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From whence comes
the purpose of a person's life?
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00:00:27,476 --> 00:00:30,938
Come it by chance, a casting of the lot,
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00:00:31,314 --> 00:00:34,984
or does a call of destiny
beckon to each of us?
4
00:00:38,112 --> 00:00:40,656
Many have wondered
about my little Hadassah
5
00:00:40,781 --> 00:00:42,867
and why a simple Jewish orphan
6
00:00:42,992 --> 00:00:47,288
was chosen to stand against
the annihilation of her people.
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And yet the mystery of the girl
most know as Esther
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begins not where one might think,
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00:00:54,837 --> 00:00:57,131
but 500 years earlier
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with a single act of disobedience.
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King Saul of the Israelites
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had been sent by the Prophet Samuel
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to wipe out
an ancient child-sacrificing enemy.
14
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So pervasive was their evil
15
00:01:19,862 --> 00:01:23,241
that not even their oxen nor sheep
were to be spared,
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and above all, no survivors left breathing.
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00:01:43,010 --> 00:01:47,431
My lord, I give you Agag,
king of the Amalekites.
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We have also seized for you his livestock.
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Even his queen.
20
00:02:07,326 --> 00:02:10,788
What dark portent bid me haste
to cross this land of ours?
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How would you accuse me now,
O Prophet?
22
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I carried out your lord's command.
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Then why do my ears
24
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ring with the lowing of oxen
and the bleating of sheep?
25
00:02:21,507 --> 00:02:24,010
Your Majesty, the Amalekite queen,
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00:02:24,468 --> 00:02:25,845
she escaped.
27
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We have the king.
28
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What is one woman?
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You fool,
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she is with child.
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While the Prophet Samuel
put a swift end to King Agag,
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Agag's queen,
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fleeing with the seed of vengeance
growing within her,
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the Jews never found.
35
00:03:39,502 --> 00:03:41,295
Uncle Mordecai!
36
00:03:41,379 --> 00:03:44,423
Rebecca, what kind of housekeeper
do you think you are?
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00:03:44,674 --> 00:03:47,510
Serves you right
for bringing home your work.
38
00:03:47,635 --> 00:03:49,679
The caravan arrived this morning.
39
00:03:50,179 --> 00:03:52,598
Well, Susa is the capital of the new world.
40
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Caravans arrive every day.
41
00:03:54,517 --> 00:03:56,102
Not from Jerusalem.
42
00:03:57,812 --> 00:03:59,313
Well, perhaps
you ought to go back and ask them
43
00:03:59,438 --> 00:04:01,899
if they'll arrive the same time next year.
44
00:04:02,525 --> 00:04:04,777
Next year? You promised.
45
00:04:04,986 --> 00:04:06,737
- Rebecca!
- Fight your own battles.
46
00:04:06,862 --> 00:04:09,699
You don't pay me enough
to fight the battle for you.
47
00:04:12,368 --> 00:04:14,829
- Good morning, Hadassah.
- And where have you been?
48
00:04:14,912 --> 00:04:17,456
I'm sorry, Grandmother,
the markets were really busy.
49
00:04:17,540 --> 00:04:18,958
There's a new caravan in from...
50
00:04:20,459 --> 00:04:22,670
- Sore subject.
- Uncle Mordecai,
51
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does not your own heart
long to see our people restored to glory?
52
00:04:26,674 --> 00:04:27,842
It does.
53
00:04:28,175 --> 00:04:32,179
Did not Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon
and free our people from captivity?
54
00:04:32,722 --> 00:04:33,764
He did.
55
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But do we embrace our freedom
and leave this pagan empire
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00:04:37,226 --> 00:04:39,061
to embrace our destiny?
57
00:04:40,187 --> 00:04:42,106
- Of course not.
- Lord,
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00:04:42,356 --> 00:04:43,941
I pray to you day and night
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00:04:44,066 --> 00:04:45,776
to give me the patience of Job,
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00:04:45,902 --> 00:04:47,612
give me the wisdom of Solomon.
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00:04:47,904 --> 00:04:49,655
And what do you give me?
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00:04:50,114 --> 00:04:53,200
You give me the endless equivocations
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00:04:53,910 --> 00:04:56,287
of a beautiful, young woman.
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00:05:22,688 --> 00:05:23,731
Look.
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00:05:27,109 --> 00:05:29,487
Hadassah, always dreaming.
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00:05:30,613 --> 00:05:31,822
Maybe...
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00:05:33,449 --> 00:05:35,409
Here, then, you be the princess.
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00:05:41,749 --> 00:05:45,503
While many Jews had forgotten
the acts of centuries past,
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00:05:45,628 --> 00:05:48,756
the descendants of Agag had not.
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00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:52,635
For Agag's queen did indeed survive
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00:05:53,386 --> 00:05:55,555
and gave birth to a son.
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00:05:57,848 --> 00:06:00,101
And she forged for him a mark,
73
00:06:01,477 --> 00:06:05,231
prophesying that one day
an Agagite would arrive,
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00:06:06,148 --> 00:06:08,234
a descendant of Agag,
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00:06:08,317 --> 00:06:11,279
who would finally exact vengeance
upon the Jews.
76
00:06:11,487 --> 00:06:14,156
Hadassah, read us a story!
Read us a story!
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00:06:14,282 --> 00:06:15,950
A story? You want a story?
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00:06:34,886 --> 00:06:37,680
- Hadassah, help!
- Over here.
79
00:06:50,109 --> 00:06:51,319
Are you okay?
80
00:06:54,196 --> 00:06:56,073
"And King Saul said to David,
81
00:06:56,824 --> 00:06:58,951
"'You cannot go before this Goliath
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00:06:59,118 --> 00:07:00,745
"'for you are but a youth. '
83
00:07:00,870 --> 00:07:02,079
"David replied,
84
00:07:02,580 --> 00:07:06,042
"'While keeping my father's sheep,
there came a lion and a bear.
85
00:07:06,125 --> 00:07:07,627
"'And I slew them both.
86
00:07:07,710 --> 00:07:11,923
"'This Goliath shall be as one of them
for he defied the armies of the Lord. "'
87
00:07:13,216 --> 00:07:15,551
As will Jesse Ben-Joseph,
88
00:07:15,676 --> 00:07:19,138
should he but take one step closer.
89
00:07:39,742 --> 00:07:41,244
With peace, Haman.
90
00:07:43,246 --> 00:07:46,207
- There's little but random news I bear.
- I judge that.
91
00:07:46,582 --> 00:07:47,875
Rumor has it
92
00:07:48,209 --> 00:07:51,879
Queen Vashti plans not to attend
the King's banquet this evening,
93
00:07:52,547 --> 00:07:54,090
in protest of the war.
94
00:07:54,257 --> 00:07:56,634
Apparently the King has no idea.
95
00:07:57,593 --> 00:08:00,680
Some see random news.
Others, opportunities.
96
00:08:01,305 --> 00:08:04,559
Of course,
this is why you are a dispatch rider,
97
00:08:04,684 --> 00:08:07,061
and I am a prince of the Fars.
98
00:08:07,770 --> 00:08:11,899
Tell me, Agagite, what do you do with
the extra darics you connive from me?
99
00:08:12,525 --> 00:08:14,193
I have 10 sons, my lord,
100
00:08:15,611 --> 00:08:17,738
and a wife that makes many demands.
101
00:08:20,908 --> 00:08:22,159
Ten sons?
102
00:08:24,036 --> 00:08:25,997
You serve the great king well.
103
00:08:27,039 --> 00:08:29,125
Come, come. Go you now.
104
00:08:29,667 --> 00:08:33,254
Speak of me
as you lavish your wife and sons.
105
00:09:11,834 --> 00:09:14,128
Happy birthday, Hadassah!
106
00:09:15,338 --> 00:09:16,631
A stone ball?
107
00:09:20,134 --> 00:09:23,804
Remember, Hadassah,
it is the glory of God
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00:09:23,930 --> 00:09:25,473
to conceal a matter,
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00:09:25,556 --> 00:09:27,683
the honor of kings to seek it out.
110
00:09:35,316 --> 00:09:37,068
It's from the Promised Land.
111
00:09:38,736 --> 00:09:41,197
Your great-grandmother
brought it with her.
112
00:09:41,405 --> 00:09:44,075
And like you, its true treasure
113
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is etched within.
114
00:09:58,297 --> 00:09:59,882
Reconsider my proposition.
115
00:10:00,007 --> 00:10:02,677
There is much need for leadership
in Jerusalem.
116
00:10:03,719 --> 00:10:04,929
More stew, my lord?
117
00:10:05,888 --> 00:10:07,765
I don't suppose that in your entire caravan
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00:10:07,890 --> 00:10:10,184
you have a cook one half as good
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as our Rebecca.
120
00:10:12,186 --> 00:10:14,772
Here you are but a poor palace scribe,
121
00:10:15,064 --> 00:10:17,483
one who passes as a Persian, at that.
122
00:10:18,693 --> 00:10:21,904
Are you a Jew?
Or have you become a Gentile?
123
00:10:22,530 --> 00:10:23,990
We're a small people
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00:10:24,407 --> 00:10:27,034
caught up in a vast and violent empire.
125
00:10:27,285 --> 00:10:28,661
We have capricious princes
126
00:10:28,744 --> 00:10:31,581
who could order our annihilation
with the flick of a finger.
127
00:10:31,706 --> 00:10:34,458
And your presence in the palace
might prevent it?
128
00:10:37,128 --> 00:10:38,337
Probably not.
129
00:10:38,963 --> 00:10:42,717
Look, tell me what I want to hear about.
Tell me about the Temple.
130
00:10:45,761 --> 00:10:50,266
What ecstasy to stand in the presence
of the Almighty!
131
00:10:50,850 --> 00:10:54,770
Like the intimate embrace
of a husband and wife.
132
00:10:55,396 --> 00:11:00,359
It's so much deeper
than mere mortal love.
133
00:11:01,819 --> 00:11:03,070
Oh, hello.
134
00:11:23,966 --> 00:11:27,803
Now, it came to pass
in the days of King Xerxes,
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00:11:28,012 --> 00:11:31,599
who ruled over the empire
of the Medes and Persians,
136
00:11:31,724 --> 00:11:34,060
from Ethiopia to India,
137
00:11:34,227 --> 00:11:36,270
that in the third year of his reign,
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00:11:36,395 --> 00:11:38,439
he decreed a season of feasting.
139
00:11:39,065 --> 00:11:41,442
Rumors of war were in the wind, however,
140
00:11:41,567 --> 00:11:46,155
and some thought this the King's way
of stalling off a much-debated decision
141
00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:50,284
to march on Greece
in retaliation for his father's death
142
00:11:50,534 --> 00:11:52,119
four years before.
143
00:12:00,336 --> 00:12:02,421
Queen Vashti, Your Majesty.
144
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Enter.
145
00:12:17,019 --> 00:12:19,939
The night's festivities
hold not your interest, dear?
146
00:12:25,194 --> 00:12:27,446
It is long since you summoned me here.
147
00:12:30,199 --> 00:12:33,035
- Your hands have not been idle.
- Not idle,
148
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not gifted either.
149
00:12:37,331 --> 00:12:39,458
Later, Hadassah,
we'll discuss this later.
150
00:12:39,542 --> 00:12:41,335
I have run out of laters.
151
00:12:41,919 --> 00:12:43,713
The caravan leaves tomorrow.
152
00:12:44,547 --> 00:12:46,924
Did not the priest even say
it would be good for me?
153
00:12:47,049 --> 00:12:48,843
That he would look after me?
154
00:12:49,969 --> 00:12:53,472
You have so much of your
mother and father in you, you know?
155
00:12:53,931 --> 00:12:56,309
And perhaps
I'm just being a very selfish old man.
156
00:12:56,392 --> 00:13:00,146
Do you really want to go to Jerusalem?
157
00:13:02,356 --> 00:13:03,399
Truly.
158
00:13:06,235 --> 00:13:07,945
Then go with my blessing.
159
00:13:10,740 --> 00:13:11,782
Thank you.
160
00:13:12,909 --> 00:13:14,285
Rebecca!
161
00:13:17,330 --> 00:13:20,041
Yes, well,
I will be late coming back tonight.
162
00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:22,793
The feasting has been extended.
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00:13:23,169 --> 00:13:24,795
All Susa is invited.
164
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All of Susa?
165
00:13:28,883 --> 00:13:32,345
A drunken brawl is no place
for a young lady of purity.
166
00:13:32,511 --> 00:13:35,056
Then why is a good Jew like you going?
167
00:13:35,848 --> 00:13:38,309
All the scribes have to go!
There is war in the air!
168
00:14:06,963 --> 00:14:09,924
The Queen indeed
holds her own feast in protest.
169
00:14:10,049 --> 00:14:12,093
All is prepared as you have asked.
170
00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:20,768
You do know why the princes have asked
you to extend the feast another night.
171
00:14:24,105 --> 00:14:26,482
You are too late
if you seek me to deny them.
172
00:14:26,607 --> 00:14:27,942
Especially now.
173
00:14:28,067 --> 00:14:32,029
Such clamoring to march upon Greece
and avenge my father's death.
174
00:14:32,488 --> 00:14:35,032
How long have you dreamt
of molding Persia
175
00:14:35,408 --> 00:14:37,660
into a pillar of learning and culture?
176
00:14:38,411 --> 00:14:41,622
A flame to make even
the greatness of Greece but a shadow?
177
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,459
You know as well as I,
178
00:14:46,335 --> 00:14:48,713
this is not something that is won in battle
179
00:14:48,838 --> 00:14:50,464
but in the hearts of men.
180
00:14:50,715 --> 00:14:52,800
You would have me do nothing, then?
181
00:14:54,719 --> 00:14:56,178
You're no warrior,
182
00:14:56,721 --> 00:14:57,972
no soldier.
183
00:15:04,270 --> 00:15:05,855
I'd have you stay,
184
00:15:09,525 --> 00:15:11,027
enhance your kingdom,
185
00:15:13,446 --> 00:15:14,697
preserve your throne.
186
00:15:50,274 --> 00:15:52,026
Looking for someone?
187
00:15:52,401 --> 00:15:54,195
I'm fine, thank you.
188
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:55,863
You can run back to Rebecca now.
189
00:15:55,988 --> 00:15:57,406
Oh, I'm sure you're fine.
190
00:15:57,531 --> 00:15:59,200
Only tell me, Hadassah,
191
00:16:01,452 --> 00:16:02,912
or whoever you are,
192
00:16:03,412 --> 00:16:05,873
how do you intend to get into the palace?
193
00:16:07,291 --> 00:16:09,293
You didn't come to take me back?
194
00:16:10,127 --> 00:16:13,089
Come, or I shall call you
Hadassah the mouse.
195
00:16:18,761 --> 00:16:19,804
Wait!
196
00:16:21,889 --> 00:16:24,600
I appear to you by the gracious command
197
00:16:24,767 --> 00:16:26,602
of the great king of kings,
198
00:16:26,811 --> 00:16:30,898
the emperor of the world, Xerxes,
son of Darius.
199
00:16:55,381 --> 00:16:56,465
Great king.
200
00:17:00,261 --> 00:17:01,304
We drink.
201
00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:04,891
We drink also to my guard,
the immortal 10,000,
202
00:17:04,974 --> 00:17:08,519
but I fear I would soon have to send them
out to conquer new vineyards for me.
203
00:17:12,648 --> 00:17:16,527
Then let us drink to Queen Vashti,
the most beautiful in the land.
204
00:17:18,654 --> 00:17:20,615
Bring forth Vashti!
205
00:17:20,740 --> 00:17:22,033
Vashti!
206
00:17:23,492 --> 00:17:25,369
Bring forth Vashti!
207
00:17:26,871 --> 00:17:29,624
They are serious? They demand
Vashti be here before all?
208
00:17:29,749 --> 00:17:31,167
Already rumors circulate
209
00:17:31,292 --> 00:17:33,502
as to why the Queen holds her own feast
210
00:17:33,628 --> 00:17:35,087
instead of attending yours.
211
00:17:35,213 --> 00:17:36,839
They sound riotous, my lord.
212
00:17:36,964 --> 00:17:38,966
They fear a divided kingdom.
213
00:17:39,550 --> 00:17:42,845
My lord,
you know the Queen's position on the war.
214
00:17:45,848 --> 00:17:47,016
Send for her.
215
00:17:50,603 --> 00:17:53,522
They go to fetch the Queen.
She must be lovely,
216
00:17:53,773 --> 00:17:55,816
reigning in a place such as this.
217
00:17:55,900 --> 00:17:58,486
None is more lovely than you, my queen.
218
00:18:02,323 --> 00:18:04,450
- My thanks, fair prince.
- Prince?
219
00:18:07,370 --> 00:18:10,373
Why is it for years you threatened
to join the caravans to Jerusalem,
220
00:18:10,498 --> 00:18:11,958
yet you never do?
221
00:18:12,208 --> 00:18:13,668
What holds you back?
222
00:18:15,419 --> 00:18:17,505
Perhaps the courage to face it alone.
223
00:18:19,715 --> 00:18:21,884
What if you had someone to join you?
224
00:18:30,268 --> 00:18:32,103
The herald returns!
225
00:18:32,270 --> 00:18:34,605
The Queen asks the King's forgiveness.
226
00:18:34,730 --> 00:18:36,524
She cannot leave her guests.
227
00:18:37,441 --> 00:18:39,485
I'm queen, not a pawn,
228
00:18:39,569 --> 00:18:42,196
and I will not lower my dignity
229
00:18:43,239 --> 00:18:44,865
or shame my reign
230
00:18:45,741 --> 00:18:48,744
by wearing the royal crown
before your drunk
231
00:18:49,662 --> 00:18:51,706
and thinly veiled war council.
232
00:18:52,748 --> 00:18:54,542
What news of the Queen?
233
00:18:54,750 --> 00:18:56,377
Where is our queen?
234
00:18:57,253 --> 00:18:58,421
WOQueen Vashti!
235
00:18:58,629 --> 00:18:59,839
Queen Vashti!
236
00:19:00,798 --> 00:19:02,758
Am I to be a mockery before my subjects?
237
00:19:02,884 --> 00:19:04,218
Or Greece as well?
238
00:19:04,677 --> 00:19:07,096
- Continue, Cousin.
- Might not this
239
00:19:07,805 --> 00:19:09,348
deed of refusal
240
00:19:09,473 --> 00:19:11,142
travel abroad to all women,
241
00:19:11,267 --> 00:19:14,020
making their husbands
contemptible in their eyes?
242
00:19:14,228 --> 00:19:18,107
Will not it be said by all, "Xerxes
commanded his wife to come before him,
243
00:19:18,190 --> 00:19:19,358
"but she came not"?
244
00:19:19,442 --> 00:19:22,236
Vashti's guilty not only of
disobedience to the crown
245
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,697
but against the protocol of our fathers.
246
00:19:25,031 --> 00:19:26,115
And tell me,
247
00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:32,121
what dictates the protocol?
248
00:19:33,039 --> 00:19:35,416
A royal edict must be issued
249
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,294
and written into the rolls of the land
250
00:19:38,461 --> 00:19:39,670
that Vashti...
251
00:19:41,964 --> 00:19:45,092
That Vashti come no more before the King,
252
00:19:45,968 --> 00:19:49,597
but that her royal position
be given to a new queen,
253
00:19:49,722 --> 00:19:52,767
more worthy
254
00:19:53,643 --> 00:19:54,769
than her.
255
00:19:57,647 --> 00:20:00,608
My lord,
what answer do I send the Queen?
256
00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:02,401
Vashti!
257
00:20:02,610 --> 00:20:04,904
Vashti!
258
00:20:18,042 --> 00:20:20,545
The land has no more queen!
259
00:20:34,433 --> 00:20:36,769
I wish not to be queen here any longer.
260
00:20:38,604 --> 00:20:40,815
Mordecai is giving me his blessing.
261
00:20:41,607 --> 00:20:44,652
Let us leave tomorrow,
262
00:20:45,027 --> 00:20:46,070
together.
263
00:21:42,168 --> 00:21:44,378
Thus the scribes were assembled,
264
00:21:44,503 --> 00:21:46,422
and a decree sent forth.
265
00:21:46,839 --> 00:21:49,759
The princes did indeed press upon Xerxes,
266
00:21:49,884 --> 00:21:52,845
the king, soon to depart for war,
267
00:21:53,054 --> 00:21:55,264
"Leave behind a queen
268
00:21:55,765 --> 00:21:57,767
"to keep the people unified. "
269
00:22:03,564 --> 00:22:05,650
Every maiden was to be considered,
270
00:22:06,192 --> 00:22:09,612
the choicest of whom
to be brought from across the empire
271
00:22:09,695 --> 00:22:11,197
and into the palace.
272
00:22:21,791 --> 00:22:23,793
In accordance with the protocol,
273
00:22:24,126 --> 00:22:27,088
young men were also rounded up
274
00:22:27,213 --> 00:22:28,756
to become eunuchs
275
00:22:28,839 --> 00:22:31,008
who would serve the queen's candidates
276
00:22:31,133 --> 00:22:33,135
during their time of preparation.
277
00:22:38,307 --> 00:22:40,017
There's no need for alarm.
278
00:22:40,518 --> 00:22:43,104
In all likelihood they
will not come for you.
279
00:22:43,229 --> 00:22:46,482
And not all that are taken will be chosen.
280
00:22:46,607 --> 00:22:49,193
Doubtless, the queen
has already been selected
281
00:22:49,527 --> 00:22:51,404
through bribery or chicanery.
282
00:22:51,696 --> 00:22:53,573
How do I keep our laws?
283
00:22:53,990 --> 00:22:55,199
How do I pray?
284
00:22:56,117 --> 00:22:59,370
What excuse do I offer God
for not keeping his commandments?
285
00:22:59,787 --> 00:23:01,372
Oh, Hadassah.
286
00:23:02,206 --> 00:23:04,625
God sees the inward observance.
287
00:23:05,126 --> 00:23:07,211
The court is a dangerous place.
288
00:23:08,212 --> 00:23:09,922
I think it will be better
289
00:23:12,174 --> 00:23:14,302
if you forgot that you were a Jew.
290
00:23:15,678 --> 00:23:17,388
If this is a sin, then...
291
00:23:18,180 --> 00:23:19,932
Then let it be on my head.
292
00:23:20,391 --> 00:23:23,978
Promise me that you will do that
if you're taken. Promise me that!
293
00:23:24,770 --> 00:23:25,980
If I am taken,
294
00:23:26,689 --> 00:23:28,190
I will do as you say.
295
00:23:28,858 --> 00:23:32,069
I should give you a different name.
Hadassah is too Jewish.
296
00:23:35,698 --> 00:23:36,741
Esther.
297
00:23:36,782 --> 00:23:39,827
Esther is a good Babylonian name.
298
00:23:40,036 --> 00:23:42,663
Yes. That's what we shall call you
from now on.
299
00:23:43,414 --> 00:23:45,082
Esther of Susa.
300
00:23:46,876 --> 00:23:47,960
Promise me.
301
00:23:48,711 --> 00:23:50,504
Promise me if you are taken.
302
00:23:52,173 --> 00:23:54,467
I said, "If I am taken."
303
00:23:56,385 --> 00:23:57,511
If, if, if.
304
00:23:59,222 --> 00:24:00,348
But for now,
305
00:24:01,557 --> 00:24:04,352
you should look for me
in the streets of Jerusalem,
306
00:24:05,311 --> 00:24:06,354
dancing
307
00:24:08,397 --> 00:24:10,733
like David before the glory of the Lord.
308
00:24:11,901 --> 00:24:14,028
- Hadassah!
- Who?
309
00:24:23,704 --> 00:24:25,206
Uncle Mordecai!
310
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,562
Is this the way
the King's orders are carried out?
311
00:24:47,979 --> 00:24:50,481
Senseless brutality
in the middle of the night?
312
00:25:22,179 --> 00:25:24,140
Father, please show us favor
313
00:25:26,058 --> 00:25:28,853
and turn these dungeons
into someplace wonderful.
314
00:25:35,026 --> 00:25:37,695
Is this the dungeon part
or the wonderful part?
315
00:26:04,263 --> 00:26:05,306
Look!
316
00:26:06,098 --> 00:26:08,601
Sarah, it matches your eyes.
317
00:26:08,893 --> 00:26:11,938
Have you ever found anything
so wonderful in your life?
318
00:26:14,023 --> 00:26:15,650
And Hannah,
319
00:26:16,234 --> 00:26:17,985
was it not made for you?
320
00:26:20,613 --> 00:26:23,074
Am I never going to see my mother again?
321
00:26:23,866 --> 00:26:25,534
Only if you wish not to.
322
00:26:26,035 --> 00:26:28,788
Two, three days, and who knows?
323
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:30,206
Home you go.
324
00:26:32,917 --> 00:26:36,671
Do you think we're not beautiful enough
to be asked to stay, Hadassah?
325
00:26:38,130 --> 00:26:40,716
Welcome to a brand-new life.
326
00:26:41,592 --> 00:26:44,679
The method of your arrival
was not of my choosing.
327
00:26:45,513 --> 00:26:48,933
I am Hagai, His Majesty's Royal Eunuch.
328
00:26:49,058 --> 00:26:51,811
I have been assigned
to oversee your preparation.
329
00:26:53,521 --> 00:26:54,981
All right, it's okay.
330
00:27:09,495 --> 00:27:11,414
Don't let them escape. Kill them all.
331
00:27:17,962 --> 00:27:20,256
Which way to the quarter of the Jews?
332
00:28:39,460 --> 00:28:41,128
You have a very bad habit.
333
00:28:41,671 --> 00:28:43,798
The palace is no place for children.
334
00:28:43,923 --> 00:28:45,675
You think of me as a child?
335
00:28:47,093 --> 00:28:48,511
Well, you're wrong.
336
00:28:49,136 --> 00:28:50,930
I am much younger than that.
337
00:28:52,473 --> 00:28:53,933
How do they call you?
338
00:28:54,517 --> 00:28:56,519
- Esther.
- Curious name.
339
00:28:57,478 --> 00:28:59,146
From where do you come?
340
00:29:00,898 --> 00:29:02,483
I am of the wind
341
00:29:03,526 --> 00:29:05,653
whose sound is heard, yet none can tell
342
00:29:05,778 --> 00:29:08,030
from whence it comes or where it goes.
343
00:29:09,282 --> 00:29:11,409
Well, we gather within the hour.
344
00:29:12,076 --> 00:29:14,161
Try not to blow away before then.
345
00:29:21,168 --> 00:29:23,087
Another 4,000 talents
346
00:29:23,212 --> 00:29:26,299
for metal, weapons, armor.
347
00:29:26,632 --> 00:29:29,010
And we must not forget
the pay of the mercenaries.
348
00:29:29,093 --> 00:29:31,512
I know this is not a favored opinion,
349
00:29:31,846 --> 00:29:33,306
but if used for peaceful purposes,
350
00:29:33,431 --> 00:29:35,516
such amounts could serve many needs.
351
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,935
Two different ways of life are involved.
352
00:29:38,060 --> 00:29:40,396
The Greeks have no king
and they want none.
353
00:29:40,521 --> 00:29:43,608
It is one thing to beat our chests
and parade our boldness
354
00:29:43,733 --> 00:29:46,193
pretending this is
still the empire of our fathers.
355
00:29:46,319 --> 00:29:49,196
But you hear the costs
of an actual campaign!
356
00:29:50,072 --> 00:29:52,241
If we are not honest with ourselves,
357
00:29:52,700 --> 00:29:55,411
I fear we lose much more
than just our stature.
358
00:29:55,661 --> 00:29:57,455
Then, let us sit back and do nothing?
359
00:29:57,580 --> 00:29:58,915
Let the Greeks conquer.
360
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,250
Let them establish democracy.
361
00:30:02,919 --> 00:30:05,379
Would not the King be the first to suffer,
362
00:30:05,671 --> 00:30:07,006
the first to die?
363
00:30:07,340 --> 00:30:09,383
Or does the memory of his father's death
364
00:30:09,508 --> 00:30:13,054
not stir as deep in his bones
as it does in ours?
365
00:30:14,180 --> 00:30:17,225
I speak to you as one
not without empathy.
366
00:30:18,184 --> 00:30:20,061
I, too, have stood in the battle
367
00:30:20,269 --> 00:30:22,063
and stared into the unknown.
368
00:30:22,647 --> 00:30:25,900
For the very sword that took my eye
369
00:30:26,776 --> 00:30:29,487
took from me my manhood as well.
370
00:30:30,279 --> 00:30:31,572
But be at peace.
371
00:30:31,656 --> 00:30:34,116
This is no warfare that you embark upon.
372
00:30:34,825 --> 00:30:38,204
This is only the life
that a great dreamer could imagine,
373
00:30:38,996 --> 00:30:40,748
or at least it can be,
374
00:30:40,957 --> 00:30:42,833
if you so choose to embrace it.
375
00:30:55,972 --> 00:30:58,849
Think not I heard your
whispered orchestrations that night?
376
00:30:58,975 --> 00:31:00,768
And how you drew even me
into your schemes?
377
00:31:00,893 --> 00:31:04,105
In these troubled times
it is easy to name any man traitor.
378
00:31:04,814 --> 00:31:06,440
I even recall a certain campaign
379
00:31:06,524 --> 00:31:08,776
in lonia under King Darius,
380
00:31:08,901 --> 00:31:10,903
where someone allowed
the defeated Greeks
381
00:31:11,028 --> 00:31:12,697
to keep their own form of government,
382
00:31:12,822 --> 00:31:14,115
their democracy,
383
00:31:14,282 --> 00:31:16,826
instead of placing the protocol
of the empire in control.
384
00:31:16,951 --> 00:31:18,369
Favoring democracy.
385
00:31:18,661 --> 00:31:21,706
The very doctrine to which
all Persia is opposed.
386
00:31:22,707 --> 00:31:25,626
- I followed orders!
- Come. Come, come, come.
387
00:31:29,630 --> 00:31:32,049
We trouble ourselves with foolish things.
388
00:31:32,383 --> 00:31:34,886
The King asked me to speak. I did.
389
00:31:35,469 --> 00:31:37,763
I obeyed. As you obeyed.
390
00:31:40,558 --> 00:31:44,020
With suspicion and mistrust
creeping into palace halls,
391
00:31:44,604 --> 00:31:46,105
Haman the Agagite
392
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,066
found the opportunity
he had been waiting for.
393
00:31:51,569 --> 00:31:53,446
He began to strike out more openly
394
00:31:53,529 --> 00:31:55,907
at the Jews living in the outlying land,
395
00:31:56,365 --> 00:31:59,994
painting them
as the true Greek sympathizers,
396
00:32:00,369 --> 00:32:04,874
setting the stage
for his ultimate act of vengeance.
397
00:32:51,087 --> 00:32:52,129
Look.
398
00:33:04,392 --> 00:33:05,935
I am curious
399
00:33:06,269 --> 00:33:08,980
to whether you frustrate me
out of sincerity
400
00:33:09,355 --> 00:33:12,024
or to ensure
that you're never chosen queen.
401
00:33:13,526 --> 00:33:16,529
You assume I actually care about
being chosen queen.
402
00:33:16,612 --> 00:33:17,905
I am serious.
403
00:33:18,197 --> 00:33:19,448
Serious of what?
404
00:33:19,574 --> 00:33:21,117
Finding a real queen?
405
00:33:22,201 --> 00:33:24,704
Is that why you subject us
to these beauty treatments,
406
00:33:24,787 --> 00:33:26,581
these classes?
407
00:33:26,789 --> 00:33:28,708
You do not like our fine instructors?
408
00:33:28,791 --> 00:33:30,918
They simply neglect to
teach us some things.
409
00:33:31,002 --> 00:33:32,920
- Such as?
- Well, seemingly
410
00:33:33,004 --> 00:33:35,423
anything to do with actually being queen:
411
00:33:35,506 --> 00:33:37,800
the thought well thought,
the word well spoken
412
00:33:37,925 --> 00:33:39,677
and the deed well done.
413
00:33:41,304 --> 00:33:43,180
As it is said in the great books.
414
00:33:43,306 --> 00:33:44,473
You read?
415
00:33:45,182 --> 00:33:46,392
Many tongues.
416
00:33:52,148 --> 00:33:54,859
Before I received your "invitation",
417
00:33:56,068 --> 00:33:58,195
I was reading of
Gilgamesh the Babylonian.
418
00:34:27,183 --> 00:34:29,894
And Utanapishtim
spoke to Gilgamesh, saying,
419
00:34:30,353 --> 00:34:33,272
"Gilgamesh, you look worn out
and exhausted.
420
00:34:33,356 --> 00:34:35,816
"What can I do
so that you can return to your land?
421
00:34:35,900 --> 00:34:38,277
"I will tell you a thing that is hidden.
422
00:34:38,736 --> 00:34:40,821
"There is a plant whose thorns
423
00:34:41,155 --> 00:34:43,241
"will prick your hand like a rose.
424
00:34:44,033 --> 00:34:45,993
"If your hands reach this plant,
425
00:34:46,869 --> 00:34:49,247
"you will become a young man again."
426
00:34:56,629 --> 00:34:59,465
Gilgamesh in the original.
427
00:34:59,882 --> 00:35:01,509
I read translation,
428
00:35:01,884 --> 00:35:03,803
never the original.
429
00:35:06,389 --> 00:35:07,431
You read?
430
00:35:09,141 --> 00:35:12,353
There are few pleasures left
to one such as I.
431
00:35:15,314 --> 00:35:17,900
You offer us Hagai's position, my lord,
432
00:35:18,276 --> 00:35:20,861
if we grant you the privilege
of picking a queen?
433
00:35:20,945 --> 00:35:23,281
- Misgath of Persepolis.
- Misgath?
434
00:35:24,991 --> 00:35:26,492
Of unusual beauty.
435
00:35:27,118 --> 00:35:28,411
But up here,
436
00:35:29,036 --> 00:35:31,706
- empty as a beggar's bowl.
- Consider her family.
437
00:35:31,831 --> 00:35:33,583
Daughter of a rug merchant?
438
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,210
Will they not
also shower you with wealth?
439
00:35:43,843 --> 00:35:45,636
While there were
certainly worse ways
440
00:35:45,761 --> 00:35:47,805
for the candidates to have spent their days
441
00:35:47,930 --> 00:35:50,224
than myrrh baths and beauty treatments,
442
00:35:50,433 --> 00:35:53,519
none of the rumors of riches and glory
stirred more excitement
443
00:35:53,603 --> 00:35:57,398
than the thought of gaining entry
to the royal treasury itself.
444
00:35:57,732 --> 00:36:00,735
Whatever you chose
for your one night with the King
445
00:36:00,860 --> 00:36:03,279
will be yours for the keeping.
446
00:36:03,738 --> 00:36:07,241
Candidates, choose wisely.
447
00:36:23,591 --> 00:36:25,301
You stand not impressed?
448
00:36:25,551 --> 00:36:27,553
It matters not what impresses me.
449
00:36:27,678 --> 00:36:31,098
How is one to choose when
they know not what impresses the King?
450
00:36:31,224 --> 00:36:32,600
Will you teach me?
451
00:36:34,310 --> 00:36:37,063
I will do far more than that. Come.
452
00:36:43,361 --> 00:36:45,196
A recent acquisition.
453
00:36:45,321 --> 00:36:47,949
One, I believe,
the King will find most pleasing.
454
00:37:24,944 --> 00:37:26,529
Esther of Susa,
455
00:37:28,781 --> 00:37:29,824
come.
456
00:37:36,289 --> 00:37:38,124
Seat yourself on the stool
457
00:37:38,374 --> 00:37:39,750
and read the scroll.
458
00:37:39,876 --> 00:37:41,919
It is the chronicles of the King,
459
00:37:42,169 --> 00:37:43,588
the royal diary.
460
00:37:44,380 --> 00:37:47,550
Through these doors
you are no longer a candidate.
461
00:37:48,092 --> 00:37:49,594
You are a servant.
462
00:37:50,636 --> 00:37:52,221
Remember the protocol.
463
00:37:53,139 --> 00:37:55,141
To approach uninvited
464
00:37:55,725 --> 00:37:56,767
is death.
465
00:37:59,228 --> 00:38:00,688
I read for the King,
466
00:38:01,689 --> 00:38:02,732
alone?
467
00:38:03,524 --> 00:38:04,817
Like this?
468
00:38:55,534 --> 00:38:58,663
"Daily entry 23.
469
00:38:58,788 --> 00:39:01,332
"Egyptian wheat reserves were reported
470
00:39:01,457 --> 00:39:06,420
"at half the normal levels
due to a recent drought."
471
00:39:16,097 --> 00:39:19,058
"Admiral Xtes was honored
472
00:39:19,141 --> 00:39:22,103
"for serving twenty years
in the Royal Fleet.
473
00:39:22,186 --> 00:39:26,232
"After a lengthy speech,
he promptly keeled over and died."
474
00:39:33,155 --> 00:39:37,326
"Twenty-five. Three herd of sheep
were stolen from Dirmalmirah,
475
00:39:37,451 --> 00:39:39,495
"Satrap of Midea.
476
00:39:40,121 --> 00:39:43,583
"He requests that the crown send out
the proper authority."
477
00:39:46,335 --> 00:39:49,338
And so Jacob,
478
00:39:50,506 --> 00:39:53,926
also a shepherd by trade,
479
00:39:54,218 --> 00:39:57,680
was sent off into the far, far-off land
480
00:40:01,142 --> 00:40:04,478
where he came across the fair Rachel
tending her father's sheep.
481
00:40:04,562 --> 00:40:06,689
He was smitten,
and went and rolled the stone
482
00:40:06,814 --> 00:40:09,984
from the well,
and watered her flock for her.
483
00:40:10,526 --> 00:40:12,528
Then Jacob kissed Rachel
484
00:40:12,653 --> 00:40:15,323
and lifted up his voice and wept with joy.
485
00:40:15,448 --> 00:40:18,409
When Laban, Rachel's father, heard of this,
486
00:40:18,534 --> 00:40:23,122
he said to Jacob,
"Should you serve me for nothing?
487
00:40:23,205 --> 00:40:25,458
"Tell me, what shall your wages be?"
488
00:40:25,708 --> 00:40:29,795
Jacob said, "I will serve you seven years
for your daughter Rachel."
489
00:40:29,879 --> 00:40:33,925
So Jacob served seven years
tending Laban's sheep.
490
00:40:34,050 --> 00:40:38,971
And they only seemed but a few days,
for the love he had for her.
491
00:40:39,597 --> 00:40:40,765
Then Jacob said to Laban,
492
00:40:40,890 --> 00:40:44,352
"Give me my wife,
for my days are fulfilled."
493
00:40:44,477 --> 00:40:49,232
So Laban threw a great wedding feast,
but in the dark of the evening
494
00:40:49,357 --> 00:40:51,984
Laban brought
his older daughter in to Jacob.
495
00:40:52,735 --> 00:40:56,656
And, behold, in the morning
it was Leah, not Rachel.
496
00:40:57,740 --> 00:41:01,160
Jacob was shocked. He said to Laban,
497
00:41:01,577 --> 00:41:05,081
"What is this thou hast done unto me?
498
00:41:05,206 --> 00:41:07,708
"Did I not serve with thee for Rachel?
499
00:41:09,877 --> 00:41:12,588
"Why, then, have you beguiled me?"
500
00:41:12,713 --> 00:41:16,175
Why, then, have you beguiled me?
501
00:41:21,055 --> 00:41:23,933
I must admit that never before
has such a tale been found
502
00:41:24,058 --> 00:41:25,935
in the pages of a royal diary.
503
00:41:26,852 --> 00:41:29,981
Here I expect to be lulled to sleep
by tedious reports,
504
00:41:30,106 --> 00:41:33,526
instead I'm beguiled by a love story.
505
00:41:33,901 --> 00:41:38,781
And how ends your tale?
This Jacob, he's able to have his bride?
506
00:41:43,286 --> 00:41:45,580
He's able to have her?
507
00:41:50,585 --> 00:41:52,336
Only after serving
508
00:41:54,422 --> 00:41:56,757
seven more years for her, my lord King.
509
00:41:56,841 --> 00:42:00,303
Believeth you in such?
510
00:42:00,636 --> 00:42:02,430
Love?
511
00:42:02,513 --> 00:42:05,975
Is it not the greatest commandment?
512
00:42:06,309 --> 00:42:08,936
No matter what God one serves.
513
00:42:09,020 --> 00:42:11,772
- How do they call you?
- Esther of Susa.
514
00:42:11,856 --> 00:42:14,066
Susa? No.
515
00:42:14,150 --> 00:42:16,652
Nothing good ever comes out of Susa.
516
00:42:17,987 --> 00:42:19,322
Look at me.
517
00:42:24,952 --> 00:42:28,414
Come. Come, if you wish to see what I do.
518
00:42:42,511 --> 00:42:45,932
The Greeks, they have a god
of similar form.
519
00:42:47,058 --> 00:42:50,519
His arms will hold the bow,
whose arrows they say are
520
00:42:51,729 --> 00:42:53,898
tipped with love.
521
00:42:56,067 --> 00:42:59,278
Some archers' arrows are tipped
with poison, my lord.
522
00:42:59,362 --> 00:43:00,696
Sometimes
523
00:43:02,740 --> 00:43:06,744
it's hard to tell the difference.
The symptoms are the same.
524
00:43:10,206 --> 00:43:12,792
Perhaps in another time. Some
525
00:43:14,085 --> 00:43:15,127
other place.
526
00:43:19,632 --> 00:43:21,467
You will read to me again.
527
00:43:29,183 --> 00:43:31,435
You must tell no one of this night.
528
00:45:35,977 --> 00:45:39,272
- My Captain.
- Blame me not for this, my lord,
529
00:45:39,355 --> 00:45:42,233
but the princes have ordered us
to begin bringing you candidates
530
00:45:42,358 --> 00:45:44,986
- by the end of the week.
- You jest.
531
00:45:46,028 --> 00:45:50,533
- I am in the middle of...
- At least you'll get it over with.
532
00:45:50,658 --> 00:45:54,120
Besides, these men might enjoy
seeing some ladies around. No?
533
00:46:07,133 --> 00:46:09,760
They tell me you're called Esther now.
534
00:46:13,890 --> 00:46:15,349
Oh, Jesse.
535
00:46:17,226 --> 00:46:18,519
Hatach.
536
00:46:22,356 --> 00:46:24,817
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were pagan names, too.
537
00:46:25,568 --> 00:46:27,153
We're in good company.
538
00:46:29,113 --> 00:46:31,824
Their names were Hananiah, Mishael
and Azariah.
539
00:46:32,575 --> 00:46:34,785
They were thrown into the furnace.
540
00:46:34,952 --> 00:46:37,580
But then what happened?
541
00:46:39,123 --> 00:46:42,084
Come on, I found a way out.
542
00:46:42,210 --> 00:46:45,087
And there's a caravan
leaving for Jerusalem tonight.
543
00:46:45,213 --> 00:46:47,882
So we can get out of this place.
544
00:46:48,174 --> 00:46:49,592
Escape?
545
00:46:51,802 --> 00:46:55,264
Jesse, I... I can't leave.
546
00:46:57,016 --> 00:46:58,267
What if...
547
00:47:00,019 --> 00:47:03,481
- What if I'm chosen?
- What if you're chosen what?
548
00:47:05,149 --> 00:47:08,611
What if you're chosen queen?
Look what they've done to us.
549
00:47:10,238 --> 00:47:12,323
What good could come out of any of this?
550
00:47:14,951 --> 00:47:18,412
Perhaps, instead of
asking questions of our trials...
551
00:47:20,539 --> 00:47:22,667
Trials are meant to ask questions
of ourselves.
552
00:47:22,792 --> 00:47:24,252
They cut me!
553
00:47:26,879 --> 00:47:28,172
I know
554
00:47:29,048 --> 00:47:30,716
we can't be what I hoped,
555
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,302
- but...
- Jesse.
556
00:47:35,054 --> 00:47:38,432
I can't leave. I'm sorry.
557
00:47:41,269 --> 00:47:43,563
I'm sorry.
558
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:53,406
Today it begins.
559
00:47:53,531 --> 00:47:56,867
Each of you will be given
one night with the King.
560
00:47:56,993 --> 00:48:00,580
We gather first to honor
Misgath of Persepolis.
561
00:48:00,663 --> 00:48:03,958
You enter as a peasant
and leave a princess.
562
00:48:11,674 --> 00:48:12,717
Here we go.
563
00:48:15,845 --> 00:48:17,346
Steady her.
564
00:48:22,518 --> 00:48:24,896
I'm so sorry...
565
00:48:25,187 --> 00:48:27,315
- Oh!
- Almost there.
566
00:48:32,194 --> 00:48:34,155
By the looks of it,
I must be allowing the candidates
567
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:36,282
to keep their jewelry.
568
00:48:37,074 --> 00:48:40,536
Perhaps a horseback ride
is not the best idea, my lord.
569
00:48:52,298 --> 00:48:55,092
You weep not for the candidates
this evening.
570
00:48:57,136 --> 00:49:00,640
- My throat is sore.
- Your throat or your heart?
571
00:49:02,058 --> 00:49:05,519
It has only been a few days
since you read for him.
572
00:49:08,231 --> 00:49:11,108
A few days is a thousand years.
573
00:49:11,984 --> 00:49:16,906
If Xerxes had found pleasure in me,
surely he would've...
574
00:49:18,699 --> 00:49:21,369
You think a eunuch cannot know love?
575
00:49:21,452 --> 00:49:24,497
Back before I was a cripple of a man,
576
00:49:24,580 --> 00:49:26,540
there was one that held my heart.
577
00:49:29,085 --> 00:49:30,545
What became of her?
578
00:49:33,464 --> 00:49:35,550
I know not.
579
00:49:35,925 --> 00:49:39,345
I never found the courage to return
to face her again.
580
00:49:44,141 --> 00:49:47,603
She is beautiful but delicate,
Your Majesty.
581
00:49:49,605 --> 00:49:51,816
Just one more moment, please.
582
00:50:03,953 --> 00:50:05,913
You may approach.
583
00:50:12,003 --> 00:50:14,505
How do they call you?
584
00:50:42,825 --> 00:50:45,202
Esther.
585
00:50:46,287 --> 00:50:48,789
This is your day.
586
00:50:48,956 --> 00:50:51,792
We gather to honor Esther of Susa.
587
00:50:51,918 --> 00:50:55,379
You enter as a peasant
and leave a princess.
588
00:51:03,012 --> 00:51:04,972
You can let go of my arm now.
589
00:51:07,975 --> 00:51:11,437
He will be the fortunate one
to choose you.
590
00:51:13,397 --> 00:51:16,859
He will be the one
to whom congratulations are due.
591
00:51:21,030 --> 00:51:24,033
Esther, my arm.
592
00:51:42,301 --> 00:51:44,428
The scroll is on the stool.
593
00:51:44,554 --> 00:51:47,181
You may begin whenever you are ready.
594
00:51:51,352 --> 00:51:52,895
Is there a problem?
595
00:51:54,105 --> 00:51:57,567
Did they not tell you I weary
at this procession of candidates?
596
00:51:59,151 --> 00:52:01,988
I simply wanted someone to...
597
00:52:04,031 --> 00:52:07,493
Wait.
You are the one who read to me before.
598
00:52:07,577 --> 00:52:10,329
You tried to beguile me with love stories.
599
00:52:10,663 --> 00:52:15,167
Did you not think I had the sense
to see through your little parable?
600
00:52:15,251 --> 00:52:18,337
The arrogance! You speak to me
as if I was this Rachel
601
00:52:18,421 --> 00:52:20,715
in need of help to look after
my father's sheep.
602
00:52:20,798 --> 00:52:24,260
- My lord, I meant no...
- And this is how you come to see me?
603
00:52:25,595 --> 00:52:27,680
Your only adornment before your
604
00:52:28,598 --> 00:52:29,974
one night with the King.
605
00:52:31,684 --> 00:52:34,854
It is, Your Majesty.
606
00:52:36,272 --> 00:52:39,734
You consider yourself of so little worth
607
00:52:40,943 --> 00:52:45,072
- that I can purchase your love so cheaply?
- I was taught
608
00:52:48,409 --> 00:52:53,039
that when you visit a king,
rather than expect a gift,
609
00:52:53,122 --> 00:52:55,917
one should bring one to lay at his feet.
610
00:53:05,635 --> 00:53:09,055
This is my most
valuable possession in the world.
611
00:53:13,851 --> 00:53:18,814
It is my past, my present, and my future.
612
00:53:20,191 --> 00:53:22,944
And all of it is yours.
613
00:53:30,826 --> 00:53:35,581
Some would call you foolish indeed,
as they would call your Jacob.
614
00:53:35,665 --> 00:53:39,961
Of all commodities, love is the easiest,
615
00:53:42,129 --> 00:53:44,131
and most cheaply purchased.
616
00:53:48,052 --> 00:53:50,638
If it is for sale, my lord,
617
00:53:52,557 --> 00:53:53,599
it is not love.
618
00:53:55,309 --> 00:53:56,561
Even you.
619
00:53:59,438 --> 00:54:02,316
Even you must have a price.
620
00:54:02,525 --> 00:54:04,986
I am neither a buyer
621
00:54:07,863 --> 00:54:09,615
nor a seller of love.
622
00:54:13,077 --> 00:54:14,829
Suppose, my lady,
623
00:54:15,329 --> 00:54:18,499
a man offered you a more treasured gift,
624
00:54:19,542 --> 00:54:22,420
say, a kingdom.
625
00:54:38,019 --> 00:54:41,480
The only gift I would accept
626
00:54:43,232 --> 00:54:45,192
is your heart.
627
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:52,199
Then it is yours.
628
00:54:53,451 --> 00:54:56,913
And you did not serve
seven years to get it.
629
00:54:57,413 --> 00:55:01,334
Tell me Esther of Susa,
who are you really?
630
00:55:04,045 --> 00:55:06,130
Tell me of your people.
631
00:55:07,048 --> 00:55:09,550
Teach me of your ways.
632
00:55:11,928 --> 00:55:13,554
My father taught me
633
00:55:16,182 --> 00:55:18,601
it takes the glory of God
634
00:55:19,060 --> 00:55:21,896
to conceal a matter,
635
00:55:23,064 --> 00:55:27,026
and the honor of kings to search it out.
636
00:55:33,366 --> 00:55:35,660
Then marry me.
637
00:55:38,996 --> 00:55:43,918
And we shall spend an eternity
discovering this truth,
638
00:55:46,003 --> 00:55:47,338
together.
639
00:56:47,023 --> 00:56:49,567
Persians, your queen!
640
00:56:56,073 --> 00:56:59,619
Know you how many times I tried to
come for you after that first night?
641
00:57:04,832 --> 00:57:06,792
How many evenings
I spent counting the stars
642
00:57:06,918 --> 00:57:09,170
to keep my mind off of you?
643
00:57:15,509 --> 00:57:17,929
How many excuses I created
644
00:57:18,679 --> 00:57:20,806
just to avoid the other candidates?
645
00:57:35,363 --> 00:57:37,114
Fools.
646
00:57:37,240 --> 00:57:38,908
Misfits.
647
00:57:39,784 --> 00:57:41,744
Donkey-brained caricatures of men,
648
00:57:41,869 --> 00:57:45,539
you guaranteed me that Misgath
would be chosen queen.
649
00:57:45,665 --> 00:57:49,126
Who is she? From whence did she come?
Who are her people?
650
00:57:49,377 --> 00:57:52,296
There is little known about her, my lord.
651
00:57:52,380 --> 00:57:55,716
She is called Esther of Susa. An orphan.
652
00:57:55,800 --> 00:57:58,553
We should've stuck to our first plan
and poisoned Hagai ourselves.
653
00:57:58,636 --> 00:58:00,054
- Quiet.
- Poison?
654
00:58:00,179 --> 00:58:03,516
He did not, my lord.
He is far too impetuous.
655
00:58:03,599 --> 00:58:06,644
- Far too...
- You know about poison.
656
00:58:06,727 --> 00:58:08,771
Of course you do.
657
00:58:09,105 --> 00:58:11,482
You were once the royal cupbearers.
658
00:58:13,568 --> 00:58:17,530
Suppose in theory,
you wanted to poison another.
659
00:58:21,284 --> 00:58:26,247
Suppose... Suppose this other
remained nameless,
660
00:58:27,290 --> 00:58:31,335
but was, in effect, one whom
you had once vowed to protect.
661
00:58:31,419 --> 00:58:33,254
My lord prince...
662
00:58:34,046 --> 00:58:37,508
Come, come. Don't look so distressed.
663
00:58:38,718 --> 00:58:40,386
We plot nothing here.
664
00:58:41,429 --> 00:58:43,014
My lord.
665
00:59:17,548 --> 00:59:19,383
From India to Babylon,
666
00:59:19,926 --> 00:59:23,387
my sword has spilt the blood of
traitors against the crown.
667
00:59:24,388 --> 00:59:28,935
Proud, arrogant "chosen ones".
668
00:59:30,144 --> 00:59:32,230
Allowed to return to their homeland.
669
00:59:33,648 --> 00:59:35,107
But do they go?
670
00:59:36,734 --> 00:59:38,069
Do they?
671
00:59:54,210 --> 00:59:55,419
Thank you.
672
01:00:00,007 --> 01:00:01,676
How wonderful are the ways of the Lord
673
01:00:01,801 --> 01:00:04,637
that he should have raised up
my little Hadassah
674
01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:06,806
and made her queen.
675
01:00:07,765 --> 01:00:11,227
Have you told anyone our secret?
676
01:00:14,146 --> 01:00:15,189
No.
677
01:00:15,273 --> 01:00:18,693
If you continue to call me Hadassah,
it will no longer matter.
678
01:00:19,527 --> 01:00:21,153
Will you not join me in the palace?
679
01:00:21,237 --> 01:00:23,322
I could have you named
to any post you desire.
680
01:00:23,406 --> 01:00:26,033
My Lord will take care of me.
681
01:00:27,243 --> 01:00:29,829
Do you take care of your lord?
682
01:00:36,919 --> 01:00:38,546
Remember not his orders?
683
01:00:38,629 --> 01:00:42,300
Procure it not from the palace,
so nothing can be traced back to us.
684
01:00:43,092 --> 01:00:45,011
The Jews have apothecaries.
685
01:00:52,393 --> 01:00:53,686
Where is he now?
686
01:00:55,104 --> 01:00:58,566
- You, over there...
- Why cannot a truce be arranged?
687
01:00:58,649 --> 01:01:00,192
Truce?
688
01:01:01,068 --> 01:01:04,530
That devil Memucan
has beaten me twice in a row.
689
01:01:05,823 --> 01:01:07,366
I fear losing you.
690
01:01:10,411 --> 01:01:12,288
I gave an oath
691
01:01:14,206 --> 01:01:15,583
to my father.
692
01:01:17,627 --> 01:01:19,795
He's the one I fear losing you to.
693
01:01:19,921 --> 01:01:23,382
You must dream. You'll be gone much
in the coming months.
694
01:01:23,925 --> 01:01:25,593
Keep this for me.
695
01:01:27,678 --> 01:01:30,431
- But it is yours. I...
- Then be at peace.
696
01:01:30,640 --> 01:01:32,141
I always return for what is mine.
697
01:01:32,266 --> 01:01:35,728
Will thou sit there all day, my lord?
698
01:01:42,443 --> 01:01:44,278
This one.
699
01:01:53,371 --> 01:01:56,165
Why would they
buy belladonna off you?
700
01:01:56,290 --> 01:02:00,586
Maybe they seek to poison someone.
Very deadly, very quick.
701
01:02:01,546 --> 01:02:03,714
You sold them poison?
702
01:02:04,340 --> 01:02:08,553
A Jew sells poison
to the King's food tasters?
703
01:02:08,678 --> 01:02:11,764
Have you any idea for whom
it might've been intended?
704
01:02:26,028 --> 01:02:28,030
Please, just allow me to see it.
705
01:02:28,155 --> 01:02:31,367
The scribe says it is
for the Queen's eyes only.
706
01:02:32,577 --> 01:02:34,287
That is what she told.
707
01:02:58,436 --> 01:03:00,104
A plot to kill the King.
708
01:03:00,354 --> 01:03:03,816
The King should be notified at once,
my lady.
709
01:03:05,192 --> 01:03:08,321
He and Memucan are a day's ride away
at the training grounds.
710
01:03:08,404 --> 01:03:11,449
Then it would be better, my lady,
if I send for the captain of the guard
711
01:03:11,532 --> 01:03:14,994
- to investigate.
- Who else is closest to the King?
712
01:03:15,119 --> 01:03:16,537
Admantha.
713
01:03:21,500 --> 01:03:23,461
This is treachery.
714
01:03:24,045 --> 01:03:28,507
If my lady will permit, I myself
will bring these two eunuchs to you.
715
01:03:29,467 --> 01:03:32,803
I'm armed, so I doubt the need for force.
716
01:03:32,887 --> 01:03:34,889
That will not be necessary.
717
01:03:34,972 --> 01:03:38,434
The King's new captain of the guard
has gone to investigate.
718
01:03:39,268 --> 01:03:42,271
Time was of the essence, my lady.
719
01:04:04,710 --> 01:04:08,631
If only all shared your loyalty
to the King, my prince.
720
01:04:10,132 --> 01:04:12,510
Captain of the guards.
721
01:04:16,222 --> 01:04:18,683
Master Haman, my lady.
722
01:04:26,857 --> 01:04:29,235
What of the eunuchs?
723
01:04:30,444 --> 01:04:33,489
They are being led
to the gallows as we speak.
724
01:04:33,614 --> 01:04:36,409
I found this about their person.
725
01:04:38,160 --> 01:04:39,537
I interrogated them both.
726
01:04:39,620 --> 01:04:41,455
I'm convinced they plotted alone.
727
01:04:50,756 --> 01:04:53,551
Make sure Mordecai's name
is entered in the chronicles
728
01:04:53,634 --> 01:04:58,139
and that it is certified with my seal so
he may be properly rewarded by the King.
729
01:05:08,190 --> 01:05:10,234
Please, help yourself.
730
01:05:10,985 --> 01:05:12,320
Only a bite.
731
01:05:13,988 --> 01:05:16,490
Now I no longer ride the highways,
my appetite suffers.
732
01:05:16,616 --> 01:05:19,702
Then may I assume that your fee
for spying for me will be reduced?
733
01:05:19,827 --> 01:05:21,579
My appetite may be less,
734
01:05:21,662 --> 01:05:23,164
not of my sons,
735
01:05:24,832 --> 01:05:26,083
my wife.
736
01:05:27,627 --> 01:05:30,338
Well, that may cost you more, my prince.
737
01:05:31,005 --> 01:05:32,506
Much,
738
01:05:32,590 --> 01:05:35,092
- much more.
- What might you have done?
739
01:05:37,845 --> 01:05:41,265
I would save the King for last.
740
01:05:42,141 --> 01:05:45,311
As in the palace board game.
Rid yourself first
741
01:05:45,394 --> 01:05:47,939
of all of those pieces
that are closest to him.
742
01:05:48,022 --> 01:05:49,232
One
743
01:05:51,525 --> 01:05:52,652
by one.
744
01:06:07,541 --> 01:06:11,754
My lady, this is foolish.
- I go with or without you.
745
01:06:11,879 --> 01:06:13,589
There are too many rumors
drifting through the palace,
746
01:06:13,714 --> 01:06:15,299
and not enough answers.
747
01:06:19,679 --> 01:06:21,430
These hinges are well-oiled.
748
01:06:21,722 --> 01:06:23,391
There must be plenty who use it.
749
01:06:23,516 --> 01:06:26,185
Lovers always find a way, my lady.
750
01:06:28,896 --> 01:06:31,899
HAThe time has come,
my brothers and sisters,
751
01:06:32,024 --> 01:06:35,152
where we must root out
those amongst our midst
752
01:06:35,236 --> 01:06:37,488
who seek our wreck and ruin!
753
01:06:37,572 --> 01:06:41,450
When a field of crops
is defiled by disease,
754
01:06:41,576 --> 01:06:44,328
do we not set it on fire?
755
01:06:46,038 --> 01:06:50,585
I am asked why I choose
to speak against these foreigners
756
01:06:50,710 --> 01:06:52,712
and strangers in our midst.
757
01:06:52,837 --> 01:06:56,299
- The Jew!
- The Jew!
758
01:06:59,802 --> 01:07:02,263
No, not the Jew.
759
01:07:02,722 --> 01:07:07,101
I, myself, know many an individual Jew
who I am proud to call friend,
760
01:07:07,184 --> 01:07:11,606
but put these individual Jews together,
and what are Egypt,
761
01:07:12,356 --> 01:07:15,818
Assyria, Babylon in their wake?
762
01:07:32,126 --> 01:07:34,921
Lead me away from here, quickly.
763
01:07:35,671 --> 01:07:37,590
You want proof?
764
01:07:38,466 --> 01:07:40,009
Proof!
765
01:07:41,510 --> 01:07:44,972
Pulled from the royal library,
766
01:07:48,142 --> 01:07:51,854
the great scheme of
the Greeks and the Jews
767
01:07:51,979 --> 01:07:54,607
to conquer the world!
768
01:07:57,235 --> 01:08:00,112
For let me tell you,
the Greeks and the Jew
769
01:08:00,196 --> 01:08:03,199
both live by the same evil doctrine.
770
01:08:03,324 --> 01:08:05,368
All men are created equal.
771
01:08:07,912 --> 01:08:12,625
- Do you believe you are equal to a slave?
- No!
772
01:08:13,125 --> 01:08:16,921
HAAnd you believe neither in
the Jewish God, nor in Greek democracy,
773
01:08:17,004 --> 01:08:20,466
but there are others in the palace that do.
774
01:08:21,676 --> 01:08:25,096
Let me now speak of Memucan.
775
01:08:25,846 --> 01:08:28,599
Prince. General.
776
01:08:28,849 --> 01:08:30,393
Arch traitor!
777
01:08:31,852 --> 01:08:34,522
"For services rendered to King Darius.
778
01:08:35,022 --> 01:08:38,442
"Pacification of the Babylonian provinces.
779
01:08:40,444 --> 01:08:43,322
"Payments made to Haman the Agagite."
780
01:08:44,907 --> 01:08:47,076
When? When?
781
01:08:48,035 --> 01:08:49,620
Ask of Memucan
782
01:08:49,704 --> 01:08:53,332
why he allowed the Greeks of lonia
to retain their democracy.
783
01:08:54,709 --> 01:08:58,296
Ask whose voice is loudest
against the war today
784
01:08:58,379 --> 01:09:01,007
and you will find out it is he!
785
01:09:04,385 --> 01:09:06,053
"Common year."
786
01:09:07,972 --> 01:09:10,224
Thirteen years ago.
787
01:09:16,480 --> 01:09:18,232
HAMy lady.
788
01:09:29,076 --> 01:09:30,411
Are you alone?
789
01:09:34,498 --> 01:09:39,170
- Highly unsafe.
- I was just finishing.
790
01:09:47,511 --> 01:09:49,013
Please.
791
01:09:50,890 --> 01:09:53,017
Allow me.
792
01:10:12,495 --> 01:10:15,957
- Shall I return this for you?
- Thank you.
793
01:10:19,919 --> 01:10:23,798
Something must weigh heavy
on my queen's heart
794
01:10:24,549 --> 01:10:26,884
in order to be kept up
at this hour, reading.
795
01:10:29,470 --> 01:10:31,013
My queen.
796
01:10:39,647 --> 01:10:43,109
- Is her Highness unwell?
- I'm fine.
797
01:10:44,277 --> 01:10:46,487
Perhaps I should retire.
798
01:10:57,164 --> 01:10:59,709
You're not scheduled
at the palace for more than two weeks.
799
01:10:59,834 --> 01:11:01,752
She'll be wonderfully surprised,
think you not?
800
01:11:01,836 --> 01:11:04,130
Here, read this, my lord.
801
01:11:07,717 --> 01:11:10,052
You do not appear
to be a traitor, Memucan.
802
01:11:10,177 --> 01:11:12,096
Return with me, and I'll have
Admantha investigate
803
01:11:12,221 --> 01:11:13,848
Haman's accusations immediately.
804
01:11:13,973 --> 01:11:16,517
Haman is my appointment.
805
01:11:16,642 --> 01:11:19,103
And we do need him more than we realize.
806
01:11:19,186 --> 01:11:21,439
Truly, Memucan, at one moment you sulk,
807
01:11:21,522 --> 01:11:24,901
you say your name has been slurred,
now you plead for your accuser.
808
01:11:25,026 --> 01:11:28,237
I have enough lives on my conscience.
809
01:11:28,362 --> 01:11:32,325
Chastise him mildly,
and he will perform his duty well
810
01:11:32,450 --> 01:11:35,912
and be more grateful to you
for your leniency.
811
01:11:36,537 --> 01:11:38,039
Spoken like a true Persian.
812
01:11:38,122 --> 01:11:42,251
Never judging a man before all the good
and all the bad are weighed.
813
01:11:42,627 --> 01:11:44,629
Ride with me.
814
01:11:45,046 --> 01:11:48,925
- So you burnt the evidence?
- Worry not, action will still be taken.
815
01:11:49,592 --> 01:11:53,554
Lest you forget, this Haman
is now head of internal protection.
816
01:11:53,679 --> 01:11:56,057
And lest you forget, I'm still queen.
817
01:11:56,182 --> 01:11:59,727
Yes, but queen subject to
an ancient protocol that no doubt Haman
818
01:11:59,852 --> 01:12:02,021
knows how to manipulate
far better than you do.
819
01:12:09,695 --> 01:12:11,739
Go not by the main gate.
820
01:12:11,864 --> 01:12:14,700
I wish not for the Queen
to be alerted to my coming.
821
01:12:16,911 --> 01:12:18,120
You must promise me
822
01:12:19,497 --> 01:12:21,165
that you will not reveal this to anyone.
823
01:12:23,543 --> 01:12:27,088
Any more such promises
and I shall have to take a vow of silence.
824
01:12:30,258 --> 01:12:32,426
Rusty old lovers' gate.
825
01:12:32,552 --> 01:12:35,596
I trust you used it much
in your youth, Memucan.
826
01:12:35,721 --> 01:12:39,183
Who do you think had it installed?
827
01:12:41,894 --> 01:12:43,813
Go now.
828
01:13:00,288 --> 01:13:03,374
My love. Oh, how I've missed you.
829
01:13:03,457 --> 01:13:06,168
- Have you?
- Now, what is that supposed to mean?
830
01:13:06,460 --> 01:13:09,213
You looked flushed. Busy morning?
831
01:13:09,297 --> 01:13:11,883
Not as busy as it could get.
832
01:13:11,966 --> 01:13:13,217
No visitors?
833
01:13:16,095 --> 01:13:19,557
You sent for me, Your Highness?
834
01:13:21,767 --> 01:13:24,020
It appears you have
misplaced our necklace.
835
01:13:24,145 --> 01:13:27,565
I wonder if that is all you have misplaced.
836
01:14:22,036 --> 01:14:25,623
Perhaps Your Majesty would like to send
for one of the concubines.
837
01:14:33,881 --> 01:14:35,758
Perhaps not.
838
01:14:37,885 --> 01:14:39,720
You look so much like your father.
839
01:14:39,845 --> 01:14:42,765
Sometimes I forget
how different you truly are.
840
01:14:42,890 --> 01:14:47,812
Makes me wonder all the more why
you feel such need to follow in his steps.
841
01:14:51,774 --> 01:14:53,651
Give her a few more nights,
842
01:14:57,530 --> 01:14:59,865
and then have her brought to me.
843
01:15:04,078 --> 01:15:06,205
You call that public tirade subtle?
844
01:15:06,289 --> 01:15:07,873
You mock me, Agagite.
845
01:15:07,999 --> 01:15:10,751
I need but report
but once to the King of your arrogance.
846
01:15:10,877 --> 01:15:14,338
And your dreams of kingship die with me.
847
01:15:14,630 --> 01:15:17,550
You might be less harsh on the Jews.
848
01:15:17,633 --> 01:15:19,385
You should make yourself
a laughing stock.
849
01:15:19,510 --> 01:15:21,012
The Jews, my prince,
850
01:15:21,846 --> 01:15:24,765
will be your chief weapon by which
you attain power to the throne.
851
01:15:24,891 --> 01:15:28,853
Think, we plan to take the crown by force
when the King is deep in Greece.
852
01:15:29,562 --> 01:15:31,397
What excuse will you use?
853
01:15:32,023 --> 01:15:33,941
Who attacks the land?
854
01:15:34,442 --> 01:15:36,027
Well, no one, actually.
855
01:15:37,320 --> 01:15:40,781
Unless, of course,
you claim it was the Greek-loving Jews.
856
01:15:42,867 --> 01:15:46,329
Memucan expects an apology,
as you predicted.
857
01:15:46,621 --> 01:15:50,207
Well, an apology is a cheap enough price
to pay for a kingdom.
858
01:15:50,291 --> 01:15:52,960
Invite, then, Memucan to your estate.
859
01:15:53,085 --> 01:15:56,672
Presumably so I can apologize to him.
860
01:15:56,797 --> 01:16:00,218
On the way, however,
he will be ambushed.
861
01:16:00,718 --> 01:16:04,305
- By whom?
- By my Jews, of course.
862
01:16:04,430 --> 01:16:06,891
Jews who slew him
for being coupled with them as a traitor.
863
01:16:06,974 --> 01:16:10,436
- And what of Memucan's own guard?
- It's merely an apology.
864
01:16:11,062 --> 01:16:13,105
Perhaps you can suggest to Memucan
865
01:16:13,231 --> 01:16:14,565
that if he arrive with a large number,
866
01:16:14,649 --> 01:16:16,275
I might suspect he'd come
to punish me.
867
01:16:16,359 --> 01:16:18,778
One or two guards my men can handle.
868
01:16:19,654 --> 01:16:21,948
And who'll handle you?
869
01:16:22,573 --> 01:16:24,325
Who but you,
870
01:16:25,159 --> 01:16:26,619
my king.
871
01:16:34,544 --> 01:16:36,796
Prepare to die, Greek-lover.
872
01:16:57,066 --> 01:16:59,151
Admantha's men.
873
01:17:00,361 --> 01:17:02,655
Thank the gods you are unharmed,
my lord.
874
01:17:06,492 --> 01:17:07,535
Come.
875
01:17:31,809 --> 01:17:33,019
My queen...
876
01:17:36,272 --> 01:17:37,773
Your Highness,
877
01:17:38,524 --> 01:17:40,985
blood has been spilled.
You are needed at once.
878
01:17:59,503 --> 01:18:02,924
But lord King,
an accusation by a dispatch ride.
879
01:18:03,090 --> 01:18:05,843
Why did you wait so long
to inform anyone of Admantha's plot?
880
01:18:05,927 --> 01:18:09,263
- Surely you don't...
- My lord, I had to but play the traitor
881
01:18:09,388 --> 01:18:11,140
to catch the traitor.
882
01:18:12,600 --> 01:18:16,479
Where are his witnesses, my lord?
What were my motives?
883
01:18:16,771 --> 01:18:21,192
Let this Haman prove his words
or be forever silent.
884
01:18:21,317 --> 01:18:22,860
But what would he have
me show, my lord?
885
01:18:22,944 --> 01:18:26,030
There are no witnesses
to plans forged in secret.
886
01:18:26,530 --> 01:18:28,074
You will not act like that, Admantha.
887
01:18:28,115 --> 01:18:32,036
And was it not even Admantha
who stirred the crowd into demanding
888
01:18:32,203 --> 01:18:35,831
Queen Vashti's appearance,
knowing she would not come?
889
01:18:36,123 --> 01:18:38,501
All lies. That's lies.
890
01:18:38,668 --> 01:18:41,837
Lies. I stand in a crumbling house of lies.
891
01:18:41,963 --> 01:18:45,258
- Remember before whom you plead.
- Plead for what?
892
01:18:46,968 --> 01:18:48,803
For your life, Admantha.
893
01:18:58,854 --> 01:19:01,691
Is it my foolish desire
to believe these stories I hear
894
01:19:01,816 --> 01:19:04,944
or my glaring inability
to perceive their mysteries?
895
01:19:05,945 --> 01:19:07,405
Perhaps you...
896
01:19:07,822 --> 01:19:11,075
You placed them back
upon the shelf to collect dust
897
01:19:11,826 --> 01:19:14,078
without ever truly completing them.
898
01:19:15,997 --> 01:19:18,374
Who is the one that gathers dust?
899
01:19:18,666 --> 01:19:20,626
I believed I was your Rachel.
900
01:19:22,044 --> 01:19:25,965
But it appears I'm only Leah,
and you serve time with me for another.
901
01:19:26,173 --> 01:19:30,636
No, my lord. It's not what you think.
902
01:19:32,763 --> 01:19:34,974
Nothing is as I think anymore.
903
01:19:35,725 --> 01:19:37,810
Plots slither through the night.
904
01:19:37,977 --> 01:19:41,731
Trust, it decays
like secret gates left to rust.
905
01:19:42,315 --> 01:19:46,152
Admantha is carried to torture
even as we speak.
906
01:19:53,743 --> 01:19:58,414
This Jacob and Rachel,
they are no mere story to you.
907
01:19:58,706 --> 01:20:02,168
Give me some incentive
to believe in who you really are.
908
01:20:02,376 --> 01:20:04,128
Give me some honor.
909
01:20:04,337 --> 01:20:08,132
For if it is truly the honor of kings
to seek out truth in lie,
910
01:20:10,301 --> 01:20:12,011
I am a man of scorn.
911
01:20:14,472 --> 01:20:16,224
I will answer you,
912
01:20:17,683 --> 01:20:20,645
my lord, if you first answer me.
913
01:20:21,562 --> 01:20:23,147
Answer you what?
914
01:20:23,481 --> 01:20:27,610
Why did you summon Vashti
915
01:20:29,862 --> 01:20:31,822
when you knew she would not come?
916
01:20:33,991 --> 01:20:36,786
I am king.
917
01:20:40,164 --> 01:20:41,958
And I need answer to no one.
918
01:20:54,929 --> 01:20:59,392
After many days of torture,
Admantha, the great Midian prince,
919
01:20:59,600 --> 01:21:01,477
finally confessed all,
920
01:21:01,602 --> 01:21:05,147
and was dealt with
according to the protocol of the land.
921
01:21:08,442 --> 01:21:13,114
For his brave and valorous services,
Haman the Agagite
922
01:21:13,281 --> 01:21:15,283
was proclaimed a prince of the Fars
923
01:21:15,449 --> 01:21:19,745
to inherit Admantha's house,
wealth, prestige and power.
924
01:21:21,163 --> 01:21:22,707
Pieces are falling into place
925
01:21:22,790 --> 01:21:26,294
we've spoken of, one by one.
926
01:21:28,129 --> 01:21:30,756
Soothsaying does not become you,
Haman.
927
01:21:31,048 --> 01:21:34,093
No, my darling,
I speak of the truth, not of stars.
928
01:21:35,511 --> 01:21:38,097
My burden I would not wish on any man.
929
01:21:41,058 --> 01:21:43,936
The blood of my forefathers
will be avenged.
930
01:21:45,271 --> 01:21:49,108
And the gods will smile down on our son
through our obedience.
931
01:21:49,483 --> 01:21:52,653
And are you mad? This is your plan?
932
01:21:53,362 --> 01:21:55,865
It is not that our allies
are unwilling, my lord,
933
01:21:55,990 --> 01:21:57,783
but they have not fared well.
934
01:21:57,867 --> 01:22:00,578
A storm has robbed the Phoenicians
of a good part of their fleet.
935
01:22:00,661 --> 01:22:04,457
Carthage finds herself short in timber
with which to complete our warships...
936
01:22:04,582 --> 01:22:07,335
Surely the fate of the empire
does not hinge on money?
937
01:22:07,460 --> 01:22:10,588
- Are you ready to furnish it, then?
- No, not I, my lord.
938
01:22:10,713 --> 01:22:13,507
But I'm aware of traitors
within our borders that could.
939
01:22:13,633 --> 01:22:15,927
The Jews? We are not children.
940
01:22:16,010 --> 01:22:17,553
Nevertheless, the money may be raised
941
01:22:17,637 --> 01:22:20,514
by the confiscation
of Jewish wealth and property.
942
01:22:20,640 --> 01:22:23,517
And the Jews will just
hand it over without a fight?
943
01:22:23,643 --> 01:22:25,228
No, of course not.
944
01:22:26,145 --> 01:22:28,272
First we must kill them all.
945
01:22:29,690 --> 01:22:31,484
Every last one of them.
946
01:22:31,567 --> 01:22:34,820
It is the only way to ensure
they do not rise up and seek revenge.
947
01:22:34,946 --> 01:22:37,406
He speaks of women
and children, my lord.
948
01:22:37,531 --> 01:22:39,450
Yes, women and children.
949
01:22:41,702 --> 01:22:42,828
I know.
950
01:22:46,082 --> 01:22:47,750
What is your solution?
951
01:22:47,875 --> 01:22:51,754
Or would you rather, my dear Memucan,
the Greeks and the Jews unite
952
01:22:51,879 --> 01:22:54,465
and, hand in hand,
murder us in our beds while we sleep?
953
01:22:54,549 --> 01:22:57,843
Is the past so mighty
that we must destroy our brothers
954
01:22:57,969 --> 01:22:59,804
to be free of its grasp?
955
01:23:02,473 --> 01:23:06,769
No kingdom was ever so grand
as the Jews' own King Solomon.
956
01:23:06,894 --> 01:23:10,648
He fought not one battle,
toiled through not one war,
957
01:23:11,357 --> 01:23:14,819
but prospered upon the peace
handed down by his father.
958
01:23:15,570 --> 01:23:19,365
Do not make void what your
own father's death has purchased.
959
01:23:19,532 --> 01:23:22,577
- By picking back up...
- Mind your tone, General.
960
01:23:23,202 --> 01:23:25,246
Why thirst you for warfare
961
01:23:26,372 --> 01:23:28,916
when we can drink so deeply of peace?
962
01:23:29,584 --> 01:23:32,461
You speak of peace,
let us speak of the Jews.
963
01:23:32,795 --> 01:23:36,757
They would rather bow down to their own
God than obey the laws of protocol.
964
01:23:36,883 --> 01:23:39,510
Their prophets even speak
of a coming king.
965
01:23:39,594 --> 01:23:43,472
A king who will reign over all kings
and set all men free.
966
01:23:46,100 --> 01:23:49,729
Is that not the very essence of democracy,
my dear Memucan?
967
01:23:49,854 --> 01:23:52,356
I do believe, under your guidance,
we are undone.
968
01:23:52,440 --> 01:23:55,735
If we are undone,
we are undone from within, indeed.
969
01:23:58,112 --> 01:24:00,031
March upon Greece, if you wish.
970
01:24:00,114 --> 01:24:02,950
But you march
with no general in your lead.
971
01:24:10,541 --> 01:24:13,336
Then it has not yet been signed into law?
972
01:24:15,129 --> 01:24:16,881
Not as yet, my lady.
973
01:24:17,757 --> 01:24:20,801
Perhaps guilt stirs men too hotly at times,
974
01:24:21,302 --> 01:24:23,429
and they seek the salve of the law
975
01:24:24,096 --> 01:24:25,848
to ease the burning.
976
01:24:28,476 --> 01:24:30,728
And what would you have me do?
977
01:24:31,646 --> 01:24:34,774
I cannot seek him in the library
unless summoned.
978
01:24:43,491 --> 01:24:45,743
If you arrived first,
979
01:24:45,826 --> 01:24:49,330
then he in effect
would be seeking you, would he not?
980
01:24:54,252 --> 01:24:58,089
How came you pass my guard?
I demanded none use the library this night.
981
01:24:58,172 --> 01:25:00,675
I seek that which you seek, my lord.
982
01:25:05,680 --> 01:25:06,806
Truth.
983
01:25:09,100 --> 01:25:11,894
Perhaps the truth
of what exists between us?
984
01:25:12,895 --> 01:25:15,147
I have come on matters of state.
985
01:25:15,273 --> 01:25:16,857
Matters of state.
986
01:25:18,150 --> 01:25:19,277
I see.
987
01:25:21,237 --> 01:25:23,614
And what matters of state might that be?
988
01:25:23,698 --> 01:25:26,492
You desire more perfumes?
You request more condiments?
989
01:25:26,617 --> 01:25:29,161
Surely as queen of the kitchen,
you need not await me here.
990
01:25:29,287 --> 01:25:33,332
You know as well as I how quickly word
travels throughout the palace.
991
01:25:34,917 --> 01:25:37,336
Especially when murder's involved.
992
01:25:37,545 --> 01:25:40,923
You are... You are learned, well-read.
993
01:25:41,716 --> 01:25:44,176
Offer me a story that
answers my dilemma.
994
01:25:44,260 --> 01:25:47,471
- I have never pretended with you.
- Never pretended?
995
01:25:47,555 --> 01:25:49,265
Think you not that I see
Memucan's strings
996
01:25:49,348 --> 01:25:50,808
dangling above your head even now?
997
01:25:50,933 --> 01:25:53,686
You care more for these Jews
than you do for me.
998
01:25:53,769 --> 01:25:57,189
Do you enquire of my burdens,
do you offer me solutions?
999
01:25:57,398 --> 01:25:58,441
No.
1000
01:25:59,025 --> 01:26:00,693
You just complain.
1001
01:26:01,152 --> 01:26:03,779
- As Vashti did?
- Away from me!
1002
01:26:03,905 --> 01:26:06,490
And come before me no longer,
no matter what pretense you seek,
1003
01:26:06,574 --> 01:26:09,285
or your fate shall be worse than Vashti.
1004
01:26:11,495 --> 01:26:14,415
- But I do love you.
- Love has failed me.
1005
01:26:15,917 --> 01:26:18,961
Knowledge has failed me, thus
I bind myself to the protocol
1006
01:26:19,086 --> 01:26:21,172
of my fathers and to my empire.
1007
01:26:21,255 --> 01:26:23,424
By the next moon, I leave for war.
1008
01:26:23,591 --> 01:26:27,261
And whatever my fate,
it shall no longer be shared with you.
1009
01:26:43,778 --> 01:26:46,405
This was once your favorite reading.
1010
01:26:46,489 --> 01:26:49,659
And though it may no longer
bear the story of love,
1011
01:26:51,994 --> 01:26:54,247
it bears that of one Mordecai the Jew.
1012
01:26:56,791 --> 01:26:59,961
One of whom you wish to destroy
saved your life.
1013
01:27:03,214 --> 01:27:05,800
And you never even honored him for it.
1014
01:27:14,850 --> 01:27:17,812
The casting of the lot, the Pur...
1015
01:27:18,854 --> 01:27:22,441
It has determined upon which day
all the Jews of the kingdom will be slain.
1016
01:27:24,527 --> 01:27:27,196
This day is to be the 13th day
of the month of Adar
1017
01:27:27,321 --> 01:27:29,282
according to the calendar of the Jews.
1018
01:27:29,657 --> 01:27:30,950
Prince...
1019
01:27:34,787 --> 01:27:36,872
The annihilation of a people
1020
01:27:37,957 --> 01:27:42,420
can only be authorized by one
who bears the signet of the King himself.
1021
01:27:55,433 --> 01:27:57,685
And those letters were sent
into all the land,
1022
01:27:58,436 --> 01:28:02,690
to slay and annihilate all the Jews
1023
01:28:02,815 --> 01:28:05,985
on the 13th of Adar,
some six weeks hence.
1024
01:28:06,861 --> 01:28:10,948
Both young and old,
men, women and even children.
1025
01:28:12,325 --> 01:28:16,120
And to plunder all of their possessions
for the sake of the crown.
1026
01:28:46,859 --> 01:28:50,571
The scribe insists that
all is dependent upon you, my queen.
1027
01:28:51,572 --> 01:28:53,199
Dependent upon me?
1028
01:28:53,991 --> 01:28:57,495
My queen might wish
to go before the King and intercede
1029
01:28:58,412 --> 01:29:02,625
for those that have no other hope.
1030
01:29:05,795 --> 01:29:07,088
My lady...
1031
01:29:07,505 --> 01:29:09,966
Have you forgotten your protocol?
1032
01:29:10,091 --> 01:29:12,051
To approach the King
unsummoned is death.
1033
01:29:12,134 --> 01:29:15,721
Perhaps in court.
But surely you can visit him in private.
1034
01:29:16,514 --> 01:29:18,057
In his chambers.
1035
01:29:20,893 --> 01:29:22,436
Surely I cannot.
1036
01:29:32,446 --> 01:29:34,448
Obedient I have been.
1037
01:29:35,741 --> 01:29:38,411
I walk before you with a loyal heart.
1038
01:29:40,538 --> 01:29:45,042
And now I stand in the hour of trouble
precisely because of my obedience.
1039
01:29:47,169 --> 01:29:48,921
I beseech you, Father,
1040
01:29:50,172 --> 01:29:52,174
let there be another way.
1041
01:29:53,467 --> 01:29:56,178
Rise up a deliverer and let this pass.
1042
01:29:57,805 --> 01:29:59,265
Let this pass.
1043
01:30:00,308 --> 01:30:01,767
"'Comfort,
1044
01:30:02,351 --> 01:30:04,645
"'comfort my people, ' says your God.
1045
01:30:05,313 --> 01:30:06,856
"Cry unto Israel
1046
01:30:08,608 --> 01:30:10,776
"that her warfare is finished,
1047
01:30:12,987 --> 01:30:14,864
"that her iniquity is removed.
1048
01:30:15,823 --> 01:30:19,327
"The everlasting
neither faints nor is weary.
1049
01:30:19,952 --> 01:30:23,164
"His understanding no one can fathom.
1050
01:30:23,414 --> 01:30:27,126
"He gives strength to the weary
and power to the weak.
1051
01:30:27,835 --> 01:30:31,130
"Even the youth shall faint and be weary,
1052
01:30:31,589 --> 01:30:34,300
"and young men shall utterly fail.
1053
01:30:34,467 --> 01:30:39,013
"But those who wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength. "
1054
01:30:40,014 --> 01:30:43,809
Lord, we wait on thee.
1055
01:30:45,811 --> 01:30:47,480
Renew our strength.
1056
01:30:48,064 --> 01:30:49,941
Clear the way for he who comes.
1057
01:30:50,024 --> 01:30:52,193
Kneel before the great prince.
1058
01:30:52,360 --> 01:30:56,030
Clear the way for he who comes.
Kneel for the great prince.
1059
01:30:56,948 --> 01:30:58,074
You...
1060
01:31:00,243 --> 01:31:03,287
Lower yourself to honor
the great Prince Haman. Kneel!
1061
01:31:03,412 --> 01:31:05,164
- I said kneel.
- Stop!
1062
01:31:14,966 --> 01:31:18,261
- Why do you not kneel?
- I kneel before my king.
1063
01:31:19,178 --> 01:31:22,348
I abase myself
only before the God of my fathers.
1064
01:31:22,640 --> 01:31:25,977
- What's his name, this God?
- The great I AM.
1065
01:31:26,227 --> 01:31:29,522
The one true God,
the maker of heaven and earth.
1066
01:31:29,981 --> 01:31:33,526
The God of Abraham,
of Isaac and of Jacob.
1067
01:31:36,279 --> 01:31:37,405
A Jew.
1068
01:31:37,905 --> 01:31:40,449
Mordecai Ben-Yair.
1069
01:31:41,659 --> 01:31:43,035
Mordecai...
1070
01:31:46,414 --> 01:31:48,874
I shall name my prize pig after you.
1071
01:31:49,166 --> 01:31:52,670
Perhaps I may give you other reasons
to remember my name.
1072
01:31:52,920 --> 01:31:54,881
You will remember mine
1073
01:31:55,840 --> 01:31:57,049
for this!
1074
01:32:03,180 --> 01:32:04,390
Move on.
1075
01:32:08,728 --> 01:32:10,563
What good did that do?
1076
01:32:10,646 --> 01:32:13,983
You still ended up
on the ground like the rest of us.
1077
01:32:18,279 --> 01:32:20,031
But I did not kneel.
1078
01:32:22,575 --> 01:32:26,621
Come, now, you are a mere three days
from being handed a kingdom.
1079
01:32:26,746 --> 01:32:30,917
We must not let one Jew rob us of our joy.
1080
01:32:31,125 --> 01:32:33,002
That is not good enough.
1081
01:32:35,087 --> 01:32:38,049
Then seek permission
to honor the King's departure
1082
01:32:38,174 --> 01:32:40,092
with a public execution of a rebel
1083
01:32:41,260 --> 01:32:45,014
a symbol of your authority
over those that remain.
1084
01:32:45,139 --> 01:32:50,061
A gallows, 50 cubits high
with Mordecai right...
1085
01:33:09,497 --> 01:33:10,790
The chronicles.
1086
01:33:27,348 --> 01:33:28,432
Rise.
1087
01:33:28,849 --> 01:33:31,644
A matter disturbs me.
You may be of assistance.
1088
01:33:32,019 --> 01:33:36,274
I am most pleased, my lord, for I,
too, desire your counsel on a matter.
1089
01:33:36,691 --> 01:33:39,318
A certain man
has rendered great service to me.
1090
01:33:39,443 --> 01:33:42,196
He has received many honors
amongst his people,
1091
01:33:42,321 --> 01:33:44,282
but he once saved my life.
1092
01:33:45,116 --> 01:33:49,662
I feel, despite everything,
full recognition
1093
01:33:49,829 --> 01:33:51,664
has not yet been given him.
1094
01:33:51,789 --> 01:33:54,792
What think you, shall be done
for this man in whom the King delights
1095
01:33:54,876 --> 01:33:56,168
to honor?
1096
01:33:57,503 --> 01:33:59,839
Let a royal robe be sent for,
1097
01:34:00,590 --> 01:34:03,175
one his Majesty has donned in public.
1098
01:34:06,804 --> 01:34:08,180
And a horse
1099
01:34:09,223 --> 01:34:13,144
on whose head a royal crest is set.
1100
01:34:15,605 --> 01:34:20,526
Deliver them to
one of the noblest princes of the Fars,
1101
01:34:20,943 --> 01:34:24,238
so that he can array the man
in whom the King delights.
1102
01:34:25,197 --> 01:34:29,160
And then parade this man
through the streets, proclaiming,
1103
01:34:29,327 --> 01:34:33,831
"Thus shall it be done to the man
in whom the King delights to honor."
1104
01:34:35,374 --> 01:34:37,335
Most excellent proposal.
1105
01:34:38,127 --> 01:34:41,172
Go yourself now
and do all you have suggested.
1106
01:34:41,464 --> 01:34:42,715
My lord.
1107
01:34:44,300 --> 01:34:45,885
To a one Mordecai,
1108
01:34:47,762 --> 01:34:50,681
the scribe who
sits within the King's gates.
1109
01:34:55,102 --> 01:34:56,312
Mordecai?
1110
01:34:58,064 --> 01:34:59,232
The Jew?
1111
01:35:15,248 --> 01:35:16,332
My lady.
1112
01:35:18,000 --> 01:35:20,878
- And who is this honored man?
- A scribe.
1113
01:35:22,338 --> 01:35:25,967
A Jewish scribe,
who claims to have saved the King's life.
1114
01:35:29,637 --> 01:35:34,100
I should think you would be honored
by such a privilege given by the King.
1115
01:35:34,183 --> 01:35:35,393
Honored?
1116
01:35:40,898 --> 01:35:43,150
The prestige of Persia is at stake.
1117
01:35:43,609 --> 01:35:46,112
What will it be said of your husband,
the king, that he commands
1118
01:35:46,237 --> 01:35:48,906
his highest prince
to lead a Jew through the streets?
1119
01:35:48,990 --> 01:35:50,575
A Jew, my lady!
1120
01:35:51,617 --> 01:35:56,205
And how is a Jew
any different than you or I?
1121
01:35:56,372 --> 01:35:57,498
They are our enemy.
1122
01:35:58,833 --> 01:36:00,626
They must be destroyed.
1123
01:36:01,836 --> 01:36:05,798
They may be your enemy, but not mine.
1124
01:36:06,173 --> 01:36:08,551
From the way that you defend them,
1125
01:36:10,595 --> 01:36:14,807
- one might almost think...
- One might think what,
1126
01:36:16,767 --> 01:36:18,102
my prince?
1127
01:36:25,192 --> 01:36:28,279
One might think. That is all, my lady.
1128
01:36:30,698 --> 01:36:32,283
One might think.
1129
01:36:39,790 --> 01:36:42,835
HAMake your way for Mordecai,
the Jew.
1130
01:36:44,128 --> 01:36:48,132
Make your way for Mordecai,
who saved the King's life.
1131
01:36:48,549 --> 01:36:51,719
He is the man in whom
the King delights to honor.
1132
01:36:53,888 --> 01:36:57,433
All hail for Mordecai, the Jew,
honored of the King.
1133
01:36:57,975 --> 01:37:01,979
Beloved of the Queen.
All hail for Mordecai, the Jew.
1134
01:37:02,730 --> 01:37:06,400
Honored of the King.
Beloved of the Queen.
1135
01:37:43,646 --> 01:37:44,814
Guards...
1136
01:37:47,400 --> 01:37:50,278
My queen,
I bring you word from Mordecai.
1137
01:37:50,736 --> 01:37:52,280
You've run out of time.
1138
01:37:54,865 --> 01:37:57,034
When the King leaves
for Greece tomorrow,
1139
01:37:57,118 --> 01:37:59,662
he will appoint Haman as his regent.
1140
01:38:01,122 --> 01:38:04,292
It is our last chance
to stop this edict of death.
1141
01:38:05,293 --> 01:38:08,504
He made me vow to speak his words.
1142
01:38:12,216 --> 01:38:15,970
You will indeed risk your life
if you go before the King...
1143
01:38:16,804 --> 01:38:20,182
but do not think
that if you keep silent
1144
01:38:21,058 --> 01:38:24,979
your position
will save you alone from this edict.
1145
01:38:25,938 --> 01:38:30,026
For if you keep silent,
deliverance for the Jews
1146
01:38:30,693 --> 01:38:33,779
will arise from someplace else,
1147
01:38:34,989 --> 01:38:36,157
but you
1148
01:38:37,617 --> 01:38:39,285
will surely perish.
1149
01:38:40,995 --> 01:38:45,124
Who knows whether
you have come to the palace
1150
01:38:46,334 --> 01:38:48,127
for such a time as this?
1151
01:38:54,342 --> 01:38:57,553
He said to give you this.
1152
01:39:09,357 --> 01:39:12,818
Tell Mordecai to assemble the Jews.
1153
01:39:14,028 --> 01:39:15,988
Ask them to fast and pray.
1154
01:39:17,323 --> 01:39:19,033
I will do the same.
1155
01:39:21,410 --> 01:39:24,455
And in the morning,
arrange for me a litter.
1156
01:39:25,957 --> 01:39:30,419
I will array myself as queen
and go before the King unsummoned,
1157
01:39:32,922 --> 01:39:35,341
even though it is against the law.
1158
01:39:43,766 --> 01:39:45,268
And if I perish,
1159
01:39:47,478 --> 01:39:48,688
I perish.
1160
01:39:58,322 --> 01:40:01,576
People of Persia,
servants of the crown,
1161
01:40:02,368 --> 01:40:04,662
today we embrace our destiny
1162
01:40:05,288 --> 01:40:09,458
to raid and rule the world over
and stand against the Greeks
1163
01:40:09,876 --> 01:40:12,461
and all who would rob us of our glory.
1164
01:40:13,754 --> 01:40:15,381
Her crown, quickly.
1165
01:40:16,340 --> 01:40:18,426
The litter will be here any moment.
1166
01:40:20,553 --> 01:40:22,972
- No litter is coming.
- What?
1167
01:40:23,598 --> 01:40:26,392
I do not know what you plan, but...
1168
01:40:26,767 --> 01:40:29,395
The King leaves for the outpost
within the hour.
1169
01:40:29,478 --> 01:40:31,439
I have not time to wait out this rain.
1170
01:40:31,564 --> 01:40:34,442
I am not going to allow you
to kill yourself.
1171
01:40:36,777 --> 01:40:37,862
No...
1172
01:40:39,363 --> 01:40:42,950
- Please tell me you did not.
- What possible assurance do you have
1173
01:40:43,117 --> 01:40:46,078
he would lower his scepter
to spare your life?
1174
01:40:47,580 --> 01:40:51,542
You do not go into a bedroom of a man,
you go into the hall of a king.
1175
01:40:52,126 --> 01:40:55,671
This is not you against him.
This is you against protocol.
1176
01:40:56,130 --> 01:40:57,965
You against the empire.
1177
01:40:59,175 --> 01:41:02,845
Then I... I go as
1178
01:41:04,764 --> 01:41:08,601
David did
before Goliath and the Philistines.
1179
01:41:13,773 --> 01:41:17,944
Those are just stories, Esther.
Do you hear me? Just stories.
1180
01:41:20,404 --> 01:41:25,284
Know you what I love most
about the story of David and Goliath?
1181
01:41:28,120 --> 01:41:32,458
David's victory
came not because he fought well
1182
01:41:35,962 --> 01:41:38,923
but because he believed well.
1183
01:41:40,299 --> 01:41:44,220
Thus I leave you on this day,
your regent, in my absence,
1184
01:41:45,304 --> 01:41:47,848
Lord Haman, prince of the Fars.
1185
01:41:49,100 --> 01:41:52,103
It is my will
that each of you obey him in every way,
1186
01:41:52,186 --> 01:41:54,647
exactly as you would regard your king.
1187
01:43:01,505 --> 01:43:04,050
Unsummoned she comes before the King.
1188
01:43:05,218 --> 01:43:06,427
She does.
1189
01:43:17,688 --> 01:43:19,565
Is protocol not broken?
1190
01:43:22,735 --> 01:43:25,071
- Yes, protocol has been broken.
- Guards!
1191
01:44:32,972 --> 01:44:34,432
Before the King.
1192
01:45:05,922 --> 01:45:09,508
- We have not time to waste.
- What did he say to your request?
1193
01:45:09,634 --> 01:45:12,553
The timing, the faces...
I could not ask it.
1194
01:45:13,095 --> 01:45:15,014
Not there, not in court.
1195
01:45:15,389 --> 01:45:17,892
What then? Do we perish?
1196
01:45:20,561 --> 01:45:23,940
We have but one last chance.
You must help me prepare.
1197
01:45:24,440 --> 01:45:27,610
A king may lower his scepter
to whoever he wishes.
1198
01:45:33,115 --> 01:45:34,158
My lord,
1199
01:45:34,242 --> 01:45:38,162
this day your kingdom
has all but been ripped from your hands.
1200
01:45:41,707 --> 01:45:45,378
This Esther has dishonored you
more than Vashti ever could.
1201
01:45:51,717 --> 01:45:54,387
See not you now
how she has trapped you?
1202
01:45:56,389 --> 01:45:59,267
Inviting us to a banquet
to hear her request?
1203
01:46:01,185 --> 01:46:05,106
If you go,
the people will deem you to be a pawn.
1204
01:46:06,566 --> 01:46:08,109
If you refuse,
1205
01:46:09,735 --> 01:46:10,778
a coward.
1206
01:46:14,448 --> 01:46:16,742
There is but one way to proceed.
1207
01:46:58,492 --> 01:47:01,287
Is the meal to your satisfaction, my lord?
1208
01:47:02,788 --> 01:47:04,916
The night draws late.
1209
01:47:07,126 --> 01:47:09,462
Once more I ask for
your petition, my queen.
1210
01:47:22,934 --> 01:47:24,268
My petition,
1211
01:47:26,604 --> 01:47:27,813
my lord,
1212
01:47:30,650 --> 01:47:33,319
is that you allow me to finish a story.
1213
01:47:34,862 --> 01:47:37,240
One that I began many nights ago.
1214
01:47:49,544 --> 01:47:51,629
The story of Jacob, my lord,
1215
01:47:53,339 --> 01:47:56,175
does not finish with marrying Rachel.
1216
01:47:56,300 --> 01:47:58,636
Well, they go on to have 12 sons.
1217
01:47:58,719 --> 01:48:03,516
And like these 12 pillars that surround us,
they became the pillars of a people.
1218
01:48:03,724 --> 01:48:05,017
Surely...
1219
01:48:05,726 --> 01:48:10,064
Surely you do not delay an army
only to finish a children's tale?
1220
01:48:21,742 --> 01:48:24,537
If I still find favor in your sight,
1221
01:48:26,163 --> 01:48:30,167
let my life be given me, at my petition.
1222
01:48:31,836 --> 01:48:33,671
And my people at my request.
1223
01:48:33,754 --> 01:48:37,592
You demand of me your life
and that of your people?
1224
01:48:38,885 --> 01:48:40,261
My dear girl,
1225
01:48:41,554 --> 01:48:46,517
I know not of your people.
You have yet to tell me who they are.
1226
01:48:46,767 --> 01:48:51,230
Had we been merely sold as slaves,
I would have held my tongue.
1227
01:48:52,106 --> 01:48:55,568
This Haman wanted our blood,
1228
01:48:56,277 --> 01:49:00,740
my blood, the blood of Jacob, your Jacob.
1229
01:49:02,116 --> 01:49:04,577
Your Jacob was given a new name.
1230
01:49:05,620 --> 01:49:06,787
Israel.
1231
01:49:09,999 --> 01:49:11,751
As, too, was I.
1232
01:49:12,710 --> 01:49:14,879
You, Esther?
1233
01:49:16,464 --> 01:49:17,632
A Jew?
1234
01:49:21,052 --> 01:49:23,054
Not Esther, my lord.
1235
01:49:33,314 --> 01:49:36,234
Hadassah Bat-Abihail,
1236
01:49:38,361 --> 01:49:40,738
daughter of the tribe of Benjamin,
1237
01:49:42,031 --> 01:49:44,242
child of the most high God.
1238
01:49:46,285 --> 01:49:49,997
Never have I heard
a more pathetic story in my entire life.
1239
01:49:50,414 --> 01:49:51,874
She is no Jew.
1240
01:49:52,625 --> 01:49:54,377
She's another Vashti.
1241
01:49:54,919 --> 01:49:57,213
Seems it not convenient to you?
1242
01:49:57,338 --> 01:49:59,173
An army marches,
1243
01:49:59,966 --> 01:50:03,261
and suddenly she is a Jew.
1244
01:50:07,848 --> 01:50:10,685
Esther is a Jew.
1245
01:50:11,143 --> 01:50:14,063
Your Vashti but protested
the notion of war.
1246
01:50:14,146 --> 01:50:18,734
This queen seeks to counter
the very authority of your rule.
1247
01:50:18,901 --> 01:50:22,822
A Jew? If such were true,
why did she hide it till now?
1248
01:50:22,905 --> 01:50:25,408
Pray, do tell us.
1249
01:50:31,664 --> 01:50:35,626
The Almighty has indeed ordained
1250
01:50:36,127 --> 01:50:40,423
that my words speak not truth unto you.
At least allow my heart.
1251
01:50:48,264 --> 01:50:49,515
For this
1252
01:50:50,808 --> 01:50:54,812
which I have offered you,
my most precious in all the world,
1253
01:50:55,062 --> 01:50:58,566
the very identity etched within me.
1254
01:51:13,956 --> 01:51:15,958
Well, is something supposed
to be happening here?
1255
01:51:19,295 --> 01:51:22,632
The stars... Do you not see them?
1256
01:51:32,350 --> 01:51:34,060
Do you not see them?
1257
01:51:40,066 --> 01:51:41,400
A mockery.
1258
01:52:03,839 --> 01:52:06,759
Perhaps not how
you had hoped it would end?
1259
01:52:08,636 --> 01:52:10,930
Imagined you that I would beg?
1260
01:52:16,143 --> 01:52:18,396
Think you I will beg?
1261
01:52:19,188 --> 01:52:20,731
Beg for my life?
1262
01:52:21,107 --> 01:52:25,319
Beg like my forefather Agag
before your sword?
1263
01:52:25,987 --> 01:52:28,406
Would you like me to beg for you?
1264
01:52:40,501 --> 01:52:41,544
Oh,
1265
01:52:44,088 --> 01:52:46,048
please, my lady.
1266
01:52:50,094 --> 01:52:52,346
Please, Your Highness.
1267
01:52:53,472 --> 01:52:57,310
Please spare me.
1268
01:52:58,311 --> 01:53:02,773
Spare me my life. You are a lady of mercy.
1269
01:53:03,482 --> 01:53:04,692
Spare me.
1270
01:53:05,651 --> 01:53:08,446
I beg for forgiveness.
1271
01:53:08,571 --> 01:53:13,117
Spare me, spare me, you Jew!
1272
01:53:15,828 --> 01:53:18,331
Would he also assault the Queen,
1273
01:53:19,123 --> 01:53:20,374
my wife,
1274
01:53:22,501 --> 01:53:25,087
while I am in my house?
1275
01:53:29,342 --> 01:53:33,679
Harbonah has informed me that
the gallows post stands in Haman's yard
1276
01:53:33,804 --> 01:53:38,768
even as we speak. Apparently
intended for one Mordecai the Jew.
1277
01:53:39,602 --> 01:53:41,145
Hang him on it.
1278
01:53:42,021 --> 01:53:43,064
No!
1279
01:53:43,481 --> 01:53:44,523
No!
1280
01:53:54,367 --> 01:53:55,952
What made you come back?
1281
01:53:58,371 --> 01:53:59,580
I saw them.
1282
01:54:04,544 --> 01:54:06,170
I saw the stars.
1283
01:54:21,727 --> 01:54:24,021
Thus with one faithful act
1284
01:54:24,105 --> 01:54:27,733
has a new generation redeemed
the time of centuries past
1285
01:54:27,900 --> 01:54:30,027
and stepped into their destiny.
1286
01:54:30,152 --> 01:54:34,282
On this day, I give you your new prince,
and master of audiences,
1287
01:54:35,449 --> 01:54:36,784
Mordecai Ben-Yair.
1288
01:54:37,118 --> 01:54:40,037
On the day appointed for their destruction,
1289
01:54:40,496 --> 01:54:43,499
all Jews shall have the right
1290
01:54:43,916 --> 01:54:45,626
to protect themselves
1291
01:54:45,751 --> 01:54:49,755
and shall be entitled to take
all the property of their attackers.
1292
01:54:51,090 --> 01:54:53,217
And I send forth this story
1293
01:54:53,301 --> 01:54:56,637
enjoining all to keep a day
of feasting and gladness.
1294
01:54:56,762 --> 01:55:01,434
A celebration to be passed on and retold
through every generation,
1295
01:55:01,559 --> 01:55:03,394
to be known as Purim,
1296
01:55:03,477 --> 01:55:06,898
or the casting of the Pur
that determined its time.
1297
01:55:07,815 --> 01:55:12,194
While we continue onward in the face
of a world filled with uncertainty,
1298
01:55:12,320 --> 01:55:16,198
we can rejoice,
for hidden within its mysteries
1299
01:55:16,782 --> 01:55:19,118
is the honor of a king.
1300
01:55:19,702 --> 01:55:23,205
Thus dictated, I order this decree sent out
1301
01:55:23,331 --> 01:55:26,167
under the great seal of Mordecai,
1302
01:55:26,792 --> 01:55:28,419
prince of Persia,
1303
01:55:29,503 --> 01:55:30,630
a Jew.
94191
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