"He has been gone three days now." "He will call us." "No." "How can you know?" "What is said, is said." "THE LIVING WORLD" "If God were to betray His Word, His Truth, he would betray His Divinity and would not be God, for He is His Word and His Truth." "Part One" "Where are you going?" "My name is Nicolas." "I am the Lion Knight." "Have you a lion?" "Obviously." "I wouldn't have said a lion." "I am the Lion Knight." "Yes." "Therefore this animal is a lion." "Where are you going?" "I don't know." "I advise you to go straight ahead." "Why?" "That's where you were going." "There must be a reason." "And where are you going?" "I always go straight ahead." "Yet your head is in the clouds." "I'm in love." "I hope you'll soon find her." "She's that way." "Aren't you going the wrong way then?" "No." "All the best." "Likewise." "My lion is frightening." "Yes." "I am a giant." "You're always the giant." "Naturally." "I'm bigger than you." "Because you're old." "That means you'll croak before me." "I am a giant." "Be afraid." "Don't hurt me, giant!" "I'm going to crush you." "Get up." "I can't." "I'm dead." "Get up, I said." "When you're dead, you're dead." "I'll bring you back to life." "That's impossible." "What are you doing here?" "You're the Lion Knight." "How do you know?" "You wear a sword, and you have a lion." "Your eyesight is good." "I don't need glasses yet." "You mustn't play here." "Why not?" "There is an ogre's castle nearby." "What does this ogre do?" "He eats children." "We're not afraid." "That won't stop the Ogre eating you." "Why are you here, Lion Knight?" "My lion and I are going to see the Ogre." "Have fun." "Be careful he doesn't eat you." "Ogres don't like grown-up flesh." "You're lucky, then." "Go home, children." "Good day, Lion Knight." "That's maximus cool." "Come." "How?" "If you're thin enough, through the window." "You're not a knight." "What distinguishes a knight from a non-knight?" "The sword." "What are you doing here?" "I'm a prisoner." "In a chapel?" "Yes." "Why don't you leave by that window?" "I gave my word I'd stay." "To whom?" "To an ogre." "As for me," "I escaped from my parents' home." "But I never gave them my word I'd stay." "On the contrary," "I warned them I'd leave, as soon as I could." "Why does the Ogre keep you here?" "He killed my parents, now I belong to him." "He wants to marry me, but he's already married." "Until his wife agrees to be repudiated, he can't touch me." "I thought ogres were polygamous." "Polygamy is forbidden." "Only by God." "But we live in a secular country." "It is also forbidden by the Jules Ferry laws." "What will you do?" "A Knight has sworn to fight the Ogre and free me from his hold." "Then all is well." "I don't know." "Why?" "A Lacanian witch told me the knight who can pull the sword from the chapel altar will be master of my heart, and deliver me from the Ogre." "But the knight who has gone to defend me is not master of my heart and did not pull the sword from the altar." "Did he try?" "No." "He's unaware of the sword's existence." "Why didn't you tell him about it?" "He already has a sword." "You haven't." "That's true." "Come, then." "I have no sheath." "You'll have to wear it naked, on your belt." "Take care not to cut yourself." "And now?" "The charm has worked." "You are master of my heart." "You were already mistress of mine." "Allow me to kiss you." "Ouch!" "What's the matter?" "You pricked me." "The sword that united us now separates us." "You must first free me from the Ogre's hold, and aid the knight who left without this sword, for I fear he is in great danger." "Who is this guy?" "The Lion Knight." "The Lion Knight is my friend." "All the more reason to hurry." " It's natural for you to lose." " I haven't lost yet." "You're smaller." "Being bigger doesn't mean you win." "You've lost." "You entered without knocking." "All the doors were open." "That's my lion." "Are you afraid of lions?" "No." "What are you doing?" "Knitting a child's jumper." "For an organisation." "In my husband's country they call it a charity." "Your husband isn't from here?" "The castle is his, but he comes from elsewhere." "He's an ogre." "And you?" "I am a woman." "My name is Penelope." "But I'm the only one who knows it." "Now I know as well." "That's true." "How did you come to be here?" "They married me to an ogre." "Now I'm his wife." "Who are they?" "My parents." "The Jules Ferry laws freed children from their parents." "I was bound to mine by words." "Your husband is known throughout the land." "His ancestors have always reigned here." "He is also known for eating children." "No one knows better than I." "I cook his meals." "Then you're an ogresse." "I told you I am not." "I'm a vegetarian." "And yet..." "Nothing repulses me more than my husband's ways." "Why don't you leave him?" "Because I accepted the ties that bind us." "What if I told you I've come to combat your husband and kill him?" "If you kill him, you will have rid the world of a great evil, and released me from Hell," "but I will not assist you." "My ties to the Ogre are sacred." "I'm not asking for your assistance." "I seek a fair and open combat." "You don't know the Ogre." "He's coming home." "You will fight tomorrow morning." "Come." "I must announce my challenge to him." "I'll take care of that." "What about my lion?" "I shall hide the both of you." "I've done my shopping." "Presently I shall kill them, so you can cook them for supper." "There's still a child in the freezer." "I don't remember." "There is, I assure you." "I don't like frozen meat." "Then you mustn't kill children before you need them." "I'll feed these children until you've eaten what's in the freezer." "I've something else to tell you." "A knight came to call." "He challenges you to a combat tomorrow morning." "What is his name?" "The Lion Knight." "I'll be there." "Good." "I'll feed his corpse to the dogs." "You've always been very generous." "Now I'm truly lost." "Where are you going?" "I'd like to answer, but I'd prefer to see you first." "I am the tree standing before you." "Enchanted." "Actually, as a talking tree, you're the enchanted one." "I am what I am." "Where are you going?" "To find my friend the Lion Knight who's gone to see an ogre." "The Lion Knight passed this way, and there is an ogre living nearby." "Super." "Can you show me the way?" "Soon it will be night, you'll be lost in the dark." "Sit with me for a while." "You will leave tomorrow morning." "Here is your dinner." "I prepared only your favourite organs." "They will give you energy for the combat." "I am the only one with a key to this room." "I've brought your dinner." "Thank you." "I've just fed the Ogre." "He thinks he ate the heart, liver and entrails of a child." "But I fed him the organs of a pig." "You betrayed him." "Nutritionally, yes." "Why?" "To save the two children he caught today." "And so he'll be weaker than he thinks." "That's an advantage for me." "Possibly." "Didn't you tell me you must be loyal to your spouse?" "I am bound to him by words." "Then you owe him absolute fidelity." "Yes." "Unless I should hear other words..." "Stronger words." "You will return to him now." "Yes." "You will sleep with him." "I shall lie down beside him." "But he's so full of beer he will sleep until tomorrow morning." "Good night, then." "Good night." "To you too." "So this is how you keep your word?" "You sleep with a phantom, while I risk being delivered to the Ogre, and the Lion Knight risks perhaps ignominious defeat!" "You are an idiotic little boy." "Leave me alone!" "I'm sorry, but I gave my word to the Demoiselle of the Chapel." "I must combat the Ogre and help my friend the Lion Knight." "If I see a forest warden, I'll tell him to come and dress your wound." "Adieu." "Morning has broken." "It is time." "I've brought you a horn and something to eat." "There's a fountain outside the castle." "The Ogre had the bridge drawn, but I'll show you the secret door." "You must leave the lion locked up." "If the Ogre sees him, he'll refuse to fight." "You left this little box behind." "It's a stone to make fire." "You won't take it?" "No." "Who goes there?" "The Lion Knight, challenging you to a combat." "To what do I owe this honour?" "I demand liberty for the Demoiselle of the Chapel." "She belongs to me." "Are you refusing my challenge?" "No." "What will be your weapon?" "A sword." "Mine shall be a club." "Approach the entrance," "I shall lower the bridge." "What are you doing?" "Throwing slug slime all about." "That's unfair." "Fairness is the vice of cretins." "You may show my adversary in." "He has thrown slug slime all about, take care not to slip." "Where is the Ogre?" "He went for a beer." "We are alone." "It is strange that we can be alone even though we are two." "Grammar makes it so." "Then I must thank grammar, for letting me be alone with you." "And yet, it is bittersweet." "Why?" "You are life, and I'm leaving you." "I will never leave you." "Where I am going, grammar will not let you follow." "I am bound to you by words." "There is no other truth." "I came to combat the Ogre for the love of a woman." "I know." "But I set that woman free." "From what?" "From my desire." "I freed her with words." "The same words I heard." "I would have liked to have been happy with you." "We are no longer alone." "No." "Is it the Ogre?" "No." "It's a young man." "My friend the Lion Knight." "You're not looking well." "Are you a friend?" "I no longer see clearly." "We met at the junction of the four roads." "You told me to go straight ahead." "I remember." "I've come to combat the Ogre who holds captive the Demoiselle of the Chapel." "It's not without risk." "Is he the one who put you in this state?" "Yes." "What a rotten louse." "I'll rip his guts out." "That would be a good thing." "But take care, to start with, not to slip on the slug slime he's thrown all about." "I've got anti-slime shoes my mother gave me." "I must announce your arrival to the Ogre." "Tell him I am prepared to massacre him." "I hope he will be suitably impressed." "I am going to die, quickly, before she returns." "It's my fault." "Why?" "You needed this sword to win the Demoiselle's heart and vanquish the Ogre." "When our paths crossed," "I was coming to this castle, you were going to the Chapel of the Demoiselle." "I came here and found love." "When she returns, tell her that here, I found love." "I shall tell her." "I shall never have needed glasses." "He is dead." "I see." "My husband is here." "Go fight with him over there." "The Lion Knight asked me to tell you that here, he found love." "The Ogre dipped his club in viper's venom." "The slightest scratch will be fatal." "I'm used to being cautious with wasps as I'm terribly allergic." "You are free now." "I have another bond." "I must join the Demoiselle of the Chapel." "It's far, I wish to arrive before nightfall." "Take the ass." "Thank you." "Adieu Lion, friend of my friend." "Don't bid him adieu." "Why not?" "You will see him again." "I'm glad." "And you?" "I believe we shall meet again." "So I will not bid you adieu." "Part Two" "Are you there?" "Yes." "Come closer." "I see nothing." "I shall light the candles." "I have killed the Ogre." "I'm pleased." "Killing is nasty." "I know." "But the Ogre was so terribly mean." "I killed him with the sword I pulled from the altar." "Did you fight him alone?" "I was somewhat assisted by the Knight's lion." "And the Knight himself?" "He was already dead." "The Lion Knight is dead?" "He was killed by the Ogre." "I am very sad, because he was my friend." "My only consolation is that you love me." "I don't love you." "I love the Lion Knight." "But you told me he was not master of your heart, and that I was." "That's true." "But when I said it, the Lion Knight was alive." "And now he is dead." "Isn't it more practical to love a living knight than a dead one?" "Love is not practical." "I am in despair." "That's not my fault." "Are you now free to leave this chapel?" "Yes." "Then I will take you to the Ogre's castle so you can see the man you love one last time." "That's kind of you." "Is the castle far away?" "Fairly." "But I have an ass." "I shall bring a lantern to light the way." "That's a good idea." "Let's stop here." "Over there, you can sleep until dawn." "I'm frightened." "I shall watch over you." "I'm frightened, but I'm very sleepy." "Settle in here." "This is the sign that will reunite us." "Don't cry, children." "Come to eat." "Bread is life." "Like words." "I shall eat with you." "Let us share bread as we share words." "Lion, you are crying." "Lion!" "Go take a message to the Knight." "With these words, I renounce him." "With these words, I renounce him." "Who sleeps here?" "No one." "But these are children's beds." "Yes." "For which children?" "The children I never had." "Why do they have beds then?" "I made a vow to have children, but I could not, because the Ogre would have eaten them, even his own." "So I made them with words." "You are my children." "Then stay with us." "I can't." "Someone is waiting for me." "I gave my word I'd join him." "Then we shall see you tomorrow morning." "I brought two candles." "I shall only take one." "Good night." "Who put it out?" "Who?" "Don't turn around." "Don't turn around." "You are dead." "I was dead." "Where is your body?" "You can hear it breathe." "The breath of a ghost?" "No." "Of your words." "Your words have reunited us." "You are nothing but words." "I love you, Nicolas." "That's good news." "Why do you love me?" "Because my words have freed me." "That's great." "What does it feel like to be free?" "Joyous." "That's all maximus cool." "Let's go." "Where?" "To the castle." "But why?" "That's where we were going." "Yes, let's go." "I must leave you for a moment, children." "Now I am a part of your world." "You can look at me." "You really spoke to me last night." "Yes." "But there was no life left in you." "There were your words." "My words came from my living body, and yours was dead." "In the living world, the breath of the spirit is the breath of the body." "May I touch you?" "Your body is real." "Because you are." "My lion." "Here are some friends." "You're alive." "Yes." "Last night you were dead." "You're not the first to point it out." "Is it a miracle?" "I think it's more of a natural thing." "I salute you, Madame." "If I'm not mistaken, you are the Ogre's wife." "I was." "Now I'm his widow." "Felicitations." "Thank you." "While he was alive, you refused to be repudiated." " This is true." " That was convenient for me." "I'm pleased." "Now I will marry the Lion Knight, for we love each other." "I'm happy for you." "I'm also in love with the Lion Knight, but only in a dream." "In life I love Nicolas." "We will marry and have many children." "A lovely idea." "You will have to look after the children alone when I leave with the Knight and his lion to kill ogres." "Yes." "But we shall be happy anyway." "I didn't know you had children." "They are the children I never had." "I saved them from the Ogre's clutches, and now we must return them to their parents." "We found a baby elephant." "His ears are big, but his trunk hasn't grown yet." "That is completely natural." "Trunks develop later on." "Their parents believe them dead, and they'll see them living." "The lion will take them home." "Does he agree?" "Yes." "And you can trust him." "You must follow the lion, children." "He will take you home." "Can we keep the elephant?" "Yes."