David Hemmings credited as playing...
Alfred
- Guthrum: I am Guthrum, son of Odin! This is Ivar, my warrior chief. He's called Ivar the boneless because his mother made him with gristle, instead of bone. Show them.
- [Ivar performs impressive acrobatics with a sword]
- Guthrum: He fights as well.
- Alfred: I am Alfred, king of Wessex. This is my cousin, Athelstan of Lamborn. I fear he only jumps on Danish graves.
- Guthrum: Your Christ cannot be like our love god Frey. When maids see him they blush.
- Alfred: My god is life, eternal! Your gods are dead.
- Guthrum: Not dead. They speak in thunder, and in battle! In birth cry, and from the loins from lovers! Here are my gods, they were your gods of old. Men say all Saxon kings are sons of Odin.
- Alfred: They lie.
- Guthrum: He's a cruel god, lusting for power and knowledge. He was hanged upon a tree to prove himself and to find wisdom.
- Alfred: He found nothing. Your gods teach nothing. They have no wisdom.
- Guthrum: They have wisdom. The wisdom of the blood.
- Alfred: Of blood? There is no wisdom there, only pain! And hunger and lust. Christ conquers passions so that life and wisdom can begin.
- Guthrum: Without passion?
- Alfred: Yes. Else we are animals.
- Guthrum: And would you be master of all passion?
- Alfred: [Silent]
- Guthrum: [Chuckles] Now I see it. You are Odin's son.
- Alfred: You take your hands off me! You stink of sweat and blood. In a few moments I take my final vows and am finished with you and your battles. They mean nothing to me. Now, take your stench away.
- Alfred: I've learned to read - in Latin. In the Abbey, there are many books. Books of ancient wisdom from Greece and Rome. What do you know of the world beyond the shores of Wessex?
- Ethelred: Since our father took you to Rome when you were five years old, you've been like this.
- Alfred: Well, perhaps it did start then. Oh, what a world that was. Great buildings made of stone, full of light and music and paintings. It would be easy there to find the grace of God. Here? We're sank in darkness and ignorance, groping for wisdom. We are like - blind men at the bottom of a pit seeking to glimpse the stars.
- Alfred: Aelhswith of Mercia - you stole my apple. It was the biggest on the tree and she stole it from me.
- Alfred: Would you prefer it more if I translated?
- Ethelred: If you wish.
- Alfred: "Who that is wise, would not mix prayers with kisses. If she resists, then take the kisses that she does not give. Brute force is force women want. They love refusing what they long to give."
- Edith: This is not the Bible as I was taught it.
- Ethelred: No, but it shows that fools may write as well in Latin as in any other tongue.
- Alfred: Here's something more to your taste, my dear.
- [reading]
- Alfred: "When two lovers go to there private couch, no poet is needed behind the bolted door. Without his aid, words will be gasped and hands will not lie idle on the bed. Fingers will find their uses in those parts that love sets fire to."
- Aelhswith: Imagine Edith what we two have missed by not learning to read.
- Alfred: Learning to read won't spoil what you can do in bed.
- Aelhswith: Thank you, my lord. In Mercia, our princes can win hearts and battles without the benefit of teaching. We leave the books to - priests.
- Alfred: Oh, good. Very good. Did you hear that, Asher? Such a clever answer - from a pair of tits! Well, give suck then! And save your lips for kisses - for your mouth can fill your belly only.