"Christine." "Christine!" "Christine." "You can't give what's not yours to give." "I want every one returned, William." "Every one of them." "Returned to the manor." "Yes, of course." "Every one." "I shall take every single one back." "Not a pip, Carpenter." "What do you mean?" "My Lady tells your lord that what has entered her house cannot leave there, except as alms." "Have you gone mad?" "It's plain theft!" "Was my Lord mad when he said, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you'?" "If Eve, the mother of all wickedness, had not taken the apple, than God would not have given us Mary, the mother of all goodness." "And therefore let us be glad the apple was taken." "See how she smiles." "The smirk's on your face, Parson." "But I'll soon wipe it off." "And you won't be laughing in the manor court, either." "Tomorrow, you two, top field, first light." "I'm not sorry." "No?" "William." "In the basket, Christine." "Christine." "The reeve." "Hold out your hand." "Here." "Go." "MEW..." "Dig deep." "Meg!" "Now, dig deep, Christine." "Deeper." "Right into her belly." "She likes to drink!" "How dare you defile her!" "Did your mother tell you to do this?" "Did she?" " It's not like that." " What do you mean, it's not like that?" "Her hair." "Oh, you've seen the Virgin, have you?" "It's wrong." "How do you know?" "Are you telling me you've seen her?" "You would say you've seen her?" "Tell me what she looks like and you won't be punished." "Where does she live?" " In every Christian's heart." " But where?" "Here." "This is her house." "Can I stay with her?" "What?" "Here?" "In our own Lady's dwelling place?" "The home of her Son, the Lord, which you have defiled?" "There was once a girl very like you." "Men wanted her for a wife." "But this girl had a vision of our Lady" "She had but one desire, to sacrifice her life for our Lady." "She was fortunate." "She had the help of a priest who gave her refuge until her request to dwell alone in the house of our Lady was granted." "Alone!" "Do you understand me?" "The place shone in the darkness of the world." "And that same true anchoress now flies and sings in heaven." "But you must choose." "The rotting flesh and drink of the world, or the milk and honey of paradise." "Milk and honey." "I knew it." "God raises up the least of his creations to humble the mighty." " Anchoress?" " Yes, anchoress." "She will be enclosed in the walls of our church, pledged to our Lady," " and buried to this foul world." " Buried?" "I confess I doubted at first the daughter of such a woman could be..." "That's right, she's my daughter." "And don't you forget it." "My flesh, my blood, my sweat." "And with my help she's gonna strike lucky." "She's marrying the reeve." "Enclosed in a wall, my ares." "If I were you, I'd think of my soul, not my ares." "And what is a reeve on the day of judgment?" "Say to the bishop, 'Take my daughter and let her prayers save me from the fires of hell." " The lust of the flesh..." " Lust of the flesh?" "I daresay Daisy Dyer can tell a thing or two about them." "I see she has some pretty bruises" "You shut your evil, stinking mouth!" "You're sick with sin, with practices that go against the body of the Holy Church." "And I see from your eye that you know a little of what I speak." "I know you're not having my daughter." "No matter what traps you set" "Get out." "Get out of my house!" "Saint Christine." "I'm not a saint." "That's not what the priest says, nor the bishop." "What are you gonna find in a wall?" "Not the reeve." "I can see that." "He can't touch you in there, can he?" "But nothing else can either." "Oh, no, you won't be able to feel the back of my hand in there, girl." "But what about the heat from a good fire?" "What about a stone to hug up against at night, huh?" "Is that what you want?" "I could have showed you, girl." "Men like that, they think they're made of iron, but you can blow them about like a feather." "You should see the priest." "Him and the bishop's dancing 'cause they're burying my daughter." "Them that couldn't dig up a turnip if they tried." "I'd piss on the lot of them." "In a wall, Christine." "Forever and ever and ever." "See what I see, girl." "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." "I tend the hogs for the father and his son, but not that third fellow." "He's not from our village." "Silence." "Why do you think you're pure enough to enter the wall?" "It is her house." "So it is." "But why do you think you are pure enough to enter therein?" "Can I do whatever she tells me?" "Yes." "You must do whatever she tells you." "She's in the wall, as good as in the wall." "No." "She won't answer the bishop's questions." "Tell me, what is her voice like?" "Milk." "Like bird's wings." "Tell me, when this voice flutters into your ear," "what does it say to you?" "It calls me." "You're wrong." "I'll wager my fattest goose you're wrong" "Dead..." "Dead to your former life." "Dead to the world." "You must understand the truth of this." "The more your senses are scattered over... the less they are able to function..." "You have sworn perpetual chastity and perpetual constancy of abode for as long as God grants you breath." "Learn to suffer the loss of the world, for anchoresses have these two wedding gifts which I here give you." "The first is swiftness in recompense for being so narrowly enclosed." "The second is the light of clear sight, in recompense for you being here in voluntary obscurity, wishing neither to see or to be seen by any man." "You shall be so little shackled as you play in the wide pastures of heaven that the body shall be wherever the soul desires in an instant" "Where's the anchoress?" "Where's the anchoress?" "This is her house." "You ask her." "Girl, sometimes I envy you." "You don't have to hear William all day." "'Our Father this." "Our Father that." "He can't even fart without crossing himself." "As for our father," "his feet don't touch the ground since he got you in here." "He rides." "And he's not fussy who, either." "You needn't go blessing me." "No of fence to you and your Lady." "I don't mean any harm, girl." "You're no fool." "I say you did well to make the reeve whistle." "Christine." "Christine?" "Christine?" "Robert's coming to the fair." "Shall I dance with him or Mali?" "Matt's a good man, but he's so squat and warty" "Robert's not so good, I suppose." "Father will kill me if I marry a tinker." "Christine." "Whatsit I do?" "With burning love embrace your beloved, and hold him fast till he's given you all you ask." "What?" "Embrace him with burning love." "Oh, Christine." "Oh, yes, I will." "Oh, I will." "And what have you heard today, Anchoress of Share?" "Singing." " And what song was that?" " One the blackbird knew." "And St Francis, too." "God sings in all his creation" "Has our Lady appeared to you again?" "I smelt her when I broke my bread." "I saw her in my cup." "Say your Paternoster day and night and thank heaven for being so blessed." "Christine?" "Will you ask the Lady for me?" "What, Maggie?" "The reeve." "What, Maggie?" "Anchoress of Share, my wife wants to know why we don't have any children." "Why is one field better than another?" "You guard your livestock." "How much more should you guard your wives?" "Why was woman created smaller and weaker?" "How was it that her lesser flesh could tempt the noble, upright Adam?" "I tell you, the devil likes woman's bodies better, because it is easier for him to find an entrance there." "It is easier for him to conceal himself in their snaky, changing shapes, behind their painted faces, their foul smells, their loose..." " Beware of touch, Anchoress of Share." " But She touches us." "Touch is the route that breaches the fires of hell." "Remember your lessons." "Remember our own Lord, Jesus Christ, said, 'Touch me not." "You're in no danger." "Keep away..." "Twice that for a likeness, my friend!" "He brought the good Lord." "Here's some grease for your palsies, poxes, fevers." "You, ma'am?" "There you go." "Now remember, take it with four Aves and five Paternosters, sun-up and sundown." "Suit yourself." "Watch out, my girls." "Beware holy men." "Randy as goats, they are." "Here." "Your tongue will damn you one of these days." "Now go." " Something to soothe your bruises?" " Go!" "What is ii?" "It's my daughter, the Anchoress of Share." "It's nothing like her." "You've a good eye, I've always said it." "Will I get to Rome, my dear?" "And will my sins be forgiven?" "When you yourself have forgiven them." "What shall I do?" "Do you fear to die alone and unloved?" "Yes." "Remember your mother." "She's been dead these 20 years." "God, our mother." "Why do you disobey me?" "What's to say and who's to know, if you'd bring your nanny goat past Great Hill at first light and the manor billy goat breaks its stake?" " No?" " Yeah." "Come on." "Go on, Daisy!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "It's you." "The Anchoress of Share." "Away with you." "She's tired." "The Anchoress is tired." "Please go." "You should not have looked upon him." "Keep your eyes within this cell." "You think I shall leap upon him because I look at him?" "Wickedness will leap from the ribs of man." "Eve, Christine, Eve." "Leave me alone!" "Oh, Mary." "Oh, you can thank our anchoress for that, Robert." "She said to hold you fast." "William, sweet William" "Come nibble my cherries, William." "William." "William?" "William!" "She's drunk again." "I heard her." "Pretty flowers shouldn't be left to shrivel" "I'll take you home safely." "Maggie." "Maggie." "Not too near" "They said you had no body." "I had mine once." "I loved this body once." "I loved the touch of sunlight on my face." "Cold water on my red lips." "But now my body is scattered over the wide world." "Embrace your body, Anchoress of Share." "Embrace your body and hold it fast." "And you, Mistress Carpenter, have you nothing to bless?" "You got my daughter already." "What more do you want?" "Tell me, is she holding her child or blessing us?" "She's by the stream in the summer." "What color are the Virgin's robes, my dear?" "Red." "Blood red." "No, the Virgin's robes are blue." "Blue is the color of heaven." "It's red" "Seems red to you." "You must see what is." "This red is a trick of the eye a ploy of the devil." "Remember why you were given this cloth." "Unpick those sinful stitches and pray for forgiveness." "A boy from the manor, on a special errand from the reeve." "Pure silk!" "It looks like you're in luck again, Pauline Carpenter." " What did you give him for it?" " Nothing." "Wrapped in red and showing all she's got." "What do you mean?" "And don't you go hanging around those top fields or you'll feel the back of my hand again, my lady." "Pure silk!" "Anchoress of Share." "Anchoress." "Have you said the Paternoster backwards?" "Have you covered a naked woman in honey and led her to the river to invoke rain?" "No, Father." "Well, you're her father." "You must be letting the devil in somewhere" "Have you sinned with your wife against nature?" "Against nature?" "Against nature." "Woe is us if we let our womenfolk graze amongst the tares and nettles" "Nettles?" "The Lord gave one way, which all men hold." "If you have done other than that, you have sinned mortally." "And how big a sin is that?" "A very big sin?" "A wife may tempt to a good God-thinking husband and she has damned him." "Then punish him, even if it was her fault?" "Adam, William." "Remember Adam." "My wife will need her belongings brought to her new home." "I'll be pleased to bring them up myself today, sir" "Tomorrow will be soon enough." "Will you take some ale?" "Show me again." "Come on, girl." "Come on, girl." "You bastard." "You'll pay for that." "I pray God the devil's death may overtake you soon, Pauline Carpenter." "Come on, girl." "Girl." "Anchoress of Share?" "Anchoress of Share!" "Anchoress of Share." "Show me again." "Show me." "What do I tell Her Ladyship?" "I'll show it you now." "It's done." "There's the stream." "This is Alice laughing." "And that's Mother." "This is Daisy." "The Virgin sighs for her." "Why?" "She's with child, but she'll be whipped for it." "You lie." "I know who you've been listening to." "You speak of Mother." "Our Lady in heaven is the only mother you should think on, and fast." "The blood of Christ and his dear body will lie on this cloth." "You may record the lives of the saints there, but not these women." " The Virgin's robes are blue." " Red." " Blue." " Red!" "Look at that for wedded bliss!" " What's it like, then?" " You should know." "Up at the manor, bathing in milk." "Oh, look at her blush." "It's not worn off, then." "Worn off?" "Worn out, more like." "Ohh!" "Maggie." "Maggie." "It's raining fit to drown the world." "No sense in you getting wet" "I could stay till the rain goes over." "She'll be on her way now." "Not made of salt, are you?" "Haven't you got your hood?" "Well." "What do I tell the bishop?" "How may we see God, sister?" "How can I tell you what I do not know?" "That you have not confessed, will not." "But, Sister, how may we see God?" "At least tell me what she says to you." "Who?" "How may we see God, sister?" " The blessed Virgin, woman." " But, Sister, how may we see God?" "I have food to break your fast, but first I will hear your confession." "How may we see God?" " But, Sister, how may we see God?" " Sister, how may we see God?" " But, Sister, how may we see God?" " Sister, how may we see God?" "Remember the beetle, the hare, the chicken, the goat." "So you have got a sister, then?" "Do not follow the stinking goat to the field." "Keep your hands, eyes and thoughts within this cell." "And when you see the dog of temptation creeping up on you, seize the crucifix and order her out." "Christine, bread, lovey." "Bread." "What are you doing on church ground?" " She came to see her daughter." " I'm her mother and father now." "I forbid you this place." "Go!" "So..." "So..." "He asked me..." "Asked me to ask you..." "Could you give me, for him, some remedy he could administer in secret, so that when he returns Her Ladyship's thoughts," "her favors will be as they were before?" "You are reputed to be well-practised in these affairs." "Or were." "And you are reputed to be well-practised with women." "Or were." "She doesn't love me, Mother." "It's a bit late to think of that." "Not as a husband." "Not at all." "She's young." "Fourteen winters." "Fifteen, she'll crack it, if it freezes." " Isn't there anything you can give me?" " No!" "No!" "unless you need something lo punish your worms or unblock your bowels." "Pauline!" "Pauline!" "It's Daisy!" "I don't know what to do!" "Why does it smell so bad?" "The womb has to be driven back, or it might roam the village." ""'8 gone!" "Was it baptized?" "Another soul condemned to everlasting hell." "You will pay the price." "You will pay the price." "You should've listened to him." "If an animal falls into an uncovered pit and rots there, then the woman who left the pit uncovered will be guilty before God of the animal's death and be condemned to eternal hell." "And devils with branding forks will piss in her mouth." "William!" "Christine?" "Keep warm." "You keep warm." "Damn it." "Is that Eve?" "No." "Christine Carpenter." "Could you bring it closer, child?" "Tell me again." " I saw her in the grass." " What's that?" "I saw her in the grass." "I saw her in the grass." " Yes, William, and what happened there?" " She looked at me." "And now at night as I lie in my bed, she flies into my eyes as naked as a fish." "And when the moon's full she takes me against my will, by magic means, to a secret place in the hills," "where she... where..." "Dear brothers and sisters," "I must tell you what the honest Carpenter is too ashamed to say." "He saw with his own eyes his wife give herself up in lust to the manor ram." "She murders the unborn in the womb." "Yes, and how many of you have risked eternal damnation when you took her evil brews, forbidden by our Holy Church?" "Christine?" "Now she's put the curse of silence on our anchoress." "I myself only escaped her yesterday when she tried to push me to my death in the river." "Will there ever be a healthy child born in this village again?" "No!" "I name Pauline Carpenter as a most malignant witch." "We must bring her to the punishment she deserves." "I saw her curse the bishop." "Nobody comes to our village any more." "Pauline Carpenter pissed on our village!" "Pauline Carpenter is a witch." "Pauline Carpenter is a witch." "Pauline Carpenter is a witch." "She's a witch, a witch!" "A witch, a witch, a witch, a witch, a witch, a witch, a witch!" "Pauline Carpenter is a witch!" "William!" "William!" "William!" "The devil will not let her drown." "She's dead, Father." "See if she rises, the devil has her in his arms." "Christine." "Come on, pull!" "Christine." "Why can't you let her go?" "If you had thought to harvest the fruit of heaven, should you have taken the rotten apple?" "No, my mistake was not there." "I say again, she has seen the Virgin!" "But being of female flesh, needed more guarding than even I had guessed, when the devil himself walked the village dressed in scarf and skirts." "Now, for Pauline Carpenter there shall be no forgiveness, either here or hereafter." "But for an innocent girl, blessed to glimpse mysteries she could not begin to understand, friends, when we find her, as find her we will, we must not cease from charity." "Not while there is a glimmer of hope." "Under the close rein, the tight embrace!" "Tight embrace." "Tight embrace!" "Tight embrace!" "I say no heavenly lover get her out of there I say it will be tight." "I say that when we find her, she should hang!" "No." " Under whose authority?" " Under my authority!" "The authority granted to me by His Lordship in his absence." "The bishop is the only authority that matters here." "You all better think of that!" " I shall be speaking to His Grace." " No, Parson, no." "I shall be speaking to the bishop." "Bread?" "You stinking wretch!" "You lied!" "I was shackled!" "What you took, she gave me back!" "The church is not our house!" "Our house is in the ground!" "Release me from my vows!" "Release me." "They're wrong!" "They're wrong!" "You are dead!" "I cannot see you!" "I cannot hear you!" "She must be reinterred!" "Our house is in the ground!" " The anchoress must be prevented..." " Listen to me!" "From being torn to pieces by the attacks of the tempter!" " Our house is in the..." " She must learn how grievous a sin it is to break the vow she has solemnly undertaken." "Christine!" "You shall be so little shackled as you play in the wide pastures of heaven" "that the body will be wherever the soul desires."