They offered prayers and flowers.
After the right number of months, they had a little girl.
They were disappointed because she was not a boy.
Oh, that's nice, Harriet. Go on.
They had to think about getting a dowry for the baby.
Do we have to have them?
What? Babies?
No, dowries. I mean really, not in the story.
They had to work harder and harder every day to get this dowry.
[Speaks Indian Language, Clicks Tongue]
They loved the baby, and she was very well looked after.
##[Woman Humming]
She was indeed a lovely child.
And soon she began to help her parents.
##[Woman Humming]
Every day, she grew bigger and bigger.
##[Continues]
She also had her river...
and like the river, her life flowed on and on...
until she was a grown-up person.
She was not only beautiful on the outside...
but on the inside as well.
Better be careful, Harriet. If she's as good as all that, you won't be able to find a husband for her.
- Yes, she will. What's he like? - Like Anil.
- What's she like? - [Harriet] Melanie.
Melanie and Anil.
Of course.
[Harriet] One day near an old temple she saw a young man.
He was so beautiful she thought he was the Lord Krishna come down to Earth.
Then her father told her she had to marry a man of his choice.
That's the ancient custom.
She was terribly unhappy...
because she could not help remembering the young man she had seen at the temple.
But an Indian girl never contradicts her father.
She made herself ready for the wedding...
and worked hard to make it really beautiful.
The courtyard was painted with rice flour.
The house was decorated.
The guests came.
The bridegroom arrived.
##[Reed Instrument]
The bride's mother welcomed him.
She was very unhappy.
## [Gourds Blowing]
[Chattering]
She was carried around the bridegroom to tie the knot for life.
He was hidden by a veil.
Then the veil was lifted.
And when she removed the mango leaves covering her eyes...
she saw his face.
Lo and behold, he was the young man she loved.
She was very happy.
He was transformed into the Lord Krishna.
She was transformed into the Lady Radha.
The real Radha, who lived thousands and thousands of years ago...
was also a country girl.
The love of the god made her a goddess.
She danced to express her love for him.
## [Singing In Indian Language]
With her hands and her eyes she says to him...
"O Krishna...
"you are as beautiful as a monsoon cloud.
"Your eyes are like the lotus in bloom...
"O Krishna.
I want to be always in your presence, O Krishna. "
##[Continues]
The Lady Radha became the village bride again.
The Lord Krishna again became the bridegroom.
And the young wife went with her mother to the river...
to ask for the blessing of a child.
I thought you said it was about Krishna.
It's about any little girl.
How do you spell "conclusion"?
Why not just put "The End"?
It isn't the end. It's endless.
It begins all over again with the new baby.
Valerie, not that side. That's my private diary.
- [Giggling] - Valerie!
"Captain John's face is like Antony...
who made Cleopatra die. " [Laughs]
Not only Antony-
Antinous the beautiful god.
Listen to this. "His face is like a sensitive plant."
Oh, Harry. A sensitive flower. Please.
Harry, gently, gently.
I'll never forgive you! Never!
I could kill you both.
You shouldn't have done that, Valerie. It was her secret book.
I didn't think that of you.
I don't care.
I don't care what you think of me.
Wouldn't you like to play with me?
- No. No, thanks. - Why not?
I just don't feel like it.
- Can you play? - Of course.
Aaah!
[Bird Squawking]
Leave me alone.
Get away from me, I said!
Leave me alone.
Don't touch me.
Valerie. Valerie, what did you do?
He wouldn't let me touch him.
He wouldn't let me come near.
##[Flute]
[Chattering]
[Indian Language]
[Chanting In Indian Language]
[Ship Horn Blows]
Ashes on the head for mourning, Harriet. Not bare feet.
You will get hookworm.
I don't care. I don't care what I get.
Now I know why Cleopatra killed herself.
Hello, vixen.
Hello, darling.
Who's that?
Captain John.
Well, give it to Nan to frame as a keepsake.
We've a pretty collection of females in this house, I must say.
And they look half-dead with misery.
Not all of them. Victoria's all right.
There. Now you're a princess.
The little one's for Hoppity. You take it and give it to him. He can be the prince.
Harriet, Elizabeth.
Nan's the ringleader, of course.
Captain John is going away.
Why the fuss?
Boys are easy.
If anything goes wrong, you paste their bottoms for them.
Girls. They're behaving like tragedy queens in love.
They are in love. They've all of them fallen head over heels in love with Captain John.
I know, but it's ridiculous, absurd, horrible. John?
- Why, they're babies. - [Mother] They're not babies.
And it may be absurd, but it's not horrible. It's lucky.
Lucky.
Lucky that it is Captain John. He's so nice and so handy.
You make him sound like a gadget for the kitchen.
Did you ever behave like this?
I did. When I was Harriet's age, it was Byron.
Then it was Valentino, I think. Then I fell in love with the milkman.
But John�s here, almost one of the family. A friend.
So was the milkman.
What I like about it most is that it's doing the captain good too.
It's giving him a private revolution...
besides breaking the children in.
Breaking them in? I'd like to -
I never knew I was so primitive. If I feel like this now...
what shall I do when it's Tom, Dick and Harry?
You'll hold my hand...
and let them marry Tom, Dick and Harry.
We shall have boys buzzing round them like mosquitoes. I can't bear it.
I shall never know what they'll be up to next.
If I were in love with a man and he was sick...
I should at least take him some flowers.
[Both Speaking Indian Language]
##[Flute]
Bogey. Bogey!
What are you doing?
What are you looking at?
Cobra.
You mean there really is one?
We must tell Father. We must always tell when we see snakes in the garden.
Bogey. I'm talking to you.
Do you see it? Do you touch it?
Only poke it.
You go straight back to the house and tell.
I can't come now. I'm busy.
Go straight now to Nan.
I didn't like Nan. I like cobra.
Go now.
[Hisses]
##[Man Singing In Indian Language In Distance]
##[Singing Continues]
- Gopal. - Yes?
You don't want to talk to me.
You are always at the big house.
Well, I'm here now. I barely even catch a glimpse of you.
You and your father are so happy together.
Sometimes I feel that I've spoiled it.
Never mind. I - I'm going anyway.
Where will you go?
Anywhere from... China to Peru.
- It makes no difference? - No. It's the same story anywhere I go.
I spoil everything.
I can't seem to help it.
I'm a stranger. You know what that means?
A stranger.
Valerie thinks she taught me a lesson.
Well, I don't accept it.
I refuse to be bound by this!
I'm a normal man in any country.
Where will you find a country of one-legged men?
Don't tell me I -
Please forgive me.
I - I didn't mean it.
It's not only this.
I can't seem to keep my thoughts steady. They-
I ask and I ask and -
I- I'm sorry.
I don't know what I'm saying. I have a stupid headache.
Can I help you?
Can anyone?
I thought you disliked me.
Do you?
It is not you I dislike.
Who is it?
Myself.
[Harriet Narrating] I was caught in an unexpected intrigue...
but my adolescent pride would not let me turn back.
The magic of the moment absorbed Valerie too.
Only Melanie resisted...
for an Indian girl knows better the seriousness of love.
When she gives her heart, it is forever.
The enchantment began and ended in the grove.
Suddenly we were running away from childhood...
rushing toward love.
Melanie.
[Harriet Narrating] Melanie, like a doe-hesitant, bewildered.
Was she sorry she had run away?
Captain John, moody and disturbed...
back in his whirl of doubt.
I, with my elaborate bouquet...
awaiting my chance.
Valerie, so impetuous.
You didn't want to see me anymore...
but I came.
I was rude to you.
Yes.
I shouted at you.
Yes.
And still you come.
Yes.
Oh.
[Harriet Narrating] The kiss on her lips- terrifying and fascinating-
burned into my heart and hurt.
It was my first kiss...
but received by another.
I couldn't bear it.
Don't cry.
Ah, you mustn't cry.
I am going, but -
I'm not crying because you're going.
I'm crying because it is going.
It?
What "it"?
This... being together...
in the garden.
All of us happy, and you with us here.
I didn't want it to change...
and it's changed.
I didn't want it to end...
and it's gone.
It was like something in a dream.
Now you've made it real.
I didn't want to be real.
[Children Chattering]
[Yelling Playfully]
Harriet.
[Rhythmic Rattling]
[Speaking Indian Language]
[Indian Language]
Harriet.
Come here.
Ever since Diwali everything's been different.
I've been so funny, as if I were being stretched.
Nan says they're growing pains.
Perhaps Nan's right.
I didn't know it hurt to grow.
Harriet, how much do you know about life?
Life? Oh, you mean babies being born and growing up?
Everything.
But there are so many different kinds of love.
No. Only one. From Cleopatra right down to you.
Did Cleopatra have a baby?
I'm sure she did. Dozens.
I never thought of that.
Having a baby hurts you terribly.
No more than it ought.
It's meant to make you think and feel.
Just like love.
In a few weeks' time, Harriet, I shall be having our baby.
When Snowball had her foal, her eyes looked scared, and she screamed.
I don't know how you can bear it, Mother.
I love Father.
Come here.
Having children for the man you love...
is a precious, sanctified work.
It's the meaning of a woman.
And as you know, Harriet, as you grow older...
your body changes to get ready for it.
I think that's what's happening to you.
- To me? - Yes, Harriet.
I wish I were a cabin boy and could run away to sea.
I wanted to be an explorer.
I hate bodies.
If I were you, Harriet, I'd go and have a good play with Bogey.
Play? I shall never play again.
Bogey.
Kanu.
Kanu. Kanu.
Kanu!
Kanu.
Kanu! Kanu!
[Birds Squawking]
[Gasps]
Bogey. Bogey.
Bogey, Bogey, Bogey.
## [Singing In Indian Language]
[Ram Singh Speaking Indian Language]
## [Singing Continues]
##[Man #2 Singing in Indian Language]
##[Singing Continues]
[No Audible Dialogue]
Thanks.
I drink to the children.
We should celebrate that a child died a child.
That one escaped.
We lock them in our schools.
We teach them our stupid taboos.
We catch them in our wars...
and they can't resist.
They've no armor, and so we kill them.
We massacre the innocents.
And the world is for children - the real world.
They climb trees and roll in the grass.
They're close to the ants...
and as free as the birds.
They're like animals. They're not ashamed.
They know what is important.
A mouse is born...
or a leaf drops in a pond.
If the world could be made of children -
Try and eat a little, Harriet.
What are you hiding?
We can't keep that.
We don't need to keep things, Harriet.
It's so horrid, so cruel.
Roast potatoes and peas.
As if we had wiped Bogey away.
We go on as if nothing had happened.
No, we don't.
All we do is to go on.
I knew about the cobra, Mother.
I know you did.
It's not her fault. It's the captain's.
If she hadn't had her head full of him, she would have told.
As soon as I set eyes on him, I knew there would be trouble.
Dear Nan. Please.
I can't!
[Sobbing] I can't.
Yes, you can.
[Victoria] Bogey, Bogey, Bogey, Bogey, Bogey.
Where did Bogey go?
Bogey is in heaven.
- He's a little angel. - I lent him my wings.
##[Men Chanting In Indian Language In Distance]
## [Men Chanting In Indian Language]
##[Ends]
Bogey.
Yes. Bogey.
Melanie, what do we do?
Consent.
- To what? - To everything.
You don't like being a man with one leg...
but you have only one leg.
I don't like-
You don't like?
Never mind.
Why do we quarrel with things all the time?
In my case, it was not a quarrel.
It was a rebellion.
So, I thought, was mine.
Now I know it was only a quarrel.
Melanie, I'm not a stranger anymore.
[People Speaking Indian Language]
[Indian Language]
Harriet's gone.
[Harriet Narrating] There were so many unsaid things I'd forgotten to tell Bogey...
and now I would never tell him.
The fishermen saw me swept down with the current.
Later, in their boat, I came back to life.
They warmed me and offered to take me home...
but I refused.
##[Men Singing In Indian Language]
People like me ought to die.
Ah, I can't reach it.
Hand me a light like a good girl, will ya, Harry?
I don't think you're the type.
People like you just don't lie down and die.
What will I do, then?
You'll begin again.
You know what I think?
I think with everything that happens to you...
with every person you meet who is important to you...
you either die a little bit or are born.
Someone said something like that to me once.
It must have been someone very wise.
Oh, I remember. It was little Victoria.
- Did you ever die? - Two or three times.
You won't tell anybody. Promise?
Promise.
Just think, Harry.
One of your poems might still be alive in, say, 4000 A.D.
Captain John, I love you.
Now you've kissed me, as well as Valerie.
Come on. I'll take you home now.
Hey. Gonna have to help me. You know I've only got one leg.
Who's important to you, Captain John?
Everybody.
[Horn Blowing]
[Harriet Narrating] The new wind came, and it was spring.
The joyful, unchanged rites, symbolic of the temptation of man.
Hindus celebrate the new season.
[Speaking Indian Language]
[Men Respond In Indian Language]
- ##[Drums Beating] - ## [Singing]
- ##[Drums Continue] - ##[Singing Continues]
[Children Shouting]
[All Yelling]
[All Shouting]
[Shouting]
[Shouting In Indian Language]
[Indian Language]
[Squealing]
[No Audible Dialogue]
Harriet.
Melanie and Valerie.
- Where's Nan? - In the summer house.
- Nan. - [Father] Nan. Quick.
[Children] Our baby, our baby, our baby, our baby!
You're wanted, Nan. In there.
[Children] Our baby, our baby!
Letters from America.
- Captain John! - Captain John.
Semper fidelis. He still keeps the apple.
[Elizabeth] What apple?
The same old apple. Paris's, Eve's.
Once you've tasted it, you're never the same.
It'll be your turn next.
- [Elizabeth] Does it taste nice? - [Chuckles] Too nice.
Now you run along and play in the summer house.
Go on, darling.
[Baby Crying]
[Crying Continues]
It's a girl.
Shh.
No, no, no, no. You must wait.
Ten minutes ago she wasn't born...
and tomorrow we'll be used to her.
- And yesterday we - - Bother yesterday.
- This is today. - And today.
Here is the baby. The baby and us...
the big river, the whole world and everything.
[Baby Crying]
## [Men Chanting In Indian Language]
[Harriet Narrating] The river runs, the round world spins.
Dawn and lamplight, midnight, noon.
Sun follows day,: Night, stars and moon.
The day ends. The end begins.