In a message dated 97-12-13 12:30:13 EST, Geoffrey D. Sperl wrote:
> Lorry B. Bond wrote:
>
> > At 11:14 AM 12/11/97 -0600, you wrote:
> > >I personally do not like all this talk about burning witches.
> > >
> > >Becca
> >
> > I second your dislike. Witches have gotten a bum rap over the years,
> > and
> > have been sorely misunderstood. We're simply lovers of the Earth, and
> > know
> > how to use her resources. Pure and simple. No evil in our
> > intentions.
> >
>
> I have a question: does anyone know the film Jenn's quotes come from? I
> know the film quite well, and you're slicing away at an insult that
> *isn't* there...if anything, the film insults the insipidness of the men
> and villagers (mostly men) who cried out for the burning of witches...
>
> Just my two cents...
>
> - Geoffrey
Yes, it was "Monty Python and the Quest (Search??) for the Holy Grail" or
something to that effect. And the full quote goes something like this (I'm
paraphrasing, so I may have some of the words wrong, but this should give
folks an idea, at least):
Knight: And how do we know she's a witch??
Crowd: Look at her nose! Look at her hat!
"Witch": (mumble)
Knight: What's that?
"Witch": (lifting up fake nose) This isn't my nose. It's a false one.
Knight: Yes, well, how did it get there?
"Witch": They put it on me.
Knight: Ah, yes, I see. And the hat?
"Witch": They put that on me as well.
Man 1: She turned me into a newt!
Knight: A newt??
Man 1: (lamely) Well, I got better.
Knight: So what do we have to do to determine if she is, indeed, a witch?
Crowd: Burn her!!
Knight: No, no. Before we burn her, we have to be sure she is a witch.
Crowd: (muttering restlessly)
Knight: All right - how do we tell if she is a witch?
Man 2: Uh..... if she floats?
Knight: Exactly!! And what else floats in water?
Crowd: (mutters restlessly again)
Man 2: Uh... wood?
Man 3: Really small rocks!!
Knight: Right!! So what does this mean?
Man 2: She must be made of wood?
Knight: Right!! And how do we tell if she's made of wood?
Crowd: Burn her!! Burn her!!
Knight: No, no. There's another way. Now, what else floats in water?
Man 3: Uh.... a duck?
Knight: Exactly!! So what does that mean?
Man 3: We have to see if she weighs as much as a duck??
Knight: Right!!
So they trundle the "witch" off to a scale where they put her on one side and
a duck on the other, and kind of "ignore" the chunks of rock and people
leaning on the duck's side to make sure she weighs less than the duck.
Well, now that I look at it, I think I've missed a lot of the actual points of
the scene (i.e., I'm sure I've missed some lines, and I know I've got some of
it out of order), but that's the basics of how it goes, and that does give
justice to the gist of it anyway. The bit about the man who got turned into a
newt and got better is a direct quote, however. It's something that got
quoted a lot in my dorm in college, so I'm sure of that one.
I hope this helps.
Barbara Benesch
BJBenesch@aol.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:42 PDT