do what?
06:48I want you to go to the village and have me a saddle made for my rooster,
06:51so I can ride him.
06:53And I want some of your sheep and some hens and some pigs.
06:56Oh, do you now, fancy fine?
06:58I know which ones I'd like, and they would be happy to come with me.
07:01Come with you?
07:02Come with you where?
07:04Where I go, which is away, which is to somewhere where I can't hurt anyone,
07:09and no one can hurt me.
07:11And when are you planning this gad to away and somewhere?
07:15When I have the saddle.
07:17You can't go nowhere!
07:19What would your mother say?
07:22The rule don'ts on you.
07:24Father, all night I lay out door to understand why you don't love me.
07:30And I've thought until I've thought a hole in the grass.
07:33And now it's all right.
07:35When I have the saddle, I'll go.
07:38And the farmer felt ashamed.
07:41And he brought home a saddle for the rooster.
07:44And he herded up the animals his son had asked for.
07:46And he told his wife, pack a pack lunch.
07:48And all the while, the growl hog sat on the stoop and waited.
07:52And when all was done, he went to his mother and she kissed him.
07:55And then to his dad and hugged him.
07:57And the farmer knew for the first time how soft he was.
08:02They watched him until he was a faint smudge in the distance.
08:06And his mother felt a crack in her heart like a tiny pencil line.
08:10And each day after the pencil line got thicker and thicker.
08:13And one day, not long after, her heart split in half.
08:18And she died.
08:22Twenty years later, a king got lost in a great forest.
08:26And after he got lost, he got more lost.
08:29Until he was so lost he began to tug his ear,
08:31which is a sure sign of big trouble.
08:33When he heard a sound,
08:35which was a bitter sound and a sweet sound all at once,
08:38which began like hello and ended like goodbye.
08:41And tugging his ear like bilio,
08:43he followed the sound until he came to a clearing.
08:46And the palace the king saw before him
08:49was the most extraordinary palace in your whole borne.
08:56I, er, I'm very lost.
09:11And I'm very hungry.
09:13And, er, somewhere back there, a long time ago, I was a king.
09:19But now, so lost and so hungry, you wouldn't hawk at a beast's house.
09:25Oh, well.
09:26You are welcome in my house, er, and at my table.
09:31And the king sat at the grovel hog's table
09:35and ate of the greenest greens and the sweetest sweets
09:38and the juiciest juices.
09:40Oh, how very, very kind.
09:42After, his host took up the bagpipes and played old songs,
09:47which were bitter and sweet all at once
09:49and began like hello and ended like goodbye.
09:52And before he could think, I'm full now and found,
09:57the king was asleep.
09:59Well, this king woke up the next morning
10:02after a night of the kind of dreams you only dream about.
10:05He opened his eyes and almost yanked off his ear
10:08because he found himself under a tree
10:10which certainly wasn't where he'd fallen asleep.
10:12And more confusing, it was a tree from which
10:15he could see the edge of his kingdom.
10:17And he began to dance as only kings once lost
10:20and then found can dance.
10:22A jig, a jiggle-joggle, and a leap.
10:24I've heard this story, and you're telling it all wrong.
10:28Hmm.
10:29What happens is, the king wants to give the grovel hog
10:32a reward for all his help, and so he says,
10:35Name anything.
10:37And the hog thinks, says,
10:39Give me the first thing to greet you
10:41when you arrive in your kingdom.
10:44And the king agrees, because he knows
10:46the first thing to greet him
10:48will be his faithful flop-eared
10:50w-w-w-wagger, the royal dog.
10:53So the king says yes, and the hog thing says,
10:56I'll collect my reward in a year and a day.
11:00And off he goes on his ridiculous rooster.
11:04But, things don't go as he planned, do they?
11:08And it's not for w-w-wagger who gets there first.
11:12And the king lets go of the princess's sweetness and cherry pie,
11:21and his face clouds over.
11:23But then he shrugs, and turns back to his daughter and dog,
11:27and walks away for a year and a day.
11:31Here we are, dearie hoes, in the king's great hall.
11:40And lo and behold, a handsome storyteller has been summoned to court
11:44to entertain the royal family.
11:48King.
11:50Now, of course, the king here has been counting the days off his calendar,
11:54and it is a year ago today, you see, since he made his rash promise to the grovel hog.
11:59And tomorrow, you remember, is the day when the grovel hog is due to arrive to collect his reward.
12:05Princess.
12:13I'm very good at this.
12:17Eh?
12:19Get ready!
12:20Oh, idiot!
12:21Throw me in the dungeon!
12:23Feed him each by inch to my royal staff!
12:25No, no, no, you do not!
12:26You do not!
12:27What they won't eat!
12:28Give to his dog!
12:29No!
12:30Help!
12:31No!
12:32No!
12:33Put me down!
12:34Put me down!
12:35Your majesty, a huge army appears at the gates.
12:37Oh, does it?
12:38Not men, but animals, sire.
12:40Told you?
12:41Sire?
12:42I heard you!
12:44Let them in!
12:47Get off!
12:48Get off!
12:49Give a fella some space!
12:50I want to hear this!
12:53Do you remember me?
12:55I drew.
12:56A year and a day have passed since last we met.
12:59Will you keep your promise to me?
13:02I will!
13:04He will?
13:12Do you know of me, lady?
13:14I do, sir.
13:16You saved my father and he owes you his life.
13:20Do you know of his promise to me?
13:22He promised you the first thing to greet him on his return.
13:27And what was that?
13:32Me, sir.
13:37I am yours.
13:38Then I want you to be my wife and come live with me in the forest.
13:44I want you to be my princess of sweetness and cherry pie.
13:48I want to catch you up and sing to you.
13:52I want you to love me.
13:55Yes, sir.
13:57Do you find me very ugly?
13:58Very ugly.
13:59No, sir.
14:01Not so ugly as going back on a promise.
14:07Come on.
14:08Shift yourselves.
14:09There's a royal wedding.
14:10You're all to be pardoned.
14:11I don't know why, I'm sure.
14:13Oh, come on.
14:14I don't know about wedding.
14:15Up there, it's more like a funeral.
14:17Good, good, good, good, good, good.
14:18A wedding.
14:19I might even be asked to tell a story or two.
14:21Who knows?
14:22It's on days like these that artists come into their own.
14:25We are gathered here today.
14:26Oh!
14:27Oh!
14:28Oh!
14:29Oh!
14:30Oh!
14:31Oh!
14:50We are gathered here today.
14:52Oh!
14:53Oh!
14:54Oh!
14:57The most unhappy wedding party you ever saw.
15:02And that night, in her bedchamber, it was a terrified princess who lay waiting for her new husband to join her.
15:24Oh!
15:26Oh!
15:32Oh!
15:34Oh!
15:37And lying there, half sweetness, half cherry pie, the princess could hardly credit what she'd see.
16:02But creeping to the window, she looked down, and there, sure enough, a man moving among the animals in the quiet rain.
16:11And she found herself going to the abandoned coat of hair and quills, and touching it, soft and warm and remarkable.
16:23And the first rays of morning woke her from dreams of waterfalls and ice cream.
16:29And there she was in her bed, and by the embers, the grovel hog, back again, beast again.
16:38And so had she dreamed all this peeling off of skin?
16:42Surely she must have.
16:43But that night, the same scene, her husband standing over her as she pretended to sleep.
16:50The tender touch on her arm, not prickly, but so smooth she felt an ache when he left her.
16:57And she found herself going to the skin and lying against it, and how comfortable she found it.
17:03And she felt drowsy, lying there by the fire, so peaceful.
17:08She felt herself drifting off, and knew she mustn't, but really couldn't help herself.
17:14Sir, I woke, and you had gone, and left behind you your coat of quills.
17:27Which would you have for husband?
17:29The man, or the creature?
17:33I have a husband, sir, and he is what he is.
17:37No more and no less.
17:39Then forgive him, madam, if he returns to his skin.
17:44For I am enchanted and cannot leave it.
17:47But if you say nothing of this for a third night,
17:51then loyal love will break the spell forever.
17:55I promise.
17:58But we all know about promises, don't we?
18:02And secrets.
18:04What use are there when no one knows about them?
18:06When they twist and turn and tickle in our stomachs.
18:11When they tickly little fish wriggling into our conversations.
18:16Now you see, the princess had a mother,
18:18and mothers have this way of catching secret fish and promised fish.
18:23They eye us with wise eyes, and all our rivers are glass to them.
18:27Just so with the queen,
18:29who that morning at breakfast sees her daughter skip to the table.
18:33Eat, when for days no appetite.
18:35Hungry?
18:35Laugh.
18:36Yes.
18:36Went for days no laughter.
18:38Sleep well?
18:39Yes, thank you.
18:40Not troubled by the creature?
18:44No, mother.
18:45And please don't speak of him as a creature.
18:48Listen, daughter.
18:50Last night, your father and I went to a wise woman
18:53and told of your tragedy.
18:55And she knows of these creatures,
18:58these grovel hogs,
19:00and knows the remedy.
19:01He is enchanted, you see.
19:05I know.
19:06Oh?
19:08I mean, I knew that he must be,
19:11something like that.
19:12Yes, I see.
19:15He's enchanted.
19:17He's told you, hasn't he?
19:19No, really, he hasn't.
19:21I just knew he must be.
19:22And, um,
19:26does he take off his skin?
19:28No.
19:29No, he doesn't.
19:32The only way to break the spell
19:34is to throw the skin into the fire.
19:36Cast the skin into the flames,
19:37and he will be free of it.
19:38That's not the way.
19:40So,
19:42he has told you.
19:44That night,
20:05the third,
20:06when everything happens as before,
20:08the princess is haunted
20:10by her mother's advice.
20:13And, oh, dear, oh, dear.
20:15Daughter!
20:42Daughter!
20:42Daughter!
20:45And there she sat, the princess of sweetness and cherry pie, weeping into the fire, and she would let no one see her, not even me, and I was her favorite.
20:55No, she thought and thought until she thought a hole in the hearth, until she knew what she must do.
21:02She went to the blacksmith and got from him a pair of iron shoes, and that night, when all slept, she slipped out of the palace and set off to wander the world in search of her husband.
21:12She walked and walked, until she wore out the first pair of shoes, and still no one had set eyes on the grovel hog.
21:22And she got a second pair of shoes and began again, never stopping, always hoping.
21:27And the second pair of shoes wore out, and still she walked, always looking, always hoping to hear a music both bitter and sweet, beginning in hello and ending in goodbye, but nothing.
21:39Till one day, weary and wretched, she came to a stream and lay down by it, and saw in the water's mirror her hair was now quite white, and she sorrowed for her red hair and her husband, both lost forever.
21:57To the health of that most beautiful woman who could not keep her promise for one more day.
22:19Husband.
22:19How did you find me?
22:25I have walked the world to find you, and have worn out the soles of three pairs of iron shoes.
22:31My hair is no longer red.
22:34But I come to claim you, and catch you up, and snoodle you and hug you to bits.
22:40Merrile!
22:47Mm!
22:47Wuh-huh!
22:48Wuh-huh!
22:48And so the princess
23:17who could not keep her promise
23:19won back her husband
23:20through looking without hope of finding
23:22and holding on for dear life.
23:25And in time, her hair grew red again
23:27and there was another wedding all over.
23:30And we were both invited.
23:33And I told the best story there is to tell.
23:35A story which begins in hello
23:37and ends in goodbye.
23:39And for a gift,
23:40she gave me a shoe worn to nothing.
23:44And here it is.
23:47He, he, he, he, he.
23:49He, he, he, he, he.
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