- 2 days ago
Jim Henson's The Storyteller S01E04 A Story Short
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CreativityTranscript
00:00When people told themselves their past with stories,
00:13explained their present with stories,
00:15foretold the future with stories,
00:19the best place by the fire was kept for the storyteller.
00:30Yesterday, I was telling a marvelous tale of how the moon became round.
00:45And suddenly, as I reached the best bit, I couldn't remember what came next.
00:51I still can't.
00:53And staring at these expectant faces,
00:56I thought, what will I do when there are no more stories in me?
01:00When the well runs dry,
01:02what use a storyteller without stories?
01:06And then I remembered a time
01:08when that was exactly what happened.
01:11Yes, yesterday I forgot a story.
01:30And that is why I went straight out and gave my supper to a beggar.
01:35Our supper.
01:35Now, of course, this will strike fools as foolish and wise men as wise.
01:42A fool eats his last potato, a wise man plants it.
01:46Apart from which, everyone knows beggars are never what they seem.
01:52Hmm.
01:52You didn't plant a potato.
01:54You gave away our supper.
01:56What was he if he wasn't a beggar?
01:58He was definitely a beggar.
01:59There was a time, you see,
02:04when I myself was forced to beg.
02:08A bad time.
02:11A bitter cold.
02:12When a great hunger was on the land,
02:15and only the rich had bellies.
02:17And I wandered starving and wretched and without a home.
02:22Until one morning, I found myself in a new kingdom,
02:27in sight of a palace and in smell of a kitchen,
02:31drawn there by the sweet aroma of roasting.
02:35Hmm.
02:36And just about to knock was I when...
02:39Oh, get out!
02:41And stay out of my kitchen!
02:44Good day to you.
02:49A boil meant for wasting my time.
02:52I'm sure that's right.
02:53Good policy.
02:55Do you have any spare water?
02:57What?
02:58Oh, just a drop will do.
03:00I have a good stone here.
03:04And with a little water,
03:06we'll make some soup for my friend and me.
03:08Stone soup?
03:10Delicious.
03:11I'm not a fool.
03:16You can't make soup out to a stone.
03:24Here's your water.
03:26There's your fire.
03:27Now, let's see this marvellous soup.
03:29Thank you, thank you.
03:39How long's this going to take?
03:41Oh, it won't take more than an hour.
03:44That's good.
03:45Oh, it's marvellous water.
03:48And though a friend the cook stands over me for an hour,
03:52will I consider my soup a simple stone in bubbling water?
04:02Oh.
04:04Hmm.
04:04Nearly there, I think.
04:06Hmm.
04:08Hmm.
04:09Done.
04:09Do you have a little salt?
04:12Salt!
04:16Hmm.
04:22Almost perfect.
04:24Do you have a little stock?
04:27Lamb.
04:27I mean, just a drop will do.
04:29Stock!
04:29And after stock, greens.
04:34And after greens, potatoes.
04:38In they all go.
04:41Meat.
04:45Enough.
04:46You'll drown the stone.
04:50Hmm.
04:51Ready.
04:51Now, you must remember, this is just a humble stone soup.
05:00Good.
05:01Very good.
05:03Soup from a stone.
05:06Keep it.
05:08My gift.
05:09A furious cook drags me before the king.
05:22Punishment erages death by boiling.
05:25But all I'm listening to are the sweet gurgles of my full belly.
05:30Answer his majesty, blockhead.
05:32Pardon?
05:32What's your trade, fool?
05:36It can be scratched on your gravestone.
05:39I am a teller of stories.
05:42A weaver of dreams.
05:45I can dance, sing, and in the right weather I can stand on my head.
05:49I know seven words of Latin.
05:51I have a little magic.
05:56And a trick or two.
05:57Hmm?
05:58I know the proper way to meet a dragon.
06:01I can fight dirty, but not fair.
06:03I once swallowed 30 oysters in a minute.
06:06I am not domestic.
06:08I am a luxury.
06:09And in that sense, necessary.
06:25Excellent.
06:25And you can make soup out of a stone.
06:28Excellent.
06:29And a monkey out of a cook.
06:31But your majesty.
06:32And stories, eh?
06:33Good stories?
06:34Funny stories?
06:36Some good.
06:36Some funny.
06:37Some indifferent.
06:39Your Highness, the punishment.
06:42Punishment.
06:44Yes.
06:45Your punishment will be that you will tell me a story every night for a year.
06:51And for every story, I will give you a golden crown.
06:55Is that fair?
06:56It's my usual fee.
06:58But, of course, if you should run out of stories, I will hand you over to the cook and his boiling oil.
07:04Naturally.
07:06Naturally.
07:06Ah, my dearie-o's.
07:13The balmy days which followed.
07:16The plenty.
07:17Much of this.
07:18Much of that.
07:19Each day an inch on my belly.
07:20A story from my head.
07:22Imagine me, then.
07:25A royal commission.
07:27A servant.
07:28A feather bed.
07:29A suit of silk jingling with my gold pieces.
07:32Ah, blissfulness.
07:35After supper, part by the fire, I'd tell my tale to the rat king.
07:41And he never fell asleep.
07:46What more could an artist want?
07:48Food to eat.
07:49Money to spend.
07:50And his audience awake.
07:51Each night a tick on the golden calendar.
07:54And a snuggle with my new wife.
07:57That wife.
07:59Aye, aye.
08:01And the year passed.
08:03And the final day came.
08:05My last of sweet punishment.
08:08Ah.
08:10I wake up full to the brim with life.
08:13My wife all softness in our bed.
08:16The coins spilling over.
08:18And blow me.
08:19I can't think of a story.
08:22In a twink, I'm up and pacing the gardens.
08:25That old crocodile fear leading me a merry dance.
08:29But, oh dear.
08:31My mind is a terrible blank.
08:34Oil, it says.
08:35The oil is on the boil.
08:37Husband, we have a visitor.
08:41So I see.
08:43You don't remember me.
08:45We shared your stone soup.
08:47Right.
08:48Is something wrong?
08:50No.
08:51No.
08:53Is there anything we can do for you?
08:56Is it food you're after or money?
08:58Oh, no, sir.
08:59I have both about me.
09:00As it happens, I have 364 gold pieces.
09:04Aye.
09:05And I come to wager them against yours.
09:07My husband, sir, is a devil with the dice.
09:10Yes, of course I am.
09:12But I can't be winning money.
09:14I'm playing for higher stakes.
09:15I must find a story before nightfall, else I shall...
09:20I know.
09:23I shouldn't have.
09:25But the gold sparkled.
09:27I should have said no.
09:28But the gold glittered.
09:31The morning frittered away my fortune with it.
09:35Well, that's it.
09:37I have no story and I have no money.
09:39Cleon.
09:40With what?
09:41Your wife.
09:43Your wife against my winnings.
09:44Never.
09:46No, go on, play.
09:49I'm sure you'll win.
09:51I'll not.
09:52I'll not give you up.
09:53I may forget stories.
09:55I may lose my fortune.
09:56I may boil.
09:57But I'll not lose you.
09:59Play.
10:00You must surely win.
10:05Tis not my will.
10:11Two.
10:14What's this?
10:16He is now my husband, sir.
10:19And our needs must love him.
10:21Then I am broken.
10:23You will not play again.
10:25With what?
10:26There is nothing more.
10:28I stake everything now.
10:30Wife.
10:31Everything.
10:31Against your own self.
10:35Third time lucky.
10:37State myself.
10:40Why not?
10:42You have it already anyway.
10:43Two sixes.
10:56Naturally.
10:58Well, sir, I am your servant on this dismal day.
11:02Am I to be tied up like a dog?
11:05No.
11:06What?
11:06Like a hare.
11:07Oh, clever.
11:17Help, help, I'm shouting.
11:20No noise comes out.
11:22Only a squeal.
11:23A squeal only.
11:25Darling, Wife, help me.
11:27Now, it's no good struggling.
11:30You can't get away, you naughty boy.
11:32You can't get away.
11:34Help.
11:36Do you like our games?
11:39No, I don't.
11:41Help.
11:42Loving every minute.
11:45Good.
11:46Because I have better sport in store.
11:49But not in that shape.
11:53I wonder.
11:54Don't wonder.
11:56Help me.
11:57You choose, my woman.
11:58Can you do anything?
12:00Anything.
12:01But it must be small for my purposes.
12:04Um, a flea.
12:08A flea is possible.
12:14Nice.
12:15I can be popped between the fingers.
12:24If you itch, you can think of me.
12:27And the beggar strides off.
12:29Where he carries me, I know not.
12:32This morning, a man blessed by lunch a flea.
12:35This does not bode well for the evening.
12:38Unless I find my story.
12:40It's a boil in the oil.
12:43You get a view on life as a flea.
12:52Outside it is cold and hungry.
12:55Inside the castle it is hot and people eat.
12:59Our friend, the beggar, takes us, me and the rest of the fleas, to the kitchen where the oil sizzles to meet the cook.
13:07The human body is a kitchen for the parasite and the cook is a feast.
13:15The other fleas flock to him.
13:17Oh, so tempting.
13:21Greed is the cook's itch and he scratches.
13:24What's that?
13:25Oh, that's oil boiling.
13:27It's for a friend of mine, a buffoon, who tells stories.
13:31Nothing.
13:32A flea.
13:34His time will come.
13:36Put your straws down here.
13:38By all means.
13:40Now you say you can blow away the middle one, but leave the other two where they are.
13:46My gold says I can.
13:48A meal says I can't.
13:50That's cheating.
13:55Why?
13:55I can do that.
13:57Then try.
14:10My fingers.
14:12It's not so easy.
14:14Another game.
14:15My fingers.
14:17Oh, my fingers.
14:19This is simple.
14:21I'll wager my gold that I can move one ear, but not the other.
14:26That's impossible.
14:28I'll not try.
14:29It's a doctor.
14:31It's a secret friend.
14:32As you wish.
14:34Don't try.
14:37I want that gold.
14:41Try and curse you.
14:49That's cheating.
14:50He's cheating.
14:51No.
14:52I said I'd move one ear and not the other.
14:55And that is what I've done.
14:56You'll not make a fool out of me.
14:59I'll do it myself.
15:01My ear.
15:06Oh.
15:07My ear.
15:09Oh.
15:10My fingers.
15:13My ear.
15:14Poor chap.
15:15What do you mean, poor chap?
15:17What about me?
15:18Poor flea.
15:20Poor chap, indeed.
15:21He only lost a few bits.
15:23I lost everything.
15:24Terrible state.
15:26Sorry.
15:26And then, as night draws up its hood, and the hour comes when the king expects his story,
15:33I find myself carried into the court on the coat of the beggar.
15:38Where's my storyteller?
15:40Huh?
15:41Huh?
15:41I want my story.
15:43Sire, there's a man outside who would entertain you.
15:47I don't want entertainers.
15:48I loathe entertainers.
15:49I want my story, and I want it now.
15:52Majesty, allow me to present myself, ragbag that I am.
15:56He smells.
15:57I am a beggar, sir.
15:59It is my business to smell.
16:02But I am capable of offence, not simply to the nose.
16:06And I can throw a rope in a special way.
16:14That's clever.
16:15Do something else.
16:17Can you do anything else?
16:18I can.
16:18I can.
16:26Where's it gone?
16:38I want it.
16:39Where's it gone?
16:40The prince wants the ball.
16:41Please oblige.
16:43It's at the top of the rope.
16:44Can I get it?
16:46He can't climb a rope.
16:47Well, in that case.
16:56Now he can go up.
17:04Be careful.
17:10What's he doing up there?
17:12Come down.
17:13Come down.
17:14Where was he?
17:22Where was he indeed?
17:25All eyes strain upwards, but the prince has vanished.
17:29The beggar scratches his beard and shrugs,
17:31and then a bright object comes sailing down.
17:35The ball.
17:36Oh.
17:36The room is silent.
17:44Nothing.
17:45Then a babble of muttering and whispering,
17:47pointing, glares, and indignation.
17:49Growls drowned by the terrifying roar of the king.
17:53To the oil!
17:55Oh, no.
17:56I'm trying to shout for help, but no one hears me.
17:59To go like this, I flee you nothing.
18:01To sizzle.
18:02No.
18:03To the oil!
18:04To the oil!
18:05Here you are, rat bag.
18:10Come to the box, the terrible box.
18:13Come for a boil in the boiling oil.
18:17Ha, ha, ha.
18:19Up and in.
18:23Ha, ha, ha.
18:25Ha, ha, ha.
18:25Ha, ha, ha.
18:30Ha, ha, ha.
18:32Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
18:34Watch out.
18:35Sorry.
18:37That's all right.
18:38That's not meant to happen.
18:40It's boiling.
18:41The back.
18:55Ah, fingers are back.
18:57Ow.
18:58I hear.
19:00It's back.
19:01I hear.
19:01It's back.
19:02Where's the box?
19:07What if you don't have a ball?
19:09Give it back.
19:10Look.
19:13They pondered.
19:15And who could blame them?
19:17For odds, odds are strange indeedy.
19:20The beggar had quite disappeared.
19:21But what about you?
19:24Where were you?
19:26Where was I indeed?
19:27No longer a flea.
19:28No longer anything.
19:30Here I am above the palace, swirling.
19:32An element, nothing more.
19:34And then a sudden drop, hurtling down.
19:37And the ground rushing up towards me.
19:39Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
19:44I've been dreaming.
19:46None of this happened.
19:48His Majesty wants his story.
19:50Yes.
19:50His wife.
19:54Right.
20:05The day is almost over.
20:07And I've heard no story.
20:10Sire.
20:11Do you remember the conditions?
20:13I do.
20:14Well, do you have a story to tell me or not?
20:18He hasn't, sire.
20:20The pig.
20:21Let me have him.
20:22Is there going to be a boil?
20:27I have no story, sire.
20:32Let me tell you what happened to me today.
20:35I woke up.
20:37It was the last day of our agreement.
20:39My wife lay beside me, the sun streaming in.
20:43I never was a man so happy, and then I just couldn't think of a story, not a single one.
20:51So I went out into the gardens, and then things began to go very wrong.
20:56And so I began to tell the king of my adventures, of hairs and fleas and mysteries, the worst day of my life, my wife's cruelty, the boiling oil.
21:09And what a tale it was, my dearies, how the tears coursed down the cheeks of the king, and the cook, and the queen, and when at last I finished, there was a terrible silence.
21:23And so, majesty, I have no story to tell.
21:28But that's the best story I ever heard.
21:33And suddenly, the whole court stood and cheered and clapped my back and made me say again, from start to finish, the best story they'd ever heard.
21:52And then I understood what the beggar had done.
21:56He'd given me a story.
21:58When I was a story short, he made me one.
22:03And your wife?
22:08Oh, she was under the beggar's spell.
22:11Ah, I thought so.
22:12Otherwise, it would have been cruel to kiss the beggar, to make you into a flea.
22:18She was enchanted, definite.
22:21And still is, I suppose.
22:23She was so taken by his magic, she set off in search of him.
22:28I never saw her to this day.
22:29As for the cook, he threw out the pot of oil and kept the stone instead.
22:35Whenever a poor unfortunate came a-begging, he would make them the most delicious soup.
22:40So that's how a story was lost and then found.
22:45And is still told to this day, for the king will hear no other.
22:49Only it's changed now.
22:51The wife comes back to the storyteller.
22:52The storyteller becomes king.
22:54You know how it is in stories.
22:55She was a lovely, lovely red hair.
23:03Are you hungry?
23:05I've got a bone somewhere.
23:12Not much use.
23:14We can make a soup.
23:16We can try.
23:17We can make a soup.
23:47We can make a soup.
23:48We can make a soup.
23:48We can make a soup.
23:49We can make a soup.
23:49We can make a soup.
23:50We can make a soup.
23:50We can make a soup.
23:51We can make a soup.
23:52We can make a soup.
23:53We can make a soup.
23:54We can make a soup.
23:55We can make a soup.
23:56We can make a soup.
23:57We can make a soup.
23:58We can make a soup.
23:59We can make a soup.
24:00We can make a soup.
24:01We can make a soup.
24:02We can make a soup.
24:03We can make a soup.
24:04We can make a soup.
24:05We can make a soup.
24:06We can make a soup.
24:07We can make a soup.
24:08We can make a soup.
24:09We can make a soup.
24:10We can make a soup.
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