"(wolf howling)" "Oh, I don't see any sign of tracks." "Not a sign." "Look, why don't we split up, meet up by that rimrock?" "All right." "Be mighty careful, Little Joe." "If we get that ol' timber wolf all boxed in, he ain't gonna be at all sociable." "Right." "(cocks rifle)" "(wolf howling)" "Hey!" "(gasps)" "Hey, wait a minute!" "Hey, wait a minute!" "Hey!" "Little Joe, where are you?" "!" "Down here, Hoss!" "Hey, Joe, that ain't no lobo." "Sure ain't." "Well, what is she, an Indian girl?" "No, looks like a Gypsy to me." "HOSS:" "Yeah." "Hey, I ain't never seen one of them up close before." "I almost killed her." "How?" "I thought she was that wolf." "(howling)" "(theme song playing)" "Gypsy girl." "Well, we were aware of that, Doctor." "Is she going to be all right?" "Can't hurt a Gypsy." "They're built to endure." "I don't know, Doc." "She looked like she was pretty well shook up to me." "Oh, she'll come out of it all right." "Just give her a day in bed, and then send her on her way." "Yeah, well, where's that?" "Wherever her people are." "Well, we don't exactly know where her people are, Doctor." "Oh?" "Well, soon as she's on her feet, you'd best turn her over to the sheriff in Virginia City." "What for?" "She didn't do anything." "She will, boy; she will." "Just give her a chance." "She's a Gypsy, isn't she?" "Is that as bad as being an Injun?" "Sometimes it's worse." "Evening, Ben, Little Joe, Hoss." "Good night, Doc." "Good night, Doc." "Good night, Doc." "He doesn't care much for Gypsies, does he?" "I guess a lot of people don't trust them much." "A lot of people don't trust no tumbleweed folk much." "Oh, I don't think that little girl can do much harm while she's here with us." "Maybe when she wakes up, we can find out where her people are." "She sure is pretty, ain't she, Little Joe?" "She sure is;" "like nothing I've ever seen." "(rattling, rustling)" "Sounds like she's waking up." "Better take a look at her." "No, I'll, I'll check her, Pa." "Hey, Pa?" "How come Adam didn't come back with the doctor?" "Oh, he's staying in town overnight." "Go away." "I won't hurt you." "Where is this place?" "It's the Ponderosa." "Nevada." "How's your head?" "Go away." "It's cold." "It's cold, and I think that you ought to keep the cover over you." "Hey!" "Hey, what'd you do that for?" "All right, you just go ahead and freeze, if you want to." "Well?" "How is she?" "If Gypsies are supposed to be mean, she's doing fine." "What'd you do to your hand?" "She bit me." "She bit you?" "Uh-huh." "Listen, Little Joe, if a Gypsy's bite's anything like a polecat's, you're in trouble." "If you start foaming at the mouth..." "Yeah, I know." "Drink plenty of Jamaica ginger." "Why did she bite you?" "I don't know." "Hmm." "Say anything about her folks?" "What happened to her?" "No, nothing." "I'll talk to the girl in the morning." "I wouldn't get too close to her." "(door closes)" "You see that star?" "Yeah, that's the North Star." "I would like to reach up and pluck it out of the sky." "(chuckles)" "Oh, it's a long ways up." "No, it's so close I can feel the cold on my face." "Oh, maybe you better get back in bed." "The night is the inside of a black bell." "It rings forth the spirits of the dead." "(wolf howling)" "Don't worry." "It's just that lobo wolf we've been trying to catch." "Go away." "And will you bite me again if I don't?" "Where are the folks you belong to?" "I have no one." "Oh, now, come on, everybody has someone." "Why do you care about me?" "Is it because I am pretty and you want to kiss me?" "Come and do it." "I am waiting for you." "Now, look, I don't know what's bothering you, but I brought you here and I feel responsible for you." "Now, I want to find out where you belong and that's all." "You are walking in your father's shoes." "And what does that mean?" "You're playing like you are a man, but you are a little boy." "Oh, and what makes you so grown-up?" "I am past being grown-up." "I am old and withered." "I am dead." "And I don't know what you're talking about." "You're the craziest girl I ever ran into." "Go away before I turn you into a toad." "You don't have to eat crumbs, young lady." "Have a decent breakfast, if you want it." "I don't need your food." "Well, you're welcome to it if you should need it." "My name is Ben Cartwright." "You are a rich man, Ben Cartwright." "Well, I..." "I do have much to be grateful for." "I would have to steal to have so much." "Well, there are other ways." "Tell me, what were you doing out there all alone?" "Howling at the moon." "(laughs)" "Well, I suppose that is respectable for young wolves, but not for young ladies." "Where are your people?" "Why do you want to know?" "Would you invite them to eat with you?" "Well, I want to know, so that I can return a young girl to them." "I think they've lost one." "They did not lose me." "I am not like them." "I'm different." "Well, how?" "What makes you different?" "There is no one in front of me, and no one in back." "I may go anywhere I want to go, and be whatever I wish to be." "Well, what is it that you wish to be?" "I wish to be free." "I do not like your house." "(chickens clucking, woman shrieks)" "(screaming)" "(horses whinnying)" "(screams)" "What's wrong?" "Go away." "What's the matter?" "Hey, give me that." "Let me go!" "Not till I find out what's going through that crazy head of yours." "Why do you try to kill yourself?" "I am gafe." "I am a witch." "The animals, they know it." "If you mean those horses, it was your dress that spooked them." "They're not used to bright colors, nothing else." "No." "It is the dark star." "It is the dark star!" "Lookie there, Pa;" "it looks like them" "Gypsies are gonna make camp right here on the Ponderosa." "No, they probably come to pick up our young friend." "How'd they know she was here?" "Oh, Doctor." "I imagine it's all over Virginia City by now." "They did not come for me." "Now, look, young lady, I don't know what problems you may have had with your people before, but don't you think it's time to straighten them out now?" "You do not understand." "No..." "I guess you're right;" "I don't." "I have three sons and no daughters." "I've always found women a mite harder to understand than men." "They're more sensitive and..." "Now, look, I'll, uh..." "I'll forget about those dishes if you'll come along now and give things another try." "No." "Well, those are your people." "You belong with them." "No." "Well, all right." "If Muhammad won't go to the mountain..." "(violin playing melancholy tune)" "Zurka... we have visitors." "Oh, welcome, friends!" "I, Zurka, welcome you." "I should be welcoming you." "My name is Ben Cartwright." "My son Hoss." "This is the Ponderosa, Cartwright land." "If you don't mind my asking, how did you get through our fence line?" "Oh, it is in need of repair." "Fences are always in need of repair." "(chuckling)" "I presume you came to pick up the girl." "The girl?" "Yes, we, uh, found her half-dead in the timber country." "Gypsy girl." "You are barosan... my brother." "You're a great man, I can see it." "I am sure that you will let my people stay on your beautiful land until the dark sky clears." "We are heading across the mountains to the place where the mustangs run wild." "What about the girl?" "She's no longer one of us." "She's gafe, a bringer of misfortune." "BEN:" "She's a child." "ZURKA:" "Oh, the devil is fond of children." "You mean to..." "you mean to say that that poor little girl... you think she's bewitched?" "We know it, barosan." "You left her here to die." "We left her behind us." "She's a human being." "She's not an animal." "Now, we have laws in this country governing responsibility." "We stay away from the law, and the law stays away from us." "BEN:" "Maybe you won't be able to do that this time." "ZURKA:" "Well, I..." "I'll think it over, barosan." "You will let us stay, huh?" "On one condition." "That you take the girl and go when the weather clears." "I can promise you that we will go." "All right." "But now, barosan, when we are here, maybe we can do some business." "We have fine horses to sell." "Well, we buy our horses in Virginia City." "But none like the beasts of Roman!" "Huh, Spiro?" "Backs like iron, hoofs like the wind." "Well, Pa, it can't do no harm to take a look at 'em." "(sighs) Well..." "What do you want for the stallions?" "$150 apiece." "How much?" "For both." "All three?" "No... (chuckles)" "They aren't worth half that." "Oh, you're a hard man to deal with, barosan." "No, not usually." "These horses have been fixed." "Oh, the Indians have been known to use similar methods." "Teeth have bored and filled with birchwood to hide their age." "This one's leg's been blistered on this side to balance up with that lame one on the other one, too, Pa." "Touch of arsenic in their feed?" "You insult us!" "I was right." "You're a great man, barosan, with an eye of a Gypsy." "I like you." "My wife will tell your fortune for nothing." "(chuckling):" "I'm afraid not." "No, no, but, but we will talk." "You will tell me your life and I will tell you my life." "Another time." "No, no, no, tonight." "Tonight is All Hallows' Eve." "It's a big celebration." "We'll have a roast pig and we will dance and drink kümmel-- a lot of kümmel." "You will join us." "BEN:" "I'm afraid not." "But you must come." "You must bring the pig." "Uh, you do have a pig, huh?" "(chuckling):" "Yes, we have a pig." "So bring the pig and you are welcome." "Well, I'm afraid we're saving our pig for a little celebration of our own." "Well... so don't bring the pig and you are welcome, too." "Thanks anyway." "Enjoy yourselves." "And remember what I said about the girl." "I expect you to come for her." "And stay in good health... barosan." "Hi." "You know, I still don't know your name." "Tirza." "Why do they call you Little Joe?" "Ah, it's just a nickname." "It doesn't mean anything." "The venom of spiders protects us from wild animals and savage dogs." "(chuckles)" "A Colt .45'll do the same thing." "It will not rain tonight." "Tirza, what did you mean about the dark star being a witch?" "When I was a little girl, I sat by a stream like this." "I watched the fish and dreamed that I was one of them, slipping through the warm silence, my silver scales reflecting sunlight." "Yeah, when I was a kid, I used to want to be a grizzly." "I can be a fish if I want." "What are you doing?" "Digging for wild artichokes." "The gophers store them, and I am hungry." "You're sure a funny girl." "Why did you stop me?" "When?" "Before." "Why'd you try to kill yourself?" "For the same reason I bit you." "Why is that?" "Because I am a witch." "(horse neighs)" "(horse snorts)" "Are you strong, Tirza?" "Yes, strong and well." "I'm Joe Cartwright." "Go away, gajo, back to your own kind." "Go watch over your kingdom." "Leave us alone." "If Tirza wants me to leave, then I will." "What do you want, Spiro?" "To see that you are happy." "I did not know they left you behind until it was too late." "It was the old woman's work." "And if you had known?" "What then?" "I might have changed her mind." "The bruja is my grandmother." "I can influence her." "A glass of metaxa, a laugh or two-- she would listen to me." "And all you would want for that service is to hold me in your arms for all the nights that are to come." "Maybe not all." "I would rather lie in the arms of a snake." "(grunts)" "(gasps)" "(yells)" "(grunts)" "Drop it." "I said drop it." "(splashes)" "All right, get on your horse and clear out." "Remember my face, gajo." "It'll be the last one you see in this world." "(pigs snorting)" "(squealing)" "Not only do they think she's bewitched, she thinks so, too." "Sounds like they've been driving it home hard enough to her to make her believe it." "Hmm." "Where is she now?" "She's asleep." "She's quite a girl, though." "Isn't she, Joe?" "Yeah, Pa." "Adam, you don't think there'll be anything worthwhile at the auction?" "No, I didn't like the looks of those mustangs." "Kind of runty." "I understand the, uh, Gypsies tried to peddle some of their broken down geldings that they'd fixed up." "(laughing):" "Yeah." "Did quite a good job, too." "You know, the average buyer probably wouldn't notice the difference for quite some time." "Well, they'd have to go some to outfox you, Pa." "(door closes) HOSS:" "Hey, Pa." "One of our little Poland China pigs is plumb gone." "Oh..." "Seems I was supposed to supply a pig, one way or another." "Yeah, and it looks like you did get outfoxed." "No, I didn't, because they're going to pay for that pig, one way or another." "I don't know, Pa, that old Gypsy, Zurka, he could charm his way out of a Comanche scalping'." "He's not going to charm his way out of paying for that pig." "Well, this I gotta see." "Yeah, me, too." "How about you, Adam?" "Come on along." "No, I think I'd better keep an eye on the house in case they, uh, back in one of the wagons and take out the furniture." "(all laughing)" "(children playing)" "(violin playing melancholy melody)" "(laughs):" "Oh!" "Is a pleasure to have you here, barosan." "I'm sorry to barge in like this, but I have the strange feeling that that pig belongs to me." "Does it?" "I don't know." "I-I-I really don't know, barosan." "It wandered here into the camp, poor lost soul." "Uh, do you think it is yours?" "Now, Zurka, you know it is." "That's a very expensive animal." "Oh, I'm very sorry, barosan." "I..." "I don't know how to repay you." "I have only a few dollars." "But maybe you would consider a barter?" "Wait." "Barosan, it is not much, but it is pure silver and carved with..." "with a loving heart." "I, I-- this-this, this is worth much, much more than that pig." "No, I couldn't possibly take it." "But, look, I took your pig, too." "It will ease my conscience." "Please, take it." "Let's not talk about it and we'll have a drink." "I-I don't know, I..." "You must taste some of your pig." "* *" "What's that?" "It is milk..." "Hmm." "mixed with the blood of an unborn calf." "BEN:" "It's a delicacy, Hoss." "ZURKA:" "It will give you strength." "Yes, sir." "Zurka, tell me." "Why do you think the girl is bewitched?" "Oh... she was born under the dark star." "Her mother died in her efforts." "It's very bad." "Well, does a mother's death make a child evil?" "Mm, sometimes." "You know, our beliefs are old and strong." "We must live as they tell us." "Is there nothing in your beliefs about mercy, compassion?" "Yes, but is it possible to have mercy and compassion for a girl who can turn herself into a wolf?" "(shouts)" "(giggling)" "* *" "* *" "(upbeat, lively tempo begins)" "(shouts)" "(thunder rumbles, musicians stop playing)" "(thunder rumbles)" "Go after your son, barosan." "Zurka, I respect your beliefs, but I'm not a man who goes along much with spirits and witches and the like." "You know, I've found that the only evil in this world is the human kind." "But the evil in man doesn't come from nowhere." "It is born in a dark world, beyond the world we know." "And it's sent here on purpose." "You really believe that girl can turn herself into a wolf." "Yes." "She must plague our house." "The devil drives her." "He possesses our children and drives them against us." "She's evil, believe me." "No, I can't believe it." "I don't think so." "Oh, I do think that poor girl is suffering." "Not from an evil in her, but from some kind of despair and loneliness because her own people rejected her and persecuted her." "You are a gajo." "You're a civilized man." "The understanding for the devil and his ways has been bred out of you." "Zurka, have you ever seen any real evidence of the devil in her?" "Or are you afraid of her because she was unlucky enough to have been born under some weather-obscured star." "You know, a man, possibly you've never heard of him, once said, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."" "I like your words-- uh, good words." "But not our words." "I have seen too much of evil." "(thunder rumbles)" "Go after your son." "He's in danger." "The danger is in the flesh, not fantasy." "My son can take pretty good care of himself in that department." "Zurka..." "Give the girl a chance." "You may be wrong." "Maybe." "But I'm not." "Well..." "I guess it's not going to storm after all." "Well... thanks for the silver bowl." "And thanks for the pig." "You run faster than any buck deer I ever saw." "Little Joe, Little Joe..." "Like a black panther from the depths of night in a dark dream." "Once I saw my lover steal away." "Why'd you come in the camp and dance like that?" "To frighten them." "To see their faces." "There are so many things I just can't understand about you." "We live in two worlds, Little Joe." "In my world, there are demons and spirits who eat up living souls like grain, and fly about the night in wagons made of smoke." "I am one of them." "I know it." "And my people know it." "Now, you listen to me." "I don't want you talking that way anymore." "You're no more a witch than I am." "Somehow they've got you thinking things that just don't make sense." "You are a tree." "I see you as a tree." "So firm, a part of the land, with your roots dug deep into the ground." "Your arm is like a branch." "I wish I were a tree." "I would stand over little children and guard them from harm." "Maybe I am not a witch." "Maybe I, maybe I am good to think such thoughts." "Of course you're good." "I know you are." "Your heart is beating." "Is it because I am near you?" "Yes." "Am I beautiful?" "You're very beautiful." "Can we talk of love sometime?" "Hold me." "Hold me." "Little Joe..." "(wolf howling)" "(howling)" "* *" "(wolf howling)" "(howling continues)" "Please..." "Please help me." "You refused our help." "You were driven away from our house." "The devil is in me." "Help me." "There's only one way to help you." "Do you know what that means?" "It means pain beyond anything you've ever known." "Agony that will tear at your mind and sear your soul." "I don't care." "Even if it would mean my death." "(wind whistling)" "(door opening and closing)" "* *" "(wolf howling)" "(distant howling)" "Anybody here?" "!" "Gajo!" "Where's Tirza?" "She's in the mountains." "There is nothing you can do for her now, gajo." "She is a devil." "She has changed herself into a wolf and slaughtered chickens." "My people are going to help her." "What do you mean "help her"?" "They are going to stake her to the ground and pick at her soul, until she screams for mercy." "But they will only dig deeper until they have found the rotten spot and scooped it out." "And then, they will leave her body limp and her mind a useless thing." "(whip cracks)" "I could have killed you both on your moonlit rock of love." "It would have been easy." "It would have been too easy." "It would have only given me a moment or two." "This way, I can see them scar her mind as she has scarred my face." "I can make you crawl as I have crawled." "(whip cracks, Little Joe moans)" "(grunts)" "(whip cracks)" "(clattering)" "(grunts)" "(grunts)" "(all chanting mournful tune, beating tambourine)" "I know what they're trying to do, Tirza." "Don't let them!" "But I want them to." "Don't you see?" "No, I don't see." "All I see is a lot of talk that doesn't make sense." "But it does." "The devil is in me." "They will take him away and make my soul as clean as air." "Tirza, don't!" "(chanting)" "(chanting stops)" "Asmodeus... the Bruja is here." "She will drive you back into the world of the dead." "At the end of the world, there's a hole through which one can descend in the underworld." "This can be reached by following the direction taken by the setting sun." "The journey should be made on two cocks harnessed together." "(chanting resumes)" "In the underworld, it is time to sleep." "It takes two months walking through darkness before one sees a light." "It is a cavernous passage guarded by nine white dogs." "The passage leads directly to the castle of the black, man-eating emperor." "The castle is in that flagon." "(hissing)" "And when it bursts, he shall be released from the soul of this girl." "What's your name?" "Tirza." "How old are you?" "Nineteen." "How long has the devil been in you?" "How long?" "Since my birth." "Why does he possess you?" "Tell me." "Tell me." "Oh..." "I can't breathe." "I can't breathe." "What is the devil's name?" "I don't know." "What is his name?" "As..." "Asmodeus." "Asmodeus." "Can you see him now?" "No." "I want you to see him." "See his goat's face and fiery eyes." "The hairy, twisted body and the cloven hoof." "(hissing) Blood." "Bones." "Claws." "Hoofs." "Horns." "Can you see him now?" "No." "Three times from east to west." "And three times from west to east." "Scorpions, feathers, spider web" "I conjure thee, Asmodeus." "I exorcise thee, O ancient serpent, by the judge of the living and the dead, that from this girl, thou, with fears and afflictions of thy fury, speedily depart." "(Tirza moans)" "(onlookers scream)" "Little Joe..." "I am free." "Coffee?" "No, no thanks." "I, uh..." "I wanted to talk to you." "Go ahead, boy." "Well, you remember once you told us that we could have a piece of this land when it was time." "That's right." "Is it time, boy?" "Yes, sir." "Well, if that's what you want." "Tirza's a fine, young woman." "I'd be proud to have her for a daughter." "(knocking on door)" "Zurka, come in." "Come in, please." "Well, barosan, the sky clears, so we are on our way, as I promised." "Uh-huh." "It was a good land, and we are grateful for the hospitality." "Well..." "The girl is coming with us." "Our house is her house now." "Tirza's not going with you." "You want her, young man?" "Yes." "But it is our way that if a man marries, he is to join the girl's family." "You have to become a Gypsy." "Tirza's going to stay here with me." "TIRZA:" "No, Little Joe." "I cannot stay." "What do you mean you can't stay?" "Remember the fish in the stream?" "I wanted to be one of them." "I am one of them now." "I've waited so long to see love in their eyes, instead of fear and hate." "It is in my heart to go." "Tirza, you can't go." "Do you understand, I love you more than anything in my life?" "You are a tree, Joe, not a fish." "You must stand tall and watch over this land that is yours." "Tirza, I..." "Stay." "Stay here." "And think of me sometimes when the stars are in the skies." "I will have memories of you always." "Good-bye, Little Joe." "You have a good son." "I always wished to have a son like this." "So many times, I tried to make a son of Spiro." "Yes, I'm..." "I'm sorry about Spiro." "He's better off in the land of the Mulos." "He'll find peace and... judgment for his sins." "Then you know what he was trying to do?" "Yes." "We found the wolf's paw on his body." "It was still wet with blood." "It was our mistake." "You know, Zurka, sometimes it's possible to see the devil when you're looking for the devil." "Our mistake was that we didn't see the devil in Spiro." "Hmm, maybe so." "Good-bye, my brother, and may you have a long life."