Rick Parks

I kneel before you not as a prince, but as a man in love… But I would feel like a king if you, Danielle de Barbarac, would be my wife.

Do you really think there is only one perfect mate?

Well then how can you be certain to find them? And if you do find them, are they really the one for you or do you only think they are? And what happens if the person you're supposed to be with never appears, or, or she does, but you're too distracted to notice?

Then let's say God puts two people on Earth and they are lucky enough to find one another. But one of them gets hit by lightning. Well then what? Is that it? Or, perchance, you meet someone new and marry all over again. Is that the lady you're supposed to be with or was it the first? And if so, when the two of them were walking side by side were they both the one for you and you just happened to meet the first one first or, was the second one supposed to be first? And is everything just chance or are some things meant to be?

Have we met?

I could have sworn I knew every courtier in the provience.

Are you coy on purpose or do you honestly refuse to tell me your name?

Well, then, pray tell me your cousin's name so that I might call upon her to learn who you are. For anyone who can quote Thomas More is well worth the effort.

I found it sentimental and dull. Honestly, the plight of the everyday rustic bores me.

Ha, certainly not, no. Naturally.

Am I to understand that you find me... arrogant?

Please, I beg of you, a name. Any name.

In all my years of study, not one tutor ever demonstrated the passion you have shown me in the last two days. You have more conviction in one memory than I have… in my entire being.

Mother, Father, I want to build a university, with the largest library on the continent, where anyone can study, no matter their station!

Oh, and I want to invite the gypsies to the ball!

I have not slept for fear I would wake to find all this a dream.

What do you know? You build flying machines and you walk on water, and yet you know nothing about life!

And love without trust? What of that?

How could I have been so blind? There I was, pouring my royal heart out to her, and she was simply trying to bid me farewell!

Yes, and what a clumsy thief I turned out to be.

I wish to address the issue of this gentleman. He is my servant, and I am here to pay the debt against him.

I can pay you twenty gold francs.

I demand you release him at once, or I shall take this matter to the King!

He is not property at *all*, you ill-mannered tub of guts! Do you honestly think it right to chain people like chattel? I demand you release him at once!

A servant is not a thief, your Highness, and those who are cannot help themselves.

If you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, sire, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?

It is not fair, sire. You have found my weakness, but I have yet to learn yours.

A bird may love a fish, signore, but where will they live?

I want you to know that I will forget you after this moment, and never think of you again. But you, I am quite certain, will think about me every single day for the rest of your life.

All I ask, Your Majesties... is that you show her the same courtesy that she has bestowed upon me.

Is that what I am, your problem? I have done everything you've asked me to do and still you deny me the only thing I ever wanted!

What do you think? You are the only mother I have ever known. Was there ever a time, even in its smallest measurement, that you loved me at all?

Signore, my name is Danielle de Barbarac, and I am but a servant.

It belongs to a peasant, Your Highness, who only pretended to be a courtier to save a man's life.

The Prince has read "Utopia"?

I... take it you do not converse with many peasants.

Excuse me, sire, but there is nothing "natural" about it. A country's character is defined by its "everyday rustics," as you call them. They are the legs you stand on and that position demands *respect,* not...

Well, you gave one man back his life, but did you even glance at the others?

I... I fear the only name to leave you with... is Comtesse Nicole de Lancret.

And you own all the land there is and yet you take no pride in working it! Is that not also a contradiction?

You have *everything*, and still the world holds no joy; and yet you insist on making fun of those who *would* see it for its possibilities.

I suppose it is because when I was young my father would stay up late and read to me. He was addicted to the written word and I would fall asleep listening to the sound of his voice.

Science, philosophy... I suppose they remind me of him. He died when I was eight. Utopia was the last book he brought home.

I would rather hear his voice again than any sound in the world.

My father was an excellent swordsman, monsieur. He taught me well. Now hand me that key or I swear on his grave I will slit you from navel to nose.

I would rather die a thousand deaths than see my mother's dress on that spoiled, selfish cow!

You were born to privilege, and with that comes specific obligations.

I am sorry. My mouth has run away with me again.

Well, you gave one man back his life but did you even glance at the others?

I would walk right up to him and say, 'Your Highness, my family is your family, please take them away!'

Where are the candlesticks, and the tapestries, and the silver? Perhaps the dress is with them!