MORDECAI: From whence comes the purpose of a person's life?
Come it by chance, a casting of the lot,
or does a call of destiny beckon to each of us?
Many have wondered about my little Hadassah
and why a simple Jewish orphan
was chosen to stand against the annihilation of her people.
And yet the mystery of the girl most know as Esther
begins not where one might think,
but 500 years earlier
with a single act of disobedience.
King Saul of the Israelites
had been sent by the Prophet Samuel
to wipe out an ancient child-sacrificing enemy.
So pervasive was their evil
that not even their oxen nor sheep were to be spared,
and above all, no survivors left breathing.
My lord, I give you Agag, king of the Amalekites.
We have also seized for you his livestock.
Even his queen.
What dark portent bid me haste to cross this land of ours?
How would you accuse me now, O Prophet?
I carried out your lord's command.
Then why do my ears
ring with the lowing of oxen and the bleating of sheep?
Your Majesty, the Amalekite queen,
she escaped.
We have the king.
What is one woman?
You fool,
she is with child.
MORDECAI: While the Prophet Samuel put a swift end to King Agag,
Agag's queen,
fleeing with the seed of vengeance growing within her,
the Jews never found.
HADASSAH: Uncle Mordecai!
Rebecca, what kind of housekeeper do you think you are?
Serves you right for bringing home your work.
HADASSAH: The caravan arrived this morning.
Well, Susa is the capital of the new world.
Caravans arrive every day.
Not from Jerusalem.
Well, perhaps you ought to go back and ask them
if they'll arrive the same time next year.
Next year? You promised.
- Rebecca! - REBECCA: Fight your own battles.
You don't pay me enough to fight the battle for you.
- Good morning, Hadassah. - And where have you been?
I'm sorry, Grandmother, the markets were really busy.
There's a new caravan in from...
- Sore subject. - Uncle Mordecai,
does not your own heart long to see our people restored to glory?
It does.
Did not Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon and free our people from captivity?
He did.
But do we embrace our freedom and leave this pagan empire
to embrace our destiny?
- Of course not. - MORDECAl: Lord,
I pray to you day and night
to give me the patience of Job,
give me the wisdom of Solomon.
And what do you give me?
You give me the endless equivocations
of a beautiful, young woman.
Look.
Hadassah, always dreaming.
Maybe...
Here, then, you be the princess.
While many Jews had forgotten the acts of centuries past,
the descendants of Agag had not.
For Agag's queen did indeed survive
and gave birth to a son.
And she forged for him a mark,
prophesying that one day an Agagite would arrive,
a descendant of Agag,
who would finally exact vengeance upon the Jews.
Hadassah, read us a story! Read us a story!
A story? You want a story?
- GIRL: Hadassah, help! - Over here.
Are you okay?
HADASSAH: "And King Saul said to David,
"'You cannot go before this Goliath
"'for you are but a youth.'
"David replied,
"'While keeping my father's sheep, there came a lion and a bear.
"'And I slew them both.
"'This Goliath shall be as one of them for he defied the armies of the Lord."'
As will Jesse Ben-Joseph,
should he but take one step closer.
With peace, Haman.
- There's little but random news I bear. - I judge that.
Rumor has it
Queen Vashti plans not to attend the King's banquet this evening,
in protest of the war.
Apparently the King has no idea.
Some see random news. Others, opportunities.
Of course, this is why you are a dispatch rider,
and I am a prince of the Fars.
Tell me, Agagite, what do you do with the extra darics you connive from me?
I have 10 sons, my lord,
and a wife that makes many demands.
(CHUCKLES)
Ten sons?
You serve the great king well.
Come, come. Go you now.
Speak of me as you lavish your wife and sons.
ABIHAIL: Happy birthday, Hadassah!
HADASSAH: A stone ball?
Remember, Hadassah, it is the glory of God
to conceal a matter,
the honor of kings to seek it out.
It's from the Promised Land.
Your great-grandmother brought it with her.
And like you, its true treasure
is etched within.
PRIEST: Reconsider my proposition.
There is much need for leadership in Jerusalem.
More stew, my lord?
I don't suppose that in your entire caravan
you have a cook one half as good
as our Rebecca.
Here you are but a poor palace scribe,
one who passes as a Persian, at that.
Are you a Jew? Or have you become a Gentile?
We're a small people
caught up in a vast and violent empire.
We have capricious princes
who could order our annihilation with the flick of a finger.
And your presence in the palace might prevent it?
Probably not.
Look, tell me what I want to hear about. Tell me about the Temple.
What ecstasy to stand in the presence of the Almighty!
Like the intimate embrace of a husband and wife.
It's so much deeper than mere mortal love.
Oh, hello.
MORDECAI: Now, it came to pass in the days of King Xerxes,
who ruled over the empire of the Medes and Persians,
from Ethiopia to India,
that in the third year of his reign,
he decreed a season of feasting.
Rumors of war were in the wind, however,
and some thought this the King's way of stalling off a much-debated decision
to march on Greece in retaliation for his father's death
four years before.
MAN: Queen Vashti, Your Majesty.
Enter.
The night's festivities hold not your interest, dear?
It is long since you summoned me here.
- Your hands have not been idle. - Not idle,
not gifted either.
MORDECAl: Later, Hadassah, we'll discuss this later.
I have run out of laters.
The caravan leaves tomorrow.
Did not the priest even say it would be good for me?
That he would look after me?
You have so much of your mother and father in you, you know?
And perhaps I'm just being a very selfish old man.
Do you really want to go to Jerusalem?
Truly.
Then go with my blessing.
Thank you.
Rebecca!
Yes, well, I will be late coming back tonight.
The feasting has been extended.
All Susa is invited.
All of Susa?
A drunken brawl is no place for a young lady of purity.
Then why is a good Jew like you going?
All the scribes have to go! There is war in the air!
(ALL CHATTERING)
The Queen indeed holds her own feast in protest.
All is prepared as you have asked.
You do know why the princes have asked you to extend the feast another night.
You are too late if you seek me to deny them.
Especially now.
Such clamoring to march upon Greece and avenge my father's death.
How long have you dreamt of molding Persia
into a pillar of learning and culture?
A flame to make even the greatness of Greece but a shadow?
You know as well as I,
this is not something that is won in battle
but in the hearts of men.
You would have me do nothing, then?
You're no warrior,
no soldier.
I'd have you stay,
enhance your kingdom,
preserve your throne.
Looking for someone?
I'm fine, thank you.
You can run back to Rebecca now.
Oh, I'm sure you're fine.
Only tell me, Hadassah,
or whoever you are,
how do you intend to get into the palace?
You didn't come to take me back?
Come, or I shall call you Hadassah the mouse.
Wait!
I appear to you by the gracious command
of the great king of kings,
the emperor of the world, Xerxes, son of Darius.
Great king.
(ALL CHEERING)
We drink.
We drink also to my guard, the immortal 10,000,
but I fear I would soon have to send them out to conquer new vineyards for me.
(ALL LAUGHING)
Then let us drink to Queen Vashti, the most beautiful in the land.
Bring forth Vashti!
Vashti!
(ALL CHANTING)
Bring forth Vashti!
They are serious? They demand Vashti be here before all?
Already rumors circulate
as to why the Queen holds her own feast
instead of attending yours.
They sound riotous, my lord.
They fear a divided kingdom.
My lord, you know the Queen's position on the war.
Send for her.
They go to fetch the Queen. She must be lovely,
reigning in a place such as this.
None is more lovely than you, my queen.
- My thanks, fair prince. - Prince?
Why is it for years you threatened to join the caravans to Jerusalem,
yet you never do?
What holds you back?
Perhaps the courage to face it alone.
What if you had someone to join you?
MAN: The herald returns!
The Queen asks the King's forgiveness.
She cannot leave her guests.
VASHTI: I'm queen, not a pawn,
and I will not lower my dignity
or shame my reign
by wearing the royal crown before your drunk
and thinly veiled war council.
MAN 1: What news of the Queen?
MAN 2: Where is our queen?
WOMAN: Queen Vashti!
MAN 3: Queen Vashti!
Am I to be a mockery before my subjects?
Or Greece as well?
- Continue, Cousin. - Might not this
deed of refusal
travel abroad to all women,
making their husbands contemptible in their eyes?
Will not it be said by all, "Xerxes commanded his wife to come before him,
"but she came not"?
Vashti's guilty not only of disobedience to the crown
but against the protocol of our fathers.
And tell me,
what dictates the protocol?
A royal edict must be issued
and written into the rolls of the land
that Vashti...
That Vashti come no more before the King,
but that her royal position be given to a new queen,
more worthy
than her.
My lord, what answer do I send the Queen?
Vashti!
(ALL CHANTING)
The land has no more queen!
I wish not to be queen here any longer.
Mordecai is giving me his blessing.
Let us leave tomorrow,
together.
MORDECAI: Thus the scribes were assembled,
and a decree sent forth.
The princes did indeed press upon Xerxes,
the king, soon to depart for war,
'"Leave behind a queen
'"to keep the people unified. '"
Every maiden was to be considered,
the choicest of whom to be brought from across the empire
and into the palace.
In accordance with the protocol,
young men were also rounded up
to become eunuchs
who would serve the queen's candidates
during their time of preparation.
MORDECAI: There's no need for alarm.
In all likelihood they will not come for you.
And not all that are taken will be chosen.
Doubtless, the queen has already been selected
through bribery or chicanery.
How do I keep our laws?
How do I pray?
What excuse do I offer God for not keeping his commandments?
Oh, Hadassah.
God sees the inward observance.
The court is a dangerous place.
I think it will be better
if you forgot that you were a Jew.
If this is a sin, then...
Then let it be on my head.
Promise me that you will do that if you're taken. Promise me that!
If I am taken,
I will do as you say.
I should give you a different name. Hadassah is too Jewish.
Esther.
Esther is a good Babylonian name.
Yes. That's what we shall call you from now on.
Esther of Susa.
Promise me.
Promise me if you are taken.
I said, "If I am taken."
Lf, if, if.
But for now,
you should look for me in the streets of Jerusalem,
dancing
like David before the glory of the Lord.
- Hadassah! - Who?
Uncle Mordecai!
(GASPS)
MORDECAl: Is this the way the King's orders are carried out?
Senseless brutality in the middle of the night?
Father, please show us favor
and turn these dungeons into someplace wonderful.
Is this the dungeon part or the wonderful part?
(ALL GASP)
Look!
Sarah, it matches your eyes.
Have you ever found anything so wonderful in your life?
And Hannah,
was it not made for you?
Am I never going to see my mother again?
Only if you wish not to.
Two, three days, and who knows?
Home you go.
Do you think we're not beautiful enough to be asked to stay, Hadassah?
Welcome to a brand-new life.
The method of your arrival was not of my choosing.
I am Hagai, His Majesty's Royal Eunuch.
I have been assigned to oversee your preparation.
All right, it's okay.
(GIRL SCREAMS )
MAN: Don't let them escape. Kill them all.
Which way to the quarter of the Jews?
(GIRL SCREAMS )
(GIGGLING)
You have a very bad habit.
The palace is no place for children.
You think of me as a child?
Well, you're wrong.
I am much younger than that.
How do they call you?
- Esther. - Curious name.
From where do you come?
I am of the wind
whose sound is heard, yet none can tell
from whence it comes or where it goes.
Well, we gather within the hour.
Try not to blow away before then.
Another 4,000 talents
for metal, weapons, armor.
And we must not forget the pay of the mercenaries.
I know this is not a favored opinion,
but if used for peaceful purposes,
such amounts could serve many needs.
Two different ways of life are involved.
The Greeks have no king and they want none.
It is one thing to beat our chests and parade our boldness
pretending this is still the empire of our fathers.
But you hear the costs of an actual campaign!
If we are not honest with ourselves,
I fear we lose much more than just our stature.
Then, let us sit back and do nothing?
Let the Greeks conquer.
Let them establish democracy.
Would not the King be the first to suffer,
the first to die?
Or does the memory of his father's death
not stir as deep in his bones as it does in ours?
I speak to you as one not without empathy.
I, too, have stood in the battle
and stared into the unknown.
For the very sword that took my eye
took from me my manhood as well.
But be at peace.
This is no warfare that you embark upon.
This is only the life that a great dreamer could imagine,
or at least it can be,
if you so choose to embrace it.
Think not I heard your whispered orchestrations that night?
And how you drew even me into your schemes?
In these troubled times it is easy to name any man traitor.
I even recall a certain campaign
in lonia under King Darius,
where someone allowed the defeated Greeks
to keep their own form of government,
their democracy,
instead of placing the protocol of the empire in control.
Favoring democracy.
The very doctrine to which all Persia is opposed.
- I followed orders! - Come. Come, come, come.
(CHUCKLES)
We trouble ourselves with foolish things.
The King asked me to speak. I did.
I obeyed. As you obeyed.
MORDECAI: With suspicion and mistrust creeping into palace halls,
Haman the Agagite
found the opportunity he had been waiting for.
He began to strike out more openly
at the Jews living in the outlying land,
painting them as the true Greek sympathizers,
setting the stage for his ultimate act of vengeance.
Look.
I am curious
to whether you frustrate me out of sincerity
or to ensure that you're never chosen queen.
You assume I actually care about being chosen queen.
I am serious.
Serious of what?
Finding a real queen?
Is that why you subject us to these beauty treatments,
these classes?
You do not like our fine instructors?
They simply neglect to teach us some things.
- Such as? - Well, seemingly
anything to do with actually being queen:
The thought well thought, the word well spoken
and the deed well done.
As it is said in the great books.
You read?
Many tongues.
(LAUGHS)
Before I received your "invitation",
I was reading of Gilgamesh the Babylonian.
ESTHER: And Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying,
"Gilgamesh, you look worn out and exhausted.
"What can I do so that you can return to your land?
"I will tell you a thing that is hidden.
"There is a plant whose thorns
"will prick your hand like a rose.
"If your hands reach this plant,
"you will become a young man again."
Gilgamesh in the original.
I read translation,
never the original.
You read?
There are few pleasures left to one such as I.
You offer us Hagai's position, my lord,
if we grant you the privilege of picking a queen?
- Misgath of Persepolis. - Misgath?
Of unusual beauty.
But up here,
- empty as a beggar's bowl. - Consider her family.
Daughter of a rug merchant?
Will they not also shower you with wealth?
MORDECAI: While there were certainly worse ways
for the candidates to have spent their days
than myrrh baths and beauty treatments,
none of the rumors of riches and glory stirred more excitement
than the thought of gaining entry to the royal treasury itself.
Whatever you chose for your one night with the King
will be yours for the keeping.
Candidates, choose wisely.
(ALL GIGGLING EX CITEDLY)
You stand not impressed?
It matters not what impresses me.
How is one to choose when they know not what impresses the King?
Will you teach me?
I will do far more than that. Come.
A recent acquisition.
One, I believe, the King will find most pleasing.
Esther of Susa,
come.
Seat yourself on the stool
and read the scroll.
It is the chronicles of the King,
the royal diary.
Through these doors you are no longer a candidate.
You are a servant.
Remember the protocol.
To approach uninvited
is death.
I read for the King,
alone?
Like this?
"Daily entry 23.
"Egyptian wheat reserves were reported
"at half the normal levels due to a recent drought."
"Admiral Xtes was honored
"for serving twenty years in the Royal Fleet.
"After a lengthy speech, he promptly keeled over and died."
(CHUCKLES)
"Twenty-five. Three herd of sheep were stolen from Dirmalmirah,
"Satrap of Midea.
"He requests that the crown send out the proper authority."
And so Jacob,
also a shepherd by trade,
was sent off into the far, far-off land
where he came across the fair Rachel tending her father's sheep.
He was smitten, and went and rolled the stone
from the well, and watered her flock for her.
Then Jacob kissed Rachel
and lifted up his voice and wept with joy.
When Laban, Rachel's father, heard of this,
he said to Jacob, "Should you serve me for nothing?
"Tell me, what shall your wages be?"
Jacob said, "I will serve you seven years for your daughter Rachel."
So Jacob served seven years tending Laban's sheep.
And they only seemed but a few days, for the love he had for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban,
"Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled."
So Laban threw a great wedding feast, but in the dark of the evening
Laban brought his older daughter in to Jacob.
And, behold, in the morning it was Leah, not Rachel.
Jacob was shocked. He said to Laban,
"What is this thou hast done unto me?
"Did I not serve with thee for Rachel?
"Why, then, have you beguiled me?"
XERXES: Why, then, have you beguiled me?
I must admit that never before has such a tale been found
in the pages of a royal diary.
Here I expect to be lulled to sleep by tedious reports,
instead I'm beguiled by a love story.
And how ends your tale? This Jacob, he's able to have his bride?
He's able to have her?
Only after serving
seven more years for her, my lord King.
Believeth you in such?
Love?
Is it not the greatest commandment?
No matter what God one serves.
- How do they call you? - Esther of Susa.
Susa? No.
Nothing good ever comes out of Susa.
Look at me.
Come. Come, if you wish to see what I do.
The Greeks, they have a god of similar form.
His arms will hold the bow, whose arrows they say are
tipped with love.
Some archers' arrows are tipped with poison, my lord.
Sometimes
it's hard to tell the difference. The symptoms are the same.
Perhaps in another time. Some
other place.
You will read to me again.
You must tell no one of this night.
(GASPS)
(TRUMPETS)
(ALL CHEERING)
- XERXES: My Captain. - Blame me not for this, my lord,
but the princes have ordered us to begin bringing you candidates
- by the end of the week. - You jest.
- I am in the middle of... - At least you'll get it over with.
Besides, these men might enjoy seeing some ladies around. No?
(ALL LAUGHING)
They tell me you're called Esther now.
Oh, Jesse.
Hatach.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were pagan names, too.
We're in good company.
Their names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
They were thrown into the furnace.
But then what happened?
Come on, I found a way out.
And there's a caravan leaving for Jerusalem tonight.
So we can get out of this place.
Escape?
Jesse, I... I can't leave.
What if...
- What if I'm chosen? - What if you're chosen what?
What if you're chosen queen? Look what they've done to us.
What good could come out of any of this?
Perhaps, instead of asking questions of our trials...
Trials are meant to ask questions of ourselves.
They cut me!
I know
we can't be what I hoped,
- but... - Jesse.
I can't leave. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
HAGAI: Today it begins.
Each of you will be given one night with the King.
We gather first to honor Misgath of Persepolis.
You enter as a peasant and leave a princess.
Here we go.
(WHINNYING)
Steady her.
I'm so sorry...
- Oh! - Almost there.
XERXES: By the looks of it, I must be allowing the candidates
to keep their jewelry.
Perhaps a horseback ride is not the best idea, my lord.
(GRUNTS)
(EX CLAIMS)
You weep not for the candidates this evening.
- My throat is sore. - Your throat or your heart?
It has only been a few days since you read for him.
A few days is a thousand years.
If Xerxes had found pleasure in me, surely he would've...
You think a eunuch cannot know love?
Back before I was a cripple of a man,
there was one that held my heart.
What became of her?
I know not.
I never found the courage to return to face her again.
She is beautiful but delicate, Your Majesty.
Just one more moment, please.
You may approach.
How do they call you?
(GAGGING)
(CHITTERING)
Esther.
This is your day.
We gather to honor Esther of Susa.
You enter as a peasant and leave a princess.
You can let go of my arm now.
He will be the fortunate one to choose you.
He will be the one to whom congratulations are due.
Esther, my arm.
XERXES: The scroll is on the stool.
You may begin whenever you are ready.
Is there a problem?
Did they not tell you I weary at this procession of candidates?
I simply wanted someone to...
Wait. You are the one who read to me before.
You tried to beguile me with love stories.
Did you not think I had the sense to see through your little parable?
The arrogance! You speak to me as if I was this Rachel
in need of help to look after my father's sheep.
- My lord, I meant no... - And this is how you come to see me?
Your only adornment before your
one night with the King.
It is, Your Majesty.
You consider yourself of so little worth
- that I can purchase your love so cheaply? - I was taught
that when you visit a king, rather than expect a gift,
one should bring one to lay at his feet.
This is my most valuable possession in the world.
It is my past, my present, and my future.
And all of it is yours.
Some would call you foolish indeed, as they would call your Jacob.
Of all commodities, love is the easiest,
and most cheaply purchased.
If it is for sale, my lord,
it is not love.
Even you.
Even you must have a price.
I am neither a buyer
nor a seller of love.
Suppose, my lady,
a man offered you a more treasured gift,
say, a kingdom.
(CRYING)
The only gift I would accept
is your heart.
Then it is yours.
And you did not serve seven years to get it.
Tell me Esther of Susa, who are you really?
Tell me of your people.
Teach me of your ways.
My father taught me
it takes the glory of God
to conceal a matter,
and the honor of kings to search it out.
Then marry me.
And we shall spend an eternity discovering this truth,
together.
Persians, your queen!
(ALL CHEERING)
Know you how many times I tried to come for you after that first night?
How many evenings I spent counting the stars
to keep my mind off of you?
How many excuses I created
just to avoid the other candidates?
Fools.
Misfits.
Donkey-brained caricatures of men,
you guaranteed me that Misgath would be chosen queen.
Who is she? From whence did she come? Who are her people?
There is little known about her, my lord.
She is called Esther of Susa. An orphan.
We should've stuck to our first plan and poisoned Hagai ourselves.
- Quiet. - Poison?
He did not, my lord. He is far too impetuous.
- Far too... - You know about poison.
Of course you do.
You were once the royal cupbearers.
Suppose in theory, you wanted to poison another.
Suppose... Suppose this other remained nameless,
but was, in effect, one whom you had once vowed to protect.