Complete Works of Nevil Shute

by Nevil Shute

  TYRKERLord, here is yet another land, and this one is all beach. There is no end to the new places we have seen.

  LEIFWe’ll land and have a look at it as soon as we can, but I’m not going to put a boat on shore through that surf. We’ll follow the beach southwards till we find an opening.

  (The ship turns and begins to coast along the beach, perhaps a quarter of a mile offshore.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Ship — Later

  (The ship is still sailing down this endless beach.)

  TYRKERLord, there is no beach in the world like this. We’ve been sailing along it now for over six hours, and it’s been exactly the same all the way. You just can’t tell the difference between any two parts of it.

  LEIFI know. It’s a great wonder.

  TYRKERSo strange a place as this ought to have a name. It is a landmark that men coming from the sea will recognize. What shall we call it, Lord?

  LEIFWell, I don’t know. It’s a great wonder, and that’s all about it. We’d better call it Wonderstrands.

  TYRKER(Calling out) Listen to this, everybody. This long beach that we have sailed along all day is to be called Wonderstrands.

  (There is a murmur of assent.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Island

  (This is an evening scene. The ship is coming in to beach on a low, sandy island covered with trees, lying half a mile or so off the long beach of Wonderstrands. This island, Nauset Island, has now disappeared entirely by erosion; it used to lie off the beach opposite Orleans. It is a warm, sunny evening, nearly sunset; the island is a fairyland, covered with trees and flowers.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Beach

  (The ship is stranded on the beach, and the men are spreading out along the foreshore and the beach head. It is sunset and most beautiful, as beautiful as can be contrived. The men are moving quietly, looking around them in wonder and in awe at such a lovely place.)

  (Presently one of them stoops to pick a flower. His finger strikes something sticky on a leaf; he licks it and exclaims. Presently several of the men are picking leaves and licking them.)

  A MANLord, there is honey on the leaves in this island.

  (Leif and Tyrker pick leaves and try them.)

  TYRKER(In awe) Lord, this is honey dew. In my country, in the old stories that old people tell around the fireside in the winter, they say that in the Happy Land honey falls like dew from heaven in the night.

  LEIF(Thoughtfully) The Happy Land . . .

  (He looks around. Through a thin screen of a few trees he sees the sunset, bright and rosy in the west. Between the trees he sees Haki walking with Haekia; they are laughing together at some private joke of their own. This scene must be as beautiful as can be contrived.)

  LEIF(Quietly) I heard once of the Happy Land, which some men call Hy Breasail. No thief, no robber, and no enemy pursues one there; there is no violence, and no winter snow. In that place it is always spring. No flower or lily is wanting, no rose or violet but you will find them there.

  (During this speech the camera should pick up these features one by one, verifying them visually.)

  — There apple trees bear flowers and fruit on the same branch, all the year round. There young men live in quiet happiness with their girls (the camera picks up Haki and Haekia, engrossed in each other); there is no old age and no sickness and no sorrow there. All is full of joy.

  TYRKER(Uneasily) Lord, do you think that this place is Hy Breasail?

  LEIF(Rousing) I don’t know. I know only this; it is so beautiful that it might well be we have found the Happy Land. I will not spend the night here; we may be bewitched. We will anchor off shore for the night and sleep in the ship.

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Anchorage

  (It is a late evening scene, almost night. The ship is anchored off the beach; it is cloudless, and dead calm. The island lies silhouetted against the faint remnants of the sunset, very beautiful. In the ship the dim forms of men are seen staring at the beauty of the scene, silent and in wonder.)

  [FADE TO:

  The Classroom

  CALLENDERNext morning they set sail again towards the south. (Indicates on the map.) They turned the corner of the land by Chatham, here, and sailed along the south shore of Cape Cod into Nantucket Sound. And on the south shore of the Cape they landed, setting foot for the first time on the American continent.

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Landing

  (For the location of this landing, which the saga and historical analysis define only as somewhere on the south coast of Cape Cod, I suggest that they enter Osterville Harbour and proceed right up into the little land-locked, tree-enclosed pool (unnamed) half a mile south of Marstons Mills (Map Reference, U. S. Geological Survey, Barnstable, Mass., quadrangle). Alternatively a suitable site could be found two miles west, in Poponesset Bay.)

  (The ship enters a wooded creek or bay. She approaches a beach and strands; the men get out of her and make her fast with anchors and ropes.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  Camp at the Beach Head

  (A camp has been made and tents pitched as at the Hebrides, because the Norsemen mean to stay here for several days. Leif and Tyrker are talking to Haki and Haekia.)

  LEIFWell, we’ve found the wood, Haki; the wood we need at home for our cowhouses. I don’t think we can go on any further; these new lands may go on and on to the end of the world. We’re going to camp here and cut and trim these trees, enough to load the ship. Then we will turn for home.

  HAKIAy, Lord.

  LEIFWell now, about you two. We shall be staying here for several days. To-morrow morning at dawn, I want you to set off to run towards the west to find out what sort of a country this is. You can be away for three days. To-morrow you will run straight inland, and part of the next day, and on the third day you will come back by a different way so that you can give me an account of as much of the country as can be seen in the time. Do you understand what I want to know?

  HAKILord, we understand very well. You want to know the sort of country, whether it is marsh or field or forest or mountain; you want to know the animals and birds, and whether there are signs of men. You want to know the rivers and the lakes, and the flowers and the fruits that we find by the way. All these things we will notice; on the evening of the third day you shall have our story.

  LEIFGood. Will you take food with you?

  HAKILord, we do not like to carry burdens; we cannot travel quickly unless we go light. We will take tinder to make fire with, and a flint and steel. We will eat before we go.

  TYRKER(Giving Haekia a pouch) Here is some tinder. There’s not much there; I’ll get you some more before you go.

  LEIF(Unbuckling a belt with a sheath knife from his waist) Take this knife. It’s a good one, I got it in Norway. Don’t lose it.

  HAKILord, I will bring it safely back to you three days from now.

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Camp — Dawn Scene

  (Every one is asleep except one sentry on watch, silhouetted against the sky. Haki and Haekia are sleeping by the fire; Haekia wakes and shakes Haki. They get up from their sleeping bags. There is a litter of food and half-gnawed bones on a platter, the remains of their evening meal; they eat a little of this. Then they speak to the sentry, and set off running from the camp in the grey light of dawn. They run steadily, not very fast, for they have a long way to go. They are lost to sight among the trees.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Pond

  (They are running together in full daylight round the shore of a lake amongst fir trees, with white, sandy beaches. Snake Pond, near Forest Dale, is suitable.)

  HAEKIA(Pointing) Be careful how you go. Haki; there are serpents here. Don’t go and tread on one.

  HAKIRemember to tell Leif. We saw snakes by the pond.

  (They run on.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Hilltop

  (They are standing for a moment, panting a little, looking westwards.)


  HAKII believe this land that we are standing on is a cape. There is the sea (points) — and there (points the other way) is the sea again.

  HAEKIAThere is land everywhere to the west, over there, right up to those blue hills on the horizon. This is a very big country, Haki. We must go westwards.

  HAKII think there is a bridge of land for us to go by. I do not think this is an island; I think there are two bays, one to the north and one to the south, that do not quite meet.

  HAEKIA(Pointing) There is a buzzard. Look, Haki, there are several of them, over the sea there. Remember to tell Leif.

  HAKII will mind that. There are buzzards over the south bay.

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  The Journey

  (This journey of exploration should be told very largely without dialogue. The photography must be as beautiful as can be managed, the whole point lying in the contrast with the hardships and bleak lands of the early part of the film.)

  (A shot of the two Scots running steadily inland, leaving the sea behind them. It may be convenient to make this an estuary scene, and show them striking off into beautiful country away from the dwindling river.)

  (Dissolve to a late afternoon scene. They are walking now, hand-in-hand, still going on towards the west, but more slowly because they find so much to look at and to wonder at. A succession of shots should show them walking beneath tall forest trees, in meadows beside streams, over an open heath. A shot should show Haekia stooping to pick berries.)

  HAEKIALook, Haki — these are cranberries!

  HAKIThey are so big!

  (Dissolve to another shot or two to show them wandering on, picking various berries and fruits, and exclaiming at the birds and animals that they see.)

  HAKIThere is so much to tell Leif about this country that we shall never be finished.

  HAEKIAIt is the best country we have ever seen, Haki. It is better than Greenland, better than Norway, better even than Scotland.

  HAKIThere is no limit to the number of cows a farmer could keep here. There is grass for all the cows and sheep in the world.

  HAEKIA(Happily) It is very good to be here, Haki. The land is beautiful, and it is good to be alone together and away from the Norsemen for a bit.

  HAKII know. Leif is kind and just, but we have our ways and they have theirs, and the two are different.

  (Dissolve to a shot of a little deer in a glade. The two Scots see it, nudge each other, and pick up pebbles from a brook. They stalk it from two directions. Both throw their stones at it at the same moment and both hit it on the head; it falls down and they run up to despatch it with the knife.)

  (Dissolve to a shot of Haki carrying it over his shoulders, with Haekia at his side; they are very pleased with themselves.)

  (Dissolve to a late evening shot of their camp. They have made a fire and a windbreak and a bed of fir twigs; they have cooked a good part of the deer on wooden skewers, and they are eating it. They have made themselves very comfortable.)

  (Dissolve to a shot of them asleep together on the bed, the fire is dying down. It is a fine, starry night.)

  [FADE TO:

  (A morning scene; they are running through the woods together.)

  (A midday scene. They are walking hand-in-hand by a river. They see a scarlet tanager and are amazed at it; they try to catch it, laughing.)

  (An old Indian camp site, long deserted. The Scots are examining it warily, turning over the ashes and examining chopped sticks.)

  (A scene of them swimming across a river, side by side. They get out, shake themselves like dogs, and go on.)

  (An evening scene. They have made a campfire by the sea beneath cedar (or similar) trees, very beautiful. A shot of them asleep together.)

  (A morning scene. They are running along a beach on their way back to the cape.)

  [DISSOLVE TO:

  Leif’s Camp

  (An evening scene. There are many trees felled and a great litter of chips and brushwood. The ship is seen partly loaded with trimmed trunks; the whole atmosphere is now that of a lumber camp, for this is the whole object of the journey. The bullock is seen, at work, dragging the felled timber of trees towards the ship. Leif is sitting before his tent eating his supper; Tyrker comes to him.)

  TYRKERLord, the Scots are coming in.

  (Leif gets up from the fire and walks with Tyrker to the edge of the camp. In the distance the Scots are seen running towards them through a glade; they come up to Leif. They are panting a little, but they are not unduly distressed. Haki is carrying a few ears of wild wheat, and Haekia has a couple of bunches of small grapes.)

  LEIFSo — you are back. Did you see any signs of men?

  HAKILord, there are men in this country, but we did not see them. We found traces of their fire, but they were old.

  TYRKERIs the land good?

  HAKILord, we have so much to tell you it will take all night. This is a good country, better than Norway or my own land, better than Greenland. There are animals and flowers and fruit of every sort. All the cattle in the world could pasture here, and there is food for every one. It is the best land in the world.

  LEIFSo. What have you got there?

  HAKILord, we brought this grain for you to see. It is wheat. We found it growing wild, and that is a great wonder.

  LEIF(Examining the ears) It is not the wheat we use for bread, but it is a grain very like it. I should think you might be able to make bread of this.

  HAEKIA(Shyly, offering her grapes) Lord, we found these berries and all the birds were eating them, and so we ate them too. They were very good.

  (She hands Leif the grapes, and then moves a little closer to Haki; their hands meet down by their side. Leif glances at them; clearly they are very much in love. He laughs.)

  LEIFDid you enjoy your journey?

  (Haekia smiles shyly, and says nothing.)

  HAKILord, when we are old and grey and ill, and near to death, we shall still be thinking about this fine journey we have made.

  LEIF(Smiling) So. Do you two want to be married now?

  (Haki looks at Haekia; they smile together.)

  HAKILord, we would like that fine.

  LEIFI will marry you in the morning — remind me after breakfast, and I’ll get the men together. It’s all right for slaves to go on as you have been doing, but free people should be married, especially if they are Christians, as you are. You have done very well, you two. You shall be free people when we get back home, living on your own farm with cattle of your own.

  (The Scots are very pleased. Tyrker, who has been examining the grapes, breaks in.)

  TYRKERLord, I know these fruits quite well. They grow in Germany, where I was born. They are called grapes. You make wine out of them.

  LEIF(Tasting one) Oh, these are grapes, are they? I have heard of grapes, but I have never seen them before. I have drunk wine; it’s a very good drink.

  TYRKERLord, if we can get some more of them I will make wine for you, as my people do at home.

  LEIFSo. Then we will call this good new country Vinland, Vinland the Good.

  TYRKER(Turning to the men and shouting) Listen to me, everybody — pay attention. My lord says that we will call this good new country Vinland, Vinland the Good.

  (There is a murmur of assent from the men. Faintly at first the school bell is heard ringing for the end of the lesson; it grows in crescendo as the beach and camp scene slowly fades.)

  [FADE TO:

  The Classroom

  (The bell is still tolling.)

  CALLENDERWell, that’s all that we’ve got time for in this lesson. The Norsemen never settled in their Vinland though they made a lot of journeys to it. They could not fight the Indians with the small numbers they could land; each time they tried to make a settlement the Indians came down on them and beat them in a battle. It wasn’t until five hundred years later, when men came with the new weapons they called guns, that Europeans settled in America. Some of them, right down in the south, were certain they had found Hy B
reasail, by the way, which you would call Brazil.

  BOY ONEBrazil!

  CALLENDERAnd now I’m going to say just one thing to you. People in history were not a different race from you and me. Your history books deal mostly with the great people, the Kings and Princes and the Ministers of State. They’re just the froth upon the surface; the Kings and Princes and the Ministers — they don’t mean much. History is made by plain and simple people like ourselves, doing the best we can with each job as it comes along. Leif went out to get timber to build cowhouses, and found America. That’s how real people make real history. You may make history yourselves one day, any one of you, but you may never know you’ve done it. Leif didn’t. (Pause) All right, you can go now.

  (The Boys get up and begin to stream out of the classroom. The Headmaster is standing in the passage looking very sour; as the Boys pass him talking eagerly among themselves, his frown deepens.)

  BOY TWOI say, I liked the bit about Eric fighting with an axe. The groundsman’s got an axe. I don’t believe the tool shed is locked up.

  BOY ONEI don’t believe it’s true, any of it. There’s nothing about it in the book. It says John Cabot discovered North America.

  BOY THREEHe said the books were all wrong; they only tell you what the Kings and Princes did. I’m not going to bother with my history book any more. I’d rather listen to him talking.

  BOY FOURI liked the bit about Thorgunna. We’ve never had a history master tell us the ripe bits before. I hope he keeps it up.

  (They pass, and Callender follows them out of the room; he comes face to face with the Headmaster. They look at each other in silence for a moment.)

  CALLENDER(Nervously) Was that all right, sir?

  HEADMASTER(Reflectively) Princes and Kings and Ministers are just the froth upon the surface. And all the books are wrong. And all these boys are going to make history. And Thorgunna had a baby. As a first lesson on the History of the United States, it was certainly original.