"Come on, you wretch." "Come on." "What's the matter with you?" "Do you want me to sing to you?" "Hubert!" "What have you done to these cows?" "I done nothing to them." "What's wrong with them?" "Same as last night." "No milk." "What's that got to do with me?" "You brought them up from the field." "Hello, Mina." "We found the corn." "Oh, good lass." "You want us to bring it?" "That's a good lass." "Isn't she funny?" "She doesn't make me laugh." "No, I mean funny, like her name." "Ina, Mina, Meina, Mo!" "Get it?" "Oh!" "Pet, you got some milk for me?" "No, there's none, Mina." "The cows are dry." "Hello, Mina." "Hello." "How's the baby?" "Fine, thank you." "Sorry, Mina." "It's awful." "Ruth's gone to have a look at them." "No milk, no butter." "I can let you have some cheese if you like." "It's all right, that's not what I came for." "What, then?" "Your flour." "I'm doing the baking this week." "Oh, yes, the flour's on the shelf." "But there isn't enough." "Help yourself to the grinder." "The corn's on the table." "Arthur brought my week's supply last night." "I don't like your grinder." "(LAUGHING) Nor do I." "You're supposed to do your own grinding." "I've been very busy with the cows." "Do enough for both of us." "Did you bring any of your herbs with you for a cup of tea?" "They're in the pram, under the cover." "Okay." "He's just gone to sleep." "Don't wake him." "(BABY CRYING)" "I didn't wake him." "He cried by himself." "Well now, are we having this mill?" "Ask Charles." "He's got some ideas about it." "Want a cup?" "No, thank you." "I think you should grind a couple of pounds for yourself." "I'll go fetch Peggy's meantime." "Take the baby with you." "Oh, it's very bumpy." "Please, Mina, I've got Paul to see to." "Who?" "Jenny's baby." "(BABY CRYING)" "Well, it looks as if it's all clear." "Yep." "Should we give it a try?" "A good idea." "See if our plan works." "She's beginning to move!" "Right." "(SHOUTING)" "What happened?" "Ah, some of the wooden blades have rotted away." "The water can't build up enough power to turn the wheel." "Forget it." "No." "We know it will work." "That wheel turned." "Yeah, it'll work if we replace a dozen or so blades with the right sort of wood, yeah." "We know it works right back to here." "That crown wheel turned." "Let's see what we've got upstairs." "Well, there's not much point connecting up to this." "Turns too fast and it works off electricity, something we don't have." "No, but we have got water power." "Well, there's plenty of water, but there's no power, Charles." "But if you replace the blades and then fitted new gears, and reface and remounted the old millstones, that's if you can find them, well, then you would have water power and you could grind corn," "three times a year." "No, we would have power." "Greg, don't you see?" "Power to operate a drill, a saw, a small generator." "Electricity!" "You can't do it, Charles." "We need this mill." "Look, we make a start in the spring, we can work on through the summer, yes?" "For a start, you're going to have more light and if Arthur and the rest bring us back enough salt, you can have full manpower." "I still want Jack to check these bearings." "Peggy?" "Peggy!" "Who is it?" "It's Mina!" "I'm in the bath!" "I'm doing me washing." "What do you want now?" "Your flour." "I'm ready for baking." "Oh, I've got two jars ready for you." "Right." "Oh, it's you." "Uh, just refreshing meself after me morning's work." "Here, you never said good morning to me." "I'm sorry." "Good morning." "Morning." "I was up at your little hut at the crack of dawn." "You were fast asleep." "Oh, so you looked in, did you?" "Mina!" "I got them!" "Mina, why do you lock your door?" "To keep you out." "Me?" "Mina, you were lovely, lying there asleep." "I wasn't up at the crack of dawn because the baby was crying in the night." "Oh, they're a good pair of lungs, great for crying." "Mina, can you make me a couple of milk rolls?" "No, there's no milk!" "Mina, put the kettle on the hob." "I want to talk to you about the milk." "Mina!" "Mina, why won't you let me in?" "My business." "It's lonely for you up there." "That's how I like it." "It's unnatural, that is." "I don't like to be on me own." "You're not." "There's Peggy and the others." "Peggy!" "She's not like you, Mina." "What's your hurry?" "I'm going to Pet's to get her flour." "She's grinding it." "If I lived with you, Mina, I could help you with things like that." "I don't need help, not from you." "Let me in, Mina." "Why?" "I fancy you, girl." "Well, I don't fancy you." "You're a fine figure of a woman, you are." "No, I'm not." "That's the way I think of it anyway." "I'm ugly, Hubert." "I'm as ugly as you are." "Come here!" "JOHN:" "Why?" "What do you want?" "Who lives in there?" "Mina, and the baby." "You know that." "Do I, though?" "Come here." "Shh!" "Quiet." "You shouldn't be here, should you?" "Yes, we should." "We've brought flour for baking." "It's baking day." "And Jenny's away." "Yeah, but you come here a lot." "Why shouldn't we?" "Dangerous." "You shouldn't come here at all." "But why not, Hubert?" "What do you see?" "Table." "Chairs." "Shelves." "Yeah, what's on the shelves?" "Herbs and things." "Mmm-hmm." "And what's that?" "The oven." "And what do you think she puts in there?" "Food." "Children." "I don't believe you." "You calling me a liar, lad?" "I tell you, she puts kids your size in there and shrivels them down to that." "So don't you come here, specially at night." "Hello." "What's going on?" "Oh, nothing, is there, John?" "Just John looking in through the window." "You meant no harm, did you, Lizzie?" "No." "I think you're going away now, aren't you?" "Yes." "(BABY CRYING)" "Could you give him his rosehip?" "The bottle's likely dropped away from him." "Well, you've done it often enough." "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "There's something up." "No." "Will you take him for his walk?" "Go on, then, take him for his walk." "I've changed him." "Well, you heard what Mina said." "Go on, take him for his walk." "What's that?" "Flour." "What have you been telling them?" "Nothing." "I just came round here to see how you were, that's all." "How I am?" "Tired." "They've taken the baby." "Let's have a nice cup of your special tea." "Oh, is that all?" "Mina, you know how I feel about you." "Stick to your sheep." "Oh, come on now..." "Come on now what?" "Oh, go away and leave me alone." "Oh, you're just saying that." "Oh, am I?" "Come on now, Mina." "Give us a chance." "Oh, Mina, Mina!" "Oh!" "That's enough now!" "Get out now, Hubert." "Get out!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Don't shout." "I don't want to shout, but I will!" "What are you two doing out here?" "Mina asked us to look after her baby." "Well, she didn't ask you to keep it out in the cold, did she?" "Well, go on, take it back to her." "Go on off home, the pair of you." "I'll look after the baby." "Thanks." "Oh, thanks." "And get yourselves in front of the fire and get warm." "Go on." "Stupid, sending kids out in weather like this." "Well, I'll have a talk to her." "You're all right, are you?" "Come on, young fellow." "Take you home." "Oh, there's my boy, then." "Where's my boy?" "(CHUCKLES) He's doing very well." "Oh, yes." "Well, the children were frozen." "Oh, I don't know where they got to." "I was worried." "They should have come back when it started to get cold, shouldn't they?" "Where'd they go?" "They were just outside, in the open." "They never were." "I been going out every minute for half an hour and calling." "Why didn't they come in?" "Oh, I don't know, Mina." "They seemed..." "They seemed scared to come in." "Scared?" "(SNIFFING)" "The bread smells good." "It isn't risen enough for baking yet." "Oh?" "Well, there's something in the oven." "No, don't!" "Sorry!" "What, uh..." "What is it?" "Oh, well, it's nothing." "Biscuits?" "Well, it's flour and water." "I rolled it into little balls, but they've gone flat." "I wanted to make, you know, oh, marbles for the children to play with." "Oh, I see." "Oh, they been so good with the baby, taking her, but they're no good." "(CHUCKLES) Mmm." "And tasteless." "They're not bad." "You know, you need clay to make marbles." "Did you ever see that done?" "Yes, I did." "A potter woman with a wheel, she made cups and bowls and jugs." "That's an idea." "Did you ever try it?" "I never did." "Would you like to?" "Well, I don't know." "I wouldn't mind." "I'll have a talk to Greg." "There's plenty of clay around here." "Oh, after we've made a flourmill." "Thanks for the biscuit." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "MINA:" "Someone there?" "Hello, who's there?" "Mina, I've got something here for you." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "Mina, let me in." "Go away!" "I've got a ring." "It was my mother's." "Hubert, if you wake my baby, I'll give you what for." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "Mina?" "What?" "What'll you give me?" "You'll have to open the door to give it to me." "Ah, Mina!" "Mina!" "What are you doing down there, Mina?" "Nothing." "What do you want with that?" "Nothing." "Bucket of mud?" "I checked all the mill bearings." "Everything seems okay." "Just seized up." "You can say that again." "Well, they certainly knew how to build in those days." "It's as sound as a bell." "We've got to learn that technology all over again, Jack." "Hmm, and hump all the millstones back from wherever they've been scattered." "What about the roof of my pigsty?" "My pigs come before your old mill." "Is there any more wine, Pet?" "Is there?" "I'll go." "How are your spuds?" "I wish I knew." "Not found anything?" "No." "Then, I'm not a botanist." "Just give them more time." "Well, it's not as easy as that." "We need fresh stock, and we can't get fresh stock." "We'll just have to make do with a smaller yield." "I hope that's all it is, and not some disease." "Well, look, let's just stick to problems we know about, like grinding corn." "Now, I say that the watermill's for later." "What I can do is build you a bore mill, fill it with pebbles, like I suggested." "All right then, let's see the design." "I'd better go see to those children." "They're eating us out of house and home." "Does anyone know what's up with those two?" "I haven't been able to get a word out of John and Lizzie since that business yesterday with Mina's baby." "Oh, they've probably done something." "You know how children are, afraid of what she might say." "Well, Mina, I mean, she's always been a bit strange." "Comes from being too much on her own." "She ought to mix more." "Yeah, she was scrabbling about in the mud yesterday." "We brought you more mud." "Like you asked for." "Thanks." "Put it down there." "Well, come on, by the stove." "Hurry now." "Can we go now?" "I got something to show you." "What?" "In the oven." "Wait." "I think they're ready now." "There." "They're hard enough." "Ooh, don't you touch them." "Wait till they cool." "And..." "Who's that?" "Who does it look like?" "It's Hubert." "I baked him." "Oh!" "I made him too thin." "Oi!" "It's Hubert!" "Hubert!" "Hubert!" "Hubert's got a broken leg!" "He has!" "We've seen him!" "I know, I've been binding it." "But she broke it!" "Who broke it?" "It isn't broken, it's sprained." "She sprained it!" "Who did?" "Mina!" "We saw her!" "When did you see her?" "Now!" "Just now!" "Hubert sprained his ankle last night when he was out walking, he said." "But she took a little Hubert out of the oven and she broke its leg!" "She did, really!" "Holy mother of God, what have we got amongst us?" "She put a little Hubert in the oven?" "Now, wait a minute." "Hold it!" "Oh, for..." "What's going on?" "What's the matter with you kids?" "Oh, Hubert!" ""Oh, Hubert!" "Oh, Hubert!"" "My leg's damned sore." "Now..." "JOHN:" "Mina's a witch, isn't she?" "Yeah, well, that's not what I'd call her." "Tell him what you just said." "She made a little Hubert with a broken leg and baked it." "She did what?" "RUTH:" "Now, why would she do that?" "Well, I knocked at her door last night." "Oh." "Happened to be passing." "Just happened to be passing?" "There's nothing beyond her place." "Well, that's what I mean." "It's lonely for her up there." "I thought she might like a bit of company." "I know what you thought." "It's true, I tell you." "Then the baby woke up and cried, she threatened me." "She threatened you?" "Yeah, uh, she said she'd do something to me." "What?" "Just that, she'd do something to me, and I went off and went over on me ankle." "She did it." "Oh, rubbish!" "We saw her!" "Whatever you saw, there's no connection." "That's what she was doing, all right." "Is she a witch?" "No!" "What were you doing, then?" "Looking at them potatoes through your microscope." "Jack saw you." "What stopped them sprouting?" "What put a curse on them?" "What about the cows?" "We saw her gathering mud." "We did." "She was gathering mud." "We brought her some, in a bucket." "Why did you do that?" "She told us to." "She made us!" "She made you?" "We were frightened." "You were frightened?" "But why?" "She's a witch." "Didn't you ask her why she wanted the mud?" "No." "We were frightened." "What about Pet and the herbs?" "She tried to poison Pet with those blooming herbs!" "She never did." "Hubert, come with me." "Children, stay right where you are." "Come on." "Now, stop this!" "Can you kill witches?" "Mina is not a witch." "Doesn't mean anything." "I know it doesn't." "But it gives me prickles up and down my spine." "Yes, but what are we going to do?" "Well, I'm in the thick of it." "Things out of mud?" "Charles said one of us should be doing pottery before we forget." "But that was to be me." "She's no right." "Yes, but what I mean is, what about the baby?" "Baby?" "Yes." "If she's doing all them things to everything else, what is she doing to that poor little mite?" "Now, wait a minute, it's me I'm thinking about." "She ain't gonna do nothing to the baby." "I don't believe it." "I mean, she can think she's doing things to people," "but she can't actually do it." "She done it to me!" "She's got those children fetching and carrying for her." "It's not only people." "What about the cows and the spuds?" "Yeah." "I mean, she meant nothing to me." "I'm asking you, did she?" "I mean, you know me." "I go me own way, keep meself to meself." "I mean, I'm choosy." "I've always been choosy." "I mean, you've only got to look at her." "It don't make sense!" "There am I, lying in bed of a night, she's the only thing I can think of, so I gets to think I'm going out me mind." "What'd she put in there?" "What I'm asking you is, what is she doing to the baby?" "(SNIFFING)" "Where you going?" "I don't know." "We must be sensible, keep our heads." "I'm going to go and see her." "What?" "It's true." "Where's Charles?" "He's inside." "Now I know the real meaning of boredom." "Oh, for power." "Man's in bondage again." "Have you told him?" "No." "What?" "Mina's been making dolls out of mud and putting curses on people." "(LAUGHING)" "And you've seen her doing it?" "Well, I've seen her collecting the mud." "She made this mannequin of Hubert with the leg broken, and he broke his leg." "Hubert broke his leg?" "Well, sprained." "Ah, sprained." "Well, that's what Ruth said." "She didn't think it was broken, but she couldn't tell, not having an x-ray." "So Mina made a witch's doll." "That's what you're saying?" "Look, don't go on at me." "It's what everyone's saying, and I'm telling you." "She put this thing in the oven." "She made a figure of Hubert?" "So they say." "How do they know it was Hubert?" "What?" "How was it recognisable?" "I don't know." "John and Lizzie said it was Hubert." "Said Mina told them so." "Mina, what are you doing?" "Oh, just playing about, I..." "I don't want you to see it, 'cause I've not finished with it." "It's a head." "I saw." "Oh, it's a kind of head." "Made of mud." "Well, that mud's good, you know." "I tried it to see, and it's like clay." "You should try it." "Yes, I might." "You made a doll of Hubert." "Who told you?" "Oh!" "Oh, the children." "Yes, I did, and his leg broke." "What is it?" "You know about Hubert?" "I know what?" "He's been pestering me, I know that." "His leg's broken." "What?" "The man Hubert has broken his leg." "Where is the doll?" "Well, it's le..." "I..." "I threw it away." "What are you meaning?" "What are you meaning?" "Whose head is it?" "Oh, no one." "It's no one, it's just..." "It isn't finished." "I..." "It's a lump." "And I wanted to make it big so it wouldn't break this time." "You don't want it to break?" "Well, no." "I..." "I want a head." "Let me see." "It's got a beard." "It's Charles!" "You want him!" "(MINA SOBBING)" "What are you doing?" "I..." "I'm not doing anything." "I..." "I live here alone with my baby!" "I..." "He isn't there now, is he?" "I destroyed him." "You destroyed him?" "What about your baby?" "What?" "Matthew!" "Matthew!" "Matthew!" "Matthew!" "Anyone!" "Where's my baby?" "Matthew!" "What are we going to do, Pet?" "I'll get Charles." "No, the kids have gone for him." "What we need is the Holy Church." "The Father, he'd know what to do." "She can't stay here." "She mustn't be allowed to stay here." "Oh, it's not her, it's the devil in her." "There we are." "Give him to me." "The poor mite's hungry." "(SILENT PRAYING)" "Get out!" "Get out!" "But where's my baby?" "Oh, God save us and protect us." "Shield us from all evil." "Stop her putting curses on this house." "Peggy!" "I want my baby!" "Where's the baby?" "He's in there." "PET:" "Charles, no!" "There we are." "There you are." "He's all right, Mina." "You wrap him up well." "Now, I'll come by later and talk to you, all right?" "You don't know what you're doing!" "I know perfectly well what I'm doing." "Do you?" "Oh!" "Now, where's Hubert?" "He's in the kitchen." "You get him." "And you should be ashamed of yourself." "I'm not." "And if anything happens to that child, you'll only have..." "Then you must be out of your mind!" "There's something wrong with that woman." "There's nothing wrong with that woman." "She's as normal as..." "Go on." "Well, I was going to say she's as normal as you are, but now I'm not so sure." "How dare you?" "How did you hurt yourself?" "She did it." "Who's "she"?" "Mina!" "She's a witch!" "Oh, really?" "And when did you last see one?" "What?" "I'm curious to know what they look like." "When did you last see a witch?" "It's not what they look like, it's what they do." "Oh, I see." "And where were you when you hurt yourself?" "Well, were you here, in your room?" "I was at her house." "Oh, at Mina's house." "And what were you doing there?" "Nothing." "You were pestering her." "Well, she made me." "You fancy her." "I tell you, she made me." "She made you fancy her so you went up to her house and tried to get in, is that right?" "But she wouldn't let you in." "Now, does that sound like a woman who made you fancy her?" "Wouldn't she have welcomed you in?" "She's a witch." "She's a woman, living on her own." "And you're a man, living on his own." "It's happened before in the history of the world." "Now, how did you injure yourself?" "She attacked me." "How?" "She wiped a wet nappy across his face." "She just told me." "Well, well, well..." "What a wicked, wicked thing for a woman to do." "And there's nothing wrong with the cows either." "Hubert brought them in from the field and left them when he went to a-wooing." "The calves sucked them dry." "Oh, me leg!" "Oh!" "Mina?" "Mina?" "Mina..." "Go away." "Please, go away." "No, Mina, listen, it's all right now." "No, no, it isn't." "Mina, they've..." "They've made absolute fools of themselves." "They know it now." "Until the next time." "How do you mean?" "Well, the next time something happens." "I..." "I got to go away from here." "Mina, that's nonsense." "It's not safe for me." "I..." "It isn't and I..." "I'm frightened." "I'm frightened for me and for my baby." "What happens the next time there's a thunderstorm and a tree comes down?" "I can just hear the children, "It's her!" "It's her!" "It's the witch!"" "And the rest of them believing..." "Now, Mina, listen..." "What happens when something happens to you?" "When you're repairing a roof or digging a ditch and something happens?" "They'll kill me!" "They'll throw stones at me!" "They'll burn me!" "Now, stop it!" "Stop it!" "You're being hysterical, and you're almost as bad as the others." "And you're talking rubbish, absolute rubbish." "Now, stop it!" "(SOBBING)" "There now." "There now, it's all right." "It's all right." "Now, you listen, Mina." "Do you remember in the old days, not so long ago, people used to believe in witches, they were laughed at, hmm?" "That's because we had newspapers and radio and television and doctors, psychiatrists and priests to explain it all." "That kept things in proportion." "So if people wanted to believe in ghosts or witches, they could do so without frightening the rest of us." "Do you see what I mean?" "Come on now, bear up." "They've all made charlies of themselves." "Now, you listen." "I don't think I should stay here." "Now, come on." "No." "Oh, I don't know." "If you really believe something, you don't just stop believing it, and they believed it." "Peggy and that Hubert and Pet even." "Oh, Mina, Mina, Pet's kicking herself." "It was just jealousy." "And thinking of my baby." "Yes." "And I've always felt strange here, not part of it somehow, sort of by myself." "Yes, but whose fault is that?" "Oh, yes, I know, but..." "I think I should go." "Where?" "I'll take my chances." "Well, you'll take your chances, but is it right to take chances with the baby in this weather?" "I'll find a place." "Oh, yes, there are lots of places." "But better than this?" "Where you're known?" "Where I'm known?" "Mina, give us a few days." "A few weeks." "Give them a chance, Mina." "Give us all a chance." "You are a nice man." "You're a good man." "It's a pity Jenny's not around." "Well, if the others weren't away on a salt detail, none of this would have happened." "Still, I think she'll stay." "I'll get Pet to come up here and have a talk with her." "Could kill that creep Hubert." "Do you want some help?" "Yeah, well, you restrain yourselves." "He's more use to us alive." "Not much in it if you ask me." "(PEOPLE CHATTERING)" "(DOOR OPENING)" "Oi!" "Where'd you get that?" "I've been keeping it." "Have you?" "Hey, now, look..." "Shut up!" "Now, what you're going to do is get off your backside and go and apologise to Mina." "That's what you think." "That is what I think!" "I also think you haven't got any choice because if you don't, I'm going to beat you into a pulp." "Of course, you've got an alternative." "You can get the hell out of this settlement and go and contaminate somewhere else." "I feel so ashamed." "Hmm." "Well, don't wallow in it, love." "Do something about it." "She'll spit in my eye." "Mmm, I shouldn't be surprised." "Oh, a suggestion." "Take Peggy." "Yes, I will." "Mina!" "It's me, Hubert!" "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "Mina, let me in." "I know you're in there, Mina." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "Mina, if you don't let me in, there's going to be trouble." "Mina!" "Come on, give us a chance!" "Well, they can't say I haven't tried." "Do you think she'll like it?" "I'm sure she will." "Come on, then." "Ah, Jack, we're just going to see Mina." "Good." "I put the kettle on the hob." "Help yourself." "Mina!" "Mina!" "She's gone and she's taken the baby with her." "Right, now it's nearly dark." "She can't have gone far, not pushing that pram." "She's probably gone by the road." "I wouldn't be too sure." "She pushes that thing anywhere." "All right, we'll go round the compass." "Jack, you take the top." "I'll take the road." "I'll go down to the river." "I'll go with Jack." "No, you won't." "You'll come with me." "What about us?" "Well, someone's got to look after the children." "Ruth, you and Peggy, take the fields between the river and the road." "Yes." "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Come on, eat up." "Don't tell me it's bedtime already." "Long past." "Now, come on, hurry up." "Drink up." "The milk's funny." "It's lovely." "Now, come on, drink it up." "It's like the milk we used to have." "Now, let's not have any nonsense." "It's goats' milk and it's better for you." "Are we going to sleep here tonight?" "Only if you're good." "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "Mina!" "(BABY CRYING)" "Mina..." "HUBERT:" "Mina!" "(BABY CRYING)" "Mina!" "(RATTLING)" "HUBERT:" "Mina, you in there?" "Oh, Mina." "It's me, Hubert." "Mina..." "Don't be afraid." "Everyone's out looking for you." "Mina, I'm sorry." "Please, please, don't be afraid." "Go away." "Stay away from me!" "Mina..." "It's going to be all right, Mina." "You've got to believe me." "Mina?" "Mina..." "(HUBERT GROANING)" "It's all right." "It's all right." "How is she?" "Why don't you find out for yourself?" "(WHISPERING) Go on." "Mina?" "What have you got there?" "You're a beautiful little boy, yes." "How's your head?" "It's me arm now." "What's the matter with it?" "Calls this a horsemill." "Don't weaken, Hubert." "There are worse fates."