The Storyteller (TV Series)

The Three Ravens (1988)

John Hurt: The Storyteller

Photos 

Quotes 

• The Storyteller : And the girl who kept faith and had but one face for everyone was rewarded with sons and brothers and a sweetheart and a crown. And she practiced her smile until it was perfect.

• The Storyteller : And for a day and a night the princess ran, stumbled, fled untill she dropped. Dropped into a dead sleep. And when she woke she saw three ravens before her. Or perhaps she dreamt it, because they spoke to her. 'Sister,' they seemed to say, 'we are trapped, help us.'

  Princess : How? How can I help you?

  The Storyteller : 'You must keep silent. You must not speak to a single soul for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days. Only then can the spell be broken.'

  Princess : Then I shall not speak.

• Storyteller's Dog : The witch! But she was married to the other king!

  The Storyteller : The other king was dead, poisoned.

  Storyteller's Dog : Ow!

  The Storyteller : Oh, no, the witch had a taste for kings now, for countries. For the princess was a thorn pricking at her ambitions. The princess could not speak, but she accused with her looks: Killer of my father, bewitcher of my brothers. And the witch knew she must have done with her. And so the battle began: the good princess and the wicked witch.

• Storyteller's Dog : [spoiler]  Yes, but it wasn't three years, three months, three weeks, and three whole days, was it?

  The Storyteller : No, cleverclogs. The princess spoke three minutes too soon. And because of that her youngest brother kept one wing forever. But he didn't mind, and nor do I and nor, my dear, should you.

• The Storyteller : There was one among the mourners whose heart was ice, whose soul was cold, whose smile was sly. Whose brain raced ahead to the day when the king would want to ease his loneliness. And the which, for witch she was, fixed her dry eyes on the king and schemed.

  Witch : Mine...

  The Storyteller : She schemed...

  Witch : Mine, all mine. And you may well weep.

• The Storyteller : And the prince came back every day for a week. And the princess found she could smile again. A darling smile. A smile that wrapped all the way round her heart and his heart and squeezed them tight together. And the prince gave up speaking too, and they were content to simply sit and hug on that smile.

• The Storyteller : And not a minute, it seemed, before there he was: a son, a boy. And the young mother would have given anything, everything to say his name, sing to him, whisper... But she couldn't, so she didn't.

• Prince : Where's the baby, darling?

  The Storyteller : The princess didn't know and couldn't speak. And their baby was nowhere to be found. And the pain of it, intollerable. Until one night, she went to the garden and dug with her hands in the ground a small hole. And, bending to the earth, screamed with all her heart. Screamed and screamed her pain into the hole until morning. And it was better. And looking up to the sky she saw her brothers, the ravens circling above her. 'The days pass,' they seemed to say. 'Hold to your promise, hold to your promise.'