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Jim Henson's The Storyteller S02E02 Perseus and the Gorgon
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CreativityTranscript
00:00Transcription by CastingWords
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01:25Don't even look at it.
01:27That face, it's horrible.
01:30Where does it come from?
01:32A long way away, on a rock at the edge of the world,
01:35lived a woman with terrible claws, wings of bronze,
01:39and breath as foul as corpses.
01:42Her hair was a nest of poisonous snakes,
01:45hissing alive.
01:48Catch her stare, and she could turn you to stone.
01:52Her name was Medusa.
01:54The Gorgon.
01:56Imagine her looking away,
01:58and then starting to turn towards you,
02:01slowly, slowly.
02:04Shall we turn and look at them, sisters?
02:08Look.
02:10And the boy sent to kill her
02:12came out of the same shadows that spawned her,
02:15and his birth was first foretold in a cave as dark as this place.
02:20His name was Perseus.
02:23Acrysius, king of Argos, had a daughter, Danahay.
02:45Now he longed for a son.
02:47What if his wife should give him another daughter?
02:49What if he gave rise to a line of daughters stretching out forever?
02:54Women who would carry off his name and lineage to strangers.
02:58This ache for a boy child, an heir, gripped his heart,
03:02and he made sacrifice after sacrifice to the gods,
03:07creators of earth and sky and moon,
03:09until finally, desperate, he sought out the oracle.
03:13Who is there?
03:18Acrysius, king of Argos.
03:20What does the king wish to know?
03:23There's a shame in asking what's to come.
03:26When the king of Argos knelt in the darkness with a dry mouth,
03:30his heart tapping like the wind at the temple door,
03:35I want a son.
03:36A son?
03:37There will be a boy.
03:39The king's heart lurched in the darkness.
03:42A son.
03:43But not your son, Acrysius, king of Argos.
03:47Your daughter's son.
03:49Danahay will have a boy,
03:51and you shall hear his laughter.
03:53And this boy,
03:55one day,
03:56he'll kill you.
03:58He'll kill you.
04:00Light!
04:02He'll kill you.
04:03Light! Do you hear me? Light!
04:05He'll kill you.
04:10Papa!
04:11Papa!
04:12Nothing, now, for both of us.
04:15No sons, no laughter, no joy, nothing.
04:18But silences and funerals
04:21and things that might have been.
04:26Papa!
04:29Poor girl.
04:32Oh, yes.
04:32Terrible.
04:35Shut forever in a chamber of solid bronze
04:37from which there could be no escape.
04:40Nothing.
04:41Nothing now but the dark and silence
04:43and the trickle of sunlight
04:45in the corner of the cell.
04:47Danahay found all her hope
04:49in that finger of light.
04:51Looked at it.
04:52Week after week.
04:54Month after month.
04:56Year after year.
04:57Until one day,
04:59as she gave herself up to the light,
05:01it turned to gold.
05:03Real gold.
05:04Streaming into her lap
05:06as she lay with her.
05:07What was it?
05:20It was Zeus,
05:22lord of all gods.
05:24What was he doing?
05:27Fulfilling the oracle.
05:28Oh, so that's how it's done.
05:33Oh, no.
05:35A baby.
05:35How awful.
05:37Was it a boy?
05:38Did it kill its grandfather?
05:39Did it have a poisoned rattle or something?
05:42It was a boy.
05:44Perseus.
05:45Born in darkness and secret.
05:47A boy whose fate awaited him
05:49at the end of the world
05:51on a sea-lashed rock.
05:53I smell a man born of a god.
05:57Sisters, smell the air.
06:00Stare him out, sisters.
06:03Give him the sad eye.
06:07Years passed,
06:09and all Perseus knew was the room,
06:11the sweet touch of his mother
06:12and her stories,
06:14and the quiet unraveling
06:16of day after day.
06:17What's the world like?
06:20Not like this.
06:21What's this, then?
06:23A prison.
06:25I thought it was the world.
06:27When Perseus was six years old,
06:29Danahay made for him
06:30a sword from wood
06:31pulled from her bed
06:32and smoothed on the stone floor.
06:35When she placed it in his hands,
06:37the little boy just stood there,
06:39his pale eyes troubled.
06:42You fight with it.
06:43You fight monsters with it.
06:46A long way away on a rock
06:47at the edge of the world
06:48lives a woman with terrible claws,
06:50wings of bronze,
06:51and breath as foul as corpses.
06:54Her hair
06:55is a nest of poisonous snakes,
06:58alive
06:59and hissing.
07:02Catch her eyes,
07:04and she'll turn you to stone.
07:06and this pale, bloodless noise
07:24caught in the still passages
07:26echoed, crept into the ear
07:28of the sad king,
07:30chilled him,
07:31pulled him from his chamber,
07:33pulled him down corridors
07:34where laughter had long died,
07:36where joy had perished,
07:38pulled him down and down
07:40into the bowels of his palace.
07:42Don't kill him.
07:51Please.
07:52Please don't kill my boy.
07:59Take this chest
08:00and shut in it
08:01my daughter
08:02and her son.
08:04Cast it from the highest cliff
08:05into the ocean
08:06and let the seas
08:07mash them
08:08and the rocks
08:09grind them.
08:11Perseus could feel
08:12the chest lifted,
08:13hear the clash of heel
08:14on stone
08:15and then the drag,
08:16the lurch
08:17as the chest was carried off
08:19where they knew not
08:20and then cold,
08:22sharp, salt air
08:23seeping into the wood.
08:25He clung,
08:26clung in silence
08:27to his silent mother.
08:28He must have been frightened.
08:30Imagine,
08:32imagine
08:32suddenly a heave
08:34and then the world
08:35dropping from the pit
08:37of your stomach,
08:37the fall,
08:38the forever fall,
08:40the plunge
08:40turning over and over,
08:43clinging together
08:43and then the smash
08:45of wood on water
08:46and the wetness
08:47forcing in.
08:48That's terrible.
08:49They just drowned?
08:50They should have drowned.
08:51They dreamed they drowned.
08:53But then they woke
08:54and they were still there,
08:56still locked in the dark,
08:58but now the dark
08:59moved them
08:59from side to side,
09:02rocked them.
09:02They floated.
09:03They floated,
09:05pulled by currents,
09:06tugged by tides.
09:08How long this lasted,
09:09who knows,
09:10there were no days
09:11or nights,
09:12only drifting,
09:13drifting in and out
09:15of sleep,
09:15on and on.
09:17until from nowhere,
09:21out of nothing,
09:22suddenly there was light.
09:25Light!
09:26More light
09:26than Pursus
09:27had ever known.
09:28And into the light
09:29a face,
09:30and it was smiling.
09:31Look what the sea
09:33brought us.
09:34Look.
09:44What are you thinking, son?
09:45When I was small,
09:48we lived in a prison.
09:51I remember the prison.
09:53There was a narrow window.
09:55It was always quiet.
09:59Sometimes I miss the darkness.
10:01I miss the shadows
10:03and the silence.
10:05My house is full of shadows.
10:07Come and live with me.
10:09Is this your son?
10:11He is my son.
10:13His name is Perseus.
10:14And where's his father?
10:17Dictus,
10:17is this your son?
10:19He has no father.
10:20Oh.
10:21A boy needs a father.
10:24How would you like me
10:25to be your father?
10:27How would you like to live
10:28in a palace
10:29full of shadows?
10:31It could be easily done.
10:34All I would have to do
10:35is take your mother
10:36for my wife.
10:37Leave my mother alone.
10:39Who are you?
10:40His name is Polydectes,
10:42king of all this island.
10:43Stealer of farms.
10:45Liar.
10:46Gatherer in
10:47of beautiful things.
10:49And if I choose,
10:51I will take your mother
10:53for my wife.
10:54I will marry her
10:58in six days.
11:00Come to the wedding
11:01if you can afford
11:04a bridegift.
11:06Is that a treasure chest?
11:08Perseus.
11:09Bring your weight
11:10in gold coins,
11:12Perseus.
11:13Bring your oak chest
11:14full of gold pieces.
11:16I have no gold.
11:18The chest is empty.
11:20Oh, dear.
11:22What is to be done?
11:29A long way away
11:30on a rock
11:31at the edge of the world
11:32is a woman
11:32whose hair is a nest
11:34of poisonous snakes.
11:36Catch her eye
11:37and she'll turn you
11:38to stone.
11:39I'll bring you
11:40something better
11:41than gold.
11:44I'll bring you
11:45the head
11:45of the Gorgon.
11:47Really?
11:49The head
11:49of the Gorgon.
11:52Marvellous.
11:53What a marvellous
11:55wedding.
11:57I shall.
11:59I shall bring you
12:01Medusa
12:01and there will be
12:03no wedding.
12:05Somebody called
12:06my name.
12:07Sisters,
12:08we must keep watch.
12:11Look to the east.
12:15And so it was
12:19that Perseus,
12:20half child,
12:21half god,
12:22found himself
12:23with five days
12:24and five nights
12:25to bring back
12:25the severed head
12:26of the Gorgon,
12:27fringed with snakes,
12:29the gaze that froze
12:30to prevent
12:31the marriage
12:32of his mother
12:32to the tyrant
12:33Polydectes,
12:34lord of Seraphos.
12:36I don't know
12:36who I hate more,
12:38this Polydectes
12:39or the Gorgon.
12:41Poor Danny.
12:43Did she have
12:44to marry him?
12:44Poor Perseus.
12:47Poor Perseus.
12:48How could he
12:49bring back
12:49the head of the Gorgon
12:50to Polydectes' table?
12:52Did such a monster
12:53really exist?
12:54Where was this highland
12:55at the edge
12:56of the world,
12:57beyond ocean,
12:58beyond night,
13:00beyond the north wind?
13:02He wasted
13:03one whole day
13:04by the seashore,
13:05stared into
13:06the red night.
13:07So what happened?
13:09The gods.
13:10The gods helped him.
13:11Remember,
13:12he was Zeus' son,
13:13Athene,
13:14the daughter of Zeus,
13:15Hermes,
13:15the messenger,
13:16they found him.
13:17They gave him
13:18this sword,
13:19a real sword,
13:20and a bright bronze shield.
13:22And Athene...
13:23She was his sister then.
13:24She was his half-sister.
13:26Warned him
13:27never to look
13:28directly at the Gorgon,
13:29but to catch her stare
13:31in the reflection
13:32of the shield.
13:33Go to the Gryae,
13:34she told him,
13:35sisters of the Gorgon.
13:36They will know
13:37where to find her.
13:38And at length,
13:39Perseus found
13:40the Gryae,
13:41three hags
13:42who had but one tooth
13:43and one eye
13:44between the Gorgon's
13:46sisters.
13:48Zeus,
13:49father of the gods,
13:50lord of the storm,
13:51cloud gatherer,
13:52give me a six.
13:54Give her a two.
13:55Give her a two.
13:56Give her nothing,
13:56Zeus.
13:57Give her nothing.
13:57Who's there?
13:58A traveller.
13:59And I hold the eye.
14:00Give it to me.
14:02Not until you tell me
14:03where I may find
14:04the Gorgon.
14:04Give me the eye.
14:05I'll tell you.
14:06Me, me.
14:07The Gryae screeched
14:08and spat and clawed
14:10to betray their sister.
14:11But Perseus would not
14:13give up the eye
14:14until he knew everything.
14:15I'll tell you everything.
14:16Give it to me.
14:17I'll tell you anything.
14:18Anything.
14:19Go to the nymphs
14:20of the sticks.
14:21They have the cap
14:22of invisibility,
14:23the wicked sandals
14:24to carry you.
14:25I know where they are.
14:27Here's your eye.
14:28Betrayers.
14:29I have it.
14:30I have it.
14:33Go, stranger.
14:34Go to the nymphs.
14:36Take every weapon.
14:38Make yourself invisible.
14:39It will not help you.
14:41My sister will freeze
14:42the breath in your throat.
14:45He's coming, sister.
14:47He's coming.
14:49He's coming, my sisters.
14:52I smell him on the breeze.
14:54He is coming to me.
14:57Is that it?
14:59The cap of invisibility.
15:01Nice.
15:02It's dog skin.
15:03I don't believe you.
15:06That cap is dog skin?
15:08That's disgusting.
15:10Well, it is.
15:10Yuck.
15:12Three things he had
15:12from the stygian nymphs.
15:14As beautiful in their black lake
15:15as the gry eye were foul.
15:18The cuny,
15:19cap of invisibility.
15:21The cabisus,
15:21a leather pouch
15:22in which to carry
15:23the gorgon's head
15:24and winged sandals
15:25so that he might fly.
15:26They say he flew out
15:28so far
15:29he came to the place
15:31where the great
15:31titan Atlas stood
15:33whose punishment it was
15:34to hold up the heavens.
15:36And he called out
15:37to the sad giant
15:38but his voice
15:40was tiny.
15:42Medusa!
15:43Medusa the gorgon!
15:45How can I find her?
15:47Is it a man?
15:49All sounds are small.
15:52You make such a noise
15:54about your destiny.
15:56I am tired
15:57of bearing the weight
15:58of the heavens
15:58and if I let go
16:00that sky will fall
16:01on your heads.
16:02I seek Medusa,
16:04the gorgon
16:05whose look turns to stone.
16:08The gorgon?
16:10The gorgon is on a rock
16:11at the edge of the world.
16:14I dream she passes
16:15and her stare
16:17turns me to stone.
16:20No more wait.
16:22Come closer.
16:25Come closer.
16:27Come closer.
16:30Was she waiting?
16:31She was waiting for him,
16:33wasn't she?
16:33Oh yeah,
16:34she was waiting.
16:35No, stupid!
16:36He lands on the island.
16:38Imagine.
16:39Moving through statues.
16:40Through people
16:41the gorgon has frozen
16:42to stone.
16:44And he's wearing his cap
16:45when he's touching his sword.
16:46But none of those things
16:48seem to help him.
16:49He's invisible
16:50but he's sure
16:50she can see him.
16:52She can smell him.
16:54He's frightened.
16:55So frightened.
16:57He's during your reflection.
17:01He's here, sisters.
17:02He's come.
17:03The man who seeks us,
17:05he's here.
17:06Wake, sisters, wake!
17:08Why won't you
17:09show yourself, stranger?
17:11Are you frightened?
17:13Where are you?
17:13I can't see you.
17:15He wants to look at her,
17:16wants to turn.
17:17The voice tempting him
17:19to turn.
17:20She can't see him
17:20but her voice can charm him.
17:23He's invisible
17:23but if he looks at her,
17:25he's finished.
17:26I like to be looked at
17:27and I like to look too.
17:30Where are you?
17:35Look into my eyes.
17:37There's a world in my eyes.
17:39Where are you, stranger?
17:41Why don't you look at me?
17:48I like to be looked at.
17:51Can you see me?
17:59Medusa!
18:01Oh, sister!
18:04Where is he?
18:06Kill him!
18:07He did it!
18:12He did it!
18:13Who are these other Gorgons?
18:15You never mentioned
18:15three Gorgons.
18:18I told the whole story,
18:19your head would burst.
18:21There is no one story.
18:23There are branches,
18:24rooms,
18:24like this place.
18:25Rooms, corridors,
18:27dead ends.
18:28What about the minutes
18:29his mother spent waiting?
18:30The minutes running away?
18:31What happened to them?
18:32Or Dictus,
18:34his family broken on a whim?
18:36Or Acrysius,
18:36the king,
18:37haunted whose sleep
18:38is always fitful,
18:40who cannot forget
18:41the oracle?
18:42Yes,
18:43the Gorgon had sisters.
18:45Yes,
18:45Perseus turned
18:46the sad giant
18:47Atlas to stone.
18:48I can't tell you...
18:50Hang on, hang on.
18:51He turned Atlas to stone?
18:52He flew past Atlas,
18:54took pity on the poor giant,
18:55showed him the sad eye,
18:57let him sleep
18:58the long sleep
18:59of a mountain.
19:00Atlas!
19:01Atlas!
19:02I did not forget!
19:06And then home.
19:08Home with the Gorgon's
19:09head in his hands,
19:10his sword pointing
19:11the way in front of him.
19:12Perhaps he's too late.
19:13Perhaps his mother
19:14has been taken to the palace.
19:16Perhaps Polydectes
19:17has already married her.
19:26Who's this?
19:28Don't you know me,
19:29Polydectes?
19:30Perseus?
19:31Let her go!
19:40I have brought you a gift
19:41for your wedding.
19:44Would you look on it?
19:47You've brought me
19:48the Gorgon's head,
19:49have you?
19:50I have.
19:51My friends,
19:55the boy has been
19:58to the end of the world
20:00and come back
20:01with the Medusa's head.
20:04I advise you
20:06to remove yourselves.
20:07One look.
20:09Is this right, boy?
20:10One look
20:11and we shall all be
20:13petrified.
20:14That's right.
20:15That's right.
20:15Oh, dear.
20:18I think we'll show
20:20our true colours.
20:21Is anyone else
20:22frightened of a story
20:24of a child's nightmare,
20:27the Gorgon?
20:28so weak
20:34will no one
20:37stay with me?
20:40He's lying!
20:42It's a dream!
20:44It's a dream!
20:45Come, boy.
20:48Sit.
20:49Eat with me.
20:50I dreamed of dark.
20:54I dreamed of light.
20:58I dreamed I was a king.
21:01I dreamed I was a god's son.
21:05I dreamed your limbs grew heavy
21:08and your blood turned to sand.
21:10And I dreamed you cried out.
21:17He turned him to stone?
21:19Ha!
21:19Good.
21:22So the oracle was wrong.
21:24What?
21:25Acrisius.
21:26The oracle said
21:27Perseus would kill
21:28his grandfather.
21:29And he didn't.
21:30I went to the oracle once.
21:32Never ask.
21:33You never hear
21:34what you hope for.
21:37When Danae told
21:38Perseus about his birth,
21:40about the oracle,
21:41Perseus felt compassion
21:42for Acrisius.
21:44He decided to return
21:45to Argos
21:46and promise his grandfather
21:47he would do him
21:48no harm.
21:49Good.
21:50But what does it take
21:51for an accident to happen?
21:52Imagine after standing
21:54for a thousand winters
21:55this roof
21:56should suddenly
21:57give up its spirit,
21:59fall on our head.
22:01What?
22:03What is that?
22:04Chance?
22:05Fate?
22:06The god's sport?
22:08So it was
22:08with Perseus
22:09and Acrisius.
22:11The old king
22:12heard of Perseus' deeds,
22:14fled from Argos,
22:15hid from him
22:16in the narrow lanes
22:17of Larissa.
22:19Perseus travelled slowly
22:20to Argos,
22:21stopping off on the way.
22:22There was a contest
22:23at Larissa.
22:24He stopped for it,
22:26hurled the discus
22:27wild past all the others,
22:29hurled it
22:30into the sky.
22:31Watch out!
22:33Perseus, haunted,
22:34stood in the crowd.
22:36The discus sought him out
22:37with the strength
22:38of an oracle,
22:39found him,
22:40killed him.
22:41So the oracle was true?
22:43That's terrible.
22:45Oh yes.
22:46Oracles are true.
22:49Stories are true.
22:51There are monsters
22:52at the end of the world.
22:54There are looks
22:54that can kill.
22:56And who has not
22:56been petrified with fear?
22:59Ask Athene,
23:00warrior daughter of Zeus,
23:02weaver,
23:03maker of spiders.
23:05She will tell you
23:06the things I cannot.
23:08She will sing
23:09the praises of Perseus,
23:10the hero,
23:11father of the Argives,
23:13the Gorgon Slayer.
23:15peep?
23:16The End
23:43The End
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