Catherine Called Birdy_2022
<script>
  <scene>
    <character>CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Written by</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Lena Dunham</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Based on the book by Karen Cushman</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A sunny day for a cottage-raising! All the villagers are helping, mixing daub (mud + straw) to construct a peasant's house. Children play. Baby hogs run amok as they are chased by a pig farmer. It's all business as usual, a well oiled machine, until one irascible GIRL hurls a bunch of daub at a BOY. In turn, the boy hurls some daub at the girl, who responds by dumping a bucket of the stuff over his head. Soon all the other kids are hurling daub too. Now the adults. It's a daub fight! More villagers join in and soon they all look like clay figurines, covered in mud, a gleeful abstraction.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- MOMENTS LATER- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The year: 1290. The place: a manor house- not the nicest but not the worst either, the 13th Century equivalent of a large suburban home that hasn't been painted since the 1980s. Light shines through the windows onto glinting gold goblets. Tapestries hang luxuriously. Harp music wafts through like a gentle dream. Barry Lyndon would fucking love this place. Suddenly a crash and a boom as a mutt barks and runs through the hall, followed by a goat, a pig, another goat, a sheep and the muddy BOY and then behind them the muddy GIRL, her mousy hair streaming behind her. Even as she bolts we can tell she's a mess, all elbows and knees and reckless energy, like an Olde English Eloise/Matilda combo. This is Catherine, also known as Little Bird, but to us she's BIRDY. Birdy: our protagonist, a playful 14-year-old with a sharp bite of disdain for the conventions of her time. She shrieks past animals and servants and the boy and up the stairs, calling for MORWENNA, her nurse (an inward sparkplug, never smiling but always amused. She is carrying a fire poker and her apron is covered in soot.)</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Morwenna! MORWENNA! I NEED MORWENNA!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S HALLWAY- MOMENTS LATER-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MORNING The boy, PERKIN, a goatherd with a limp and a pubescent emerging mustache, knocks at Birdy's chamber door.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, the game's not through! You're always quitting, you piddle- pie!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (O.S.)</character>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- MOMENTS LATER-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MORNING A lady-like room adorned with tapestries, a canopy bed, a birdcage full of colorful little cockatiels imported from exotic lands. Inks, paints and vellum on the massive, carved mahogany desk. Abandoned spinning at the base of her bed, yarn tumbling to the floor. Bottles of stolen ale, half a loaf of bread, evidence of her laziness (she is doing everything she can to distress her surroundings.)</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>And to think I just bathed you a fortnight ago! What a waste. Cottage-raisings are not for young ladies.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Morwenna, I did it! I released the pigs and I am not ashamed! They are only headed to slaughter and I will not allow other animals to live lives of captivity like mine!</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Like yours? Birdy, you are the most well fed captive I know.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>And anyhow, I have a matter more pressing.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she leans in to whisper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Perkin has just told me how babies are made and I am afraid I shall perish with revulsion.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna shakes her head, starts to fold some scattered clothing items- she is used to her young charge's outbursts.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>You had to learn sooner or later, Birdy. You're fourteen, there's no need to spin your head.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Morwenna, am I to move on calmly with what I know now? A man is going to take a heated iron poker and stick it up my nose until there's a space big enough for his whole thumb, after which he will PRESS seeds into my BRAIN!?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna starts to laugh.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>And then they trickle down my throat to my guts where they take root for nine months before popping out my bum!? NO! NO!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna is laughing even harder, unable to contain her desperate amusement, until Birdy understands she's been had.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, I shall murder Perkin! He will bleed worse than if I stuck a spike up his--</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Over Birdy's raging, her VO rises.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Corpus bones! It is I, Birdy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>OVER THE IMAGE, A HAND WRITES, AS IF ON AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT: CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR- SAME TIME- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>This is Birdy's father, LORD ROLLO'S man cave, hung with variously sized antlers and evidence of violent past times.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I am the Daughter of Lord Rollo.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Lord Rollo - 41 years of age - often vain - usually drunk - always greedy (says me) He takes a drink. Then another.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And the Lady Aislinn.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBERS- SAME TIME-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MORNING Her mother LADY AISLINN (early 30s, frail and stunning, obedient but not broken) peers from a window with a spyglass; a small wooden telescope device. Her eyes are trained on the sky until she whip pans to her child- she is always watching. TEXT ON SCREEN: Lady Aislinn - 36 years of age - wise of spirit and fair of face (says everyone)</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>In charge of Morwenna, the nursemaid.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- YARD- SAME TIME- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Outside, Morwenna hangs sheets on a line while spying on Birdy. TEXT ON SCREEN: Morwenna - nobody knows her age! - expert at sneaking</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Sister to Edward the monk...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ABBEY BEDROOM - SAME TIME- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>EDWARD (21, a handsome dark-haired monk) sits in his robe at his desk, intently reading (not the Bible). TEXT ON SCREEN: Edward the Monk - 21 years of age - more fun than most monks.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>... And to the abominable Robert.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- YARD- SAME TIME- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy runs past the gate house, where she gags at the sight of her brother ROBERT (18, a mini-me of his pops, who is himself fencing the air ineffectually.)</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, leave me be please.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy grabs Robert's sword from him, unwieldy and massive in her hand, and does big bold moves at the sky. Her father, sweaty and exhausted, passes her, grabbing it back in one easy motion.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Of the village of Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln, in the country of England, in the hands of God.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy greets Perkin, the goat boy with a limp who she chased earlier. He is cheerful and determined despite the challenge of running with a disability.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <parenthetical>(singing in old English)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Put your clothes on; don't refuse Breeches, gloves, and also shoes;</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy joins him singing and they hold hands and spin.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY AND PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Hat on head for rain or sun; Buttons - do up every one.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They collapse laughing.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And friend of Perkin, my heart's brother. Although he is just a goat boy, he is kind of heart and wise of spirit.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He sticks his butt out and farts at her.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Though he is sorely afflicted with wind in his bowls.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy toils over her spinning, tangling it.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>14th Day of August.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The date loops across the screen in the same wobbly cursive as the title.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Tangled my spinning again. What a torture. I would rather be fed to a stroppy dragon than try and spin like a lady.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She is corrected by Morwenna, who has clearly surrendered her own life in service of raising a good young noblewoman.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT./EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- PRIVY- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy runs, her tangled spinning in her hands, and deposits it in the toilet.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I am, thank the lord, very cunning. Most girls are, though we are not given due credit for it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Using a long stick, Birdy stuffs the spinning deeper into the actual hole that the people of the manor, ahem, piss and shit in.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>But I have a fantastic update. I have made a bargain with my mother. I may forego spinning, my greatest agitation of all, as long as I write this account of my days for my brother, Edward the monk.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy, wearing her nightdress, sits at her desk and writes in her little book.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>In his letters, he tells me he believes it will help me grow less childish and more learned.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy runs, overjoyed.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>So what follows will be my book- the book of Catherine, called Little Bird or Birdy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She moves toward camera and then just past it.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT./EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GOAT BARN- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sits on the hay, looking through a bound book of Latin phrases. Next to her sits Perkin. Nearby MEG (lovely, a little older than Birdy, in modern parlance a ditz) is braiding something. She shyly ties it around Birdy's wrist.</scene_description>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>A golden braid for my golden lady.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Meg - 18 years of age - comely dancer - snorty laugher</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Meg the dairy maid is a dear friend, when I can stop her from curtsying and my lady-ing me.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>This is hay but I do love the sentiment. It's beautiful.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(back to her book)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Est pater meus animalis!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she smiles)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It means my father is a beast. The best words I've learned. You are so lucky your father is dead.</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, I'm still actually quite upset about that...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy continues to mindlessly spin yarn with Morwenna.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My truest passions are avoiding my chores.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Outside the window she watches...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>On the grass in front of the manor, Birdy's father Lord Rollo passes, drunkenly fencing a peasant. This is a man who was, at one point, beautiful and naughty, playful and present. But the cost of running a village, of trying to win at Lordship, is that you must fight to maintain convention. And he is fighting.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Fight harder!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The peasant fights back.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Now, less hard! I want to win!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Critiquing my father's horrible swordplay.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks through their flower garden.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, walk upon the paths! What are you, a milkmaid?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't see a path!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Her father drops his sword to tend to the flowers.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- DAY</stage_direction>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Disrupting cottage-raises.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy runs through the village with a chicken in her arms. A villager chases after her.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Causing mischief in the village.</dialogue>
    <character>VILLAGER</character>
    <dialogue>Hey! You stole my chicken!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HALL OUTSIDE SOLAR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy lies on the ground, listening through the crack under the door.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And listening thru doors I should not listen thru.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR- SAME TIME- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo speaks to a nerdy, uptight STEWARD, who looks way too young for the job and is clearly panicked.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>How has this happened, Finneas!? You were hired to prevent this!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Steward paces, concerned.</scene_description>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>In essence, sir? You have ignored me. You have spent profligately, my lord, and without censure.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>I cannot have spent so much.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(considering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Give me one example of an expense that was not strictly necessary for my family to survive!</dialogue>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Really?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- DAY (FLASHBACK)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A cart approaches, driven by a swarthy TIGER SALESMAN. Rollo, Robert and Birdy await, thrilled.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My tiger has arrived!!!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The back of the cart opens and Rollo peers inside.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>It is dead!</dialogue>
    <character>TIGER SALESMAN</character>
    <dialogue>The travel was harsh from Siberia, lord.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Mayhap it is just sleeping father?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Tis not breathing, you fool.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(unfazed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>How soon may I have another?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Watching through her spyglass, Aislinn shakes her head.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR- PRESENT MOMENT- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo moans.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Am I to live like a peasant, on bread and water and chat alone?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HALL OUTSIDE SOLAR- SAME TIME- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy is still spying when a hunting dog (the same one from the first scene) comes bounding down the hall. It notices Birdy and begins to bark.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Shhh!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It growls, tugging at her skirt. She tries to crawl away but it keeps on tugging. She stands, dragging the dog down the hall with its jaw firm around her skirts.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(muttering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Untooth me, hound!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Disrupted by the dog, Birdy misses what is next:</scene_description>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>If, sir, you can secure a profitable union for your only daughter, there is your opportunity to relieve yourself of this accumulated debt.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>A profitable union? For Birdy?</dialogue>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>With a man?</dialogue>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>No, no, no. She's disgusting! She's one step away from a leper.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Awkward beat.</scene_description>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>You may not have coins, but your wife has a title, and she has given it to you--</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>I earned it!</dialogue>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(ignoring this)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>There are plenty of men foolish enough to trade their fortune for the prefix of Lord. Now, it is your job to find one.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(quieter)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Sir, there must be another answer... She is my only daughter.</dialogue>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>And this is your only manor.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The steward bows and exits.</scene_description>
    <character>STEWARD</character>
    <dialogue>My lord.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo lets the shame of his failure wash over his face for a beat, then reaches for the flask in his waist belt.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- KITCHEN- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy is gnawing on an apple, avoiding the wormhole, when she feels a pair of eyes on her back. It is her father, regarding her studiously.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Something is astir.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She takes another cautious bite.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I can feel my father's eyes following me wherever I go.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy takes a step to the left. Her father, behind her, does the same- an odd waltz.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>He is regarding me as he would a bull bought for breeding.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He circles her, looking her up and down.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Exactly how old are you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I am fourteen years.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I am surprised that he has not asked to examine my hooves.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Have you all your teeth?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>All but one.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>And you are certainly a good eater. What color is your hair when it is clean?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>When it's clean? Blue?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(giving up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Very good. Nice to see you. Go and see your little goat friend now.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>What is brewing here?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo walks away down the hall.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(sotto, convincing himself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Fourteen. That isn't that young...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- PRIVY- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy opens the door, clutching her guts, and slams it shut. She settles onto the toilet, holding up her skirts, when she catches sight of her petticoat. Her eyes grow wide.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- MOMENTS LATER-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>AFTERNOON Birdy paces, inconsolable, while Morwenna tries to understand.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I am dying. It is plain to see.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, what did Perkin tell you this time?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy brandishes her bloody petticoat from behind her back.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>In the name of the father, Birdy!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I must say my goodbyes and get on with good humor. I will go bravely, and with God in my heart. Please give my brooch to my future sister and my bible to my brother Edward and tell him I am sorry I got pudding upon the pages.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You see, the blood came from my bum.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <parenthetical>(skeptical)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Your bum?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy spreads her skirts and her spindly legs. Morwenna shakes her head then looks (despite her inherent prudishness, keeping this child alive is her job.)</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, for the love of a God greater than I. Birdy, it comes from the other hole.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What other hole?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>It is your monthly tiding. The lady in red. So, you will do your duty to bear your husband children.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>On Birdy's face, a look of alarm as she shakes her head furiously: no, no, no.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Then I shall run away. Far. I shall steal a suit of armor and become a knight, and I shall take a horse and carriage and I shall ride at midnight--</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Dress as a knight or dress as a lady, the blood will come. You are a woman now, Birdy.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>A woman?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna snaps to.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>First of all we are going to make a pad. Rag gets wrapped around hand.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She does.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Make it good and thick.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hands it to Birdy.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>That is a nice wee pad that sits in your pants.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna holds up a piece of fabric.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Are they my father's?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>No. These are your pants.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>My pants?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Give me the pad.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy hands it over and Morwenna places the pad in the pants.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>This goes up between your legs and it's going to get all the blood and keep it away from your clothes. Can you manage that?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes I can, Morwenna.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna bends down. Birdy roughly steps through the pants.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Don't do that! Just be careful.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I am!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HERB GARDEN- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Morwenna shows Birdy how to gather medicinal herbs.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Now get some mint, cause that makes the whole thing taste nice. Dandelion, but not the flower, obviously, is perfect for those cramps.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks past the bushes and spies Perkin and villagers GERD and ALF, running with a lamb they have dressed in clothes.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Alf! Do you have your mom's knickers on Wendy's head?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Oh Perkin... what's he up to now? Dressing up farm animals. A lamb should be dressed in mint sauce, not a hat!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Morwenna stands over Birdy, who sits on the bed, tying the rags around herself.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>All those herbs that we picked? We're going to make tea into your favorite cup.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It is my favorite cup.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>I know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna mixes the tea.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>And swirl and dip.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hands the cup to Birdy.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Take a sip and the pain will be gone.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy chugs the tea that Morwenna brewed, nearly spitting up.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Morwenna snores, while Birdy clutches her tummy, resigned to this horrible feeling but unaware of what it truly means for her future.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The nicest room in the house, with tapestries and carved ivory animals from foreign lands. On a bed as vast as the sea sits Aislinn, who we can now see is heavily pregnant and visibly uncomfortable. Up close we can also see she has a burn scar on her neck, ropey and thick, the only blemish to her beauty. Birdy busts through the door. From under the bedsheets, her father emerges, dressing himself undergarments first. Aislinn giggles. Her husband giggles back. Birdy is horrified- her parents GIGGLE TOGETHER in the morning!?</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(looking away)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What were you doing?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, knocking is a bit customary, though I know not in the public houses you frequent.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I have never been to a public house. Mumma, he lies!</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>I am not lying, I am jesting. But in all seriousness I did see Bird in a public house. She was knocking back glasses of ale, swearing, jousting peasants--</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mumma!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Well I, for one, should like my room free of jesters for the moment. I should like to rest and do my puzzles.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>But I have more jests. What did the Pope say to the ale rat?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo kisses his wife.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Wait, but what did the Pope say to the ale rat!?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>What did the Pope say to the ale rat? What are you talking about?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>The jest!</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Has she gone mad?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo heads for the exit.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>What Pope?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(calling after)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Father!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He stops in the doorway, smiles, and turns to face her.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Oh yes. Ummm...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo closes the door and escapes without answering, Aislinn laughs. Birdy waits a beat then approaches her mother. We can tell she is planning to tell her something...</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mumma?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Bird?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I have something to tell you. It is rather serious and I hope...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn lets out a little cry, clutching her stomach.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mumma? Are you alright!?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Bird, just a little kick... What was it you wanted to say?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy regards her mother's growing stomach, huge against the bed sheets, with terror. Reminded of what periods lead to, Birdy suddenly thinks much better of it.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe now is not a good time and perhaps I shall wait... forever.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy changes topic.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mother, there is a hanging today in Rutherford--</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>A hanging?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>An ever so small one! Can I maybe just...</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(amused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Absolutely forbidden.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>But Robert goes to all the hangings!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Robert is Robert. And you are not. Anyhow, today the Sidebottoms will join us. Your favorite day of the month.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy shrugs.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Come here to me child!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn pulls Birdy to her side.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Rest with your weary mother.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy and Aislinn take turns with the spyglass to watch a carriage containing AELIS, LADY BERENICE, and LORD SIDEBOTTOM pull up to Stonebridge Manor. We see through the spyglass, a distant and distorted bird's eye view, a shot we will return to again and again to explain Aislinn's view of the manor and the world- distant and removed, yet all-seeing and knowing. Birdy eagerly waves to her best friend, Aelis.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Today Aelis comes. She is a dearest friend to me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Aelis - 16 years of age - prettiest girl in the shire and MY BEST FRIEND</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And when I see her face I hear birds and whistles, I see ribbons and flowers. Oh, Aelis!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR ROAD- SIDEBOTTOM FAMILY CART- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Aelis, Berenice, and Lord Sidebottom are packed into the cart as tight as sardines, and jostle into each other uncomfortably as it bumps down the road. Aelis is everything Birdy is not. If they had proms in, she would be prom queen. If they had Instagram, six million followers would wait for her makeup tutorials. Face like a heart, mahogany curls, and kind to boot. LORD SIDEBOTTOM, Aelis's father, is nearing seventy but still clanking his old bones together in a push chair that rolls between the two seats. TEXT ON SCREEN: LORD GIDEON SIDEBOTTOM - 81 years of age - oldest man in his province - oldest father in England - wears his armour to sleep BERENICE, Aelis's gorgeous young stepmum, looks a thousand times more bored than AISLINN. She is rife with the ennui of entrapment. Aelis leans over the cart's edge and shyly returns Birdy's joyful wave.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- COURTYARD- MOMENTS LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy and Aelis have sequestered themselves gleefully from the grownups on a bench. Aelis bends down behind Birdy, playing with her hair.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Your hair is so long Birdy. You need to brush it.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to grow it all the way down to my feet.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They are ambushed by Robert as he exits the Great Hall while munching on a stolen meat pie. He doesn't notice Aelis.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(groaning)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Birdy, you must give me some kind of warning...otherwise the sight of your countenance...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He pretends to vomit and drops chewed-up meat pie into his hand.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, Robert.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert, not having noticed Aelis, turns scarlet and tries to hide his chewed-up meat pie in his other hand. Gross. He chucks it aside.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(flustered)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Lady Sidebottom! Aelis! How goodly to see you! You are looking rather... pinkened.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <parenthetical>(giggling)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Robert, you are ever so pink yourself.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Leave us be! Do you ladies need an escort round the garden? It can be very dangerous...</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Please go, you death monger!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert exits into the Great Hall.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GARDEN- MOMENTS LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo and Aislinn stand awkwardly with Lord Sidebottom and Berenice, like parents at the playground with nothing in common.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>The roses have been exceptional this season. And of course, the butterflies.</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>I hate butterflies.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Berenice walks away from the group in distaste. Aislinn walks away to the end of the garden to escape the uncomfortable conversation and smells some flowers. She looks out in thought. Rollo and Lord Sidebottom are left alone.</scene_description>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>We have already had five or six serious inquiries.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, is that so?</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>And some of these letter are florid in the extreme. But I don't care if they're poets, Rollo- I care if they can pay for my daughter in gold brick.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo laughs nervously.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- COURTYARD- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy pulls a bun out of her pocket and hands it to Aelis.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Welcome to Stonebridge, Lady Aelis.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>You have buns!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>We used to have more buns. Cakes too!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(whispered)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I think we may be poor now.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Oh. Well, we are not poor but there is nothing to eat at our manor. Papa banished the baker a fortnight ago. He said that he and stepmother were... exchanging wistful glances.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They start to munch but are surprised by Berenice walking straight past them and sitting on the bench. Aelis hides her bun behind her back.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>My lady. I promise I'm not spoiling my supper.</dialogue>
    <character>BERENICE</character>
    <dialogue>I do not give a goat's arse what you spoil, Aelis. I am not your mother, do not cower before me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lord Sidebottom directs Rollo to push him toward her, clearly unaware of his waning powers.</scene_description>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>Berenice, never again will you leave a convivial grouping when I am speaking. I was about to make a point of great import--</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Lady Berenice Side Bottom - 25 years of age - devoted writer of passionate sonnets - devoted hater of her husband</scene_description>
    <character>BERENICE</character>
    <dialogue>Well, I go where I want and I say what I please.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispering to Birdy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>She's been writing the most tragic poetry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy and Aelis giggle.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HERB GARDEN- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The girls sit on a stone bench in a picturesque garden of flowers and medicinal herbs.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Do you know that my stepmother was brought to our manor from Gascony? First by boat, then by carriage. It took many nights and nobody told her where she was going. She was only in her seventeenth year. Then father was waiting.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>He sent away for a wife the day after my mother died.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(knowingly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Men are horribly duplicitous creatures.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I should like to take a carriage. With you, Aelis! And we would have adventures. Grand ones.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>How will we escape?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I will steal a knight's armor. Or a monk's robes.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>And where will you go?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, Uncle George writes to me of the crusades-</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <parenthetical>(teasing voice)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Uncle George, Uncle George, Uncle George. All you speak about is Uncle George!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>He comes soon, Aelis! He does! You know he is my best uncle!</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>He is your only uncle!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The girls giggle. Birdy pinches Aelis's cheek.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>CORNETHIA, a pretty young nun, helps Aelis and Birdy play a tune on a recorder. Aelis sounds lovely. Birdy's screeches. In the background, several men carry away valuable items- panes of glass, sculptures, a few nice vases- as Rollo and Aislinn look on, Rollo tortured and Aislinn running to and fro to ensure that the items are being handled with care.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>As the time approaches when I must wed, I must undertake lady lessons. My two least favorite words. Together. In one terrible phrase.</dialogue>
    <character>CORNETHIA</character>
    <dialogue>Gently, young ladies. A gentle hand plays a soothing tune.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Sister Cornethia attempts to make me musical, pious, and full of grace for any suitor who may court.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Cornethia turns around and two hand prints of dirt are on the bum of her habit. The girls giggle.</scene_description>
    <character>CORNETHIA</character>
    <dialogue>Do we find our lessons ever so funny? Seems to me a joke is astir.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy raises her hands, covered in charcoal dust, then quickly hides them behind her back.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>But she will find she has no easy job.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy giggles to herself. When Aelis then giggles too, she stops, icing Aelis out. She is being petty.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- MIDNIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A single candle burns as NAN the midwife, Aislinn's chambermaid and women from the kitchen labor over Aislinn's body, as Aislinn labors in birth. Aislinn sits on a birthing stool by her bed, Nan below her, Morwenna at her side.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Ahhhh. Ahhhh.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispered)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy; Amen.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>In the hall, Birdy, Rollo and Robert watch. Morwenna comes to the door and exchanges a look with Rollo that says "It's time." He heads inside.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No, I want to meet the baby!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, please. Go for Mumma.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Why does he get to meet the baby!?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <parenthetical>(harsh whisper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Only God shall meet this baby.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She ushers the kids down the hall.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I will never get used to babies becoming dead and my heart will never stop aching for them to live.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- PRIVY- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy, squatting, pulls the bloody rags from her skirt, then hides them between two floor boards, using a stick to push them deeper still.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I continue to hide my rags so that my father will not make me a wife and a mother. I will keep hiding them over and over, forever.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. ABBEY- COURTYARD- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy enters through a pair of large French doors, into an open courtyard of corridors surrounding a garden.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My mother usually visits Edward at the Abbey this time of year, but she still loses blood from the birth, so my father insists I go in her place. We are too poor to offer the monks any pies anymore. I simply bring myself.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We hear humming. Birdy notices the centerpiece of the courtyard, a sculpture of a truly ripped Jesus on the cross. Birdy stares at him. His abs are a LOT. The humming grows closer and a group of monks round the corner. The camera is high, so we see their shuffling slippers and the tops of their tonsure haircuts. The leader, a handsome salt and pepper haired monk, bows his head and they all do the same.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I always imagined that Edward lived among God fearing nutters and rusty old men who clutched their Bibles to their chests.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As the camera pans down, we see they are not, in fact, old nutters but young virile men. Birdy gasps. They grow closer, singing more prayers as they walk.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Ooo lala! These are monks?? Why has no one told me? I am ever so confused what God is getting out here.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She walks around looking for a place to tuck away and settles on darting into the garden and sitting down by the Jesus sculpture. As the monks pass, one especially handsome dark-haired one notices her- this is EDWARD.</scene_description>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Catherine!?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He nods an apology to an irritated monk and rushes over.</scene_description>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(hissed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Whatever are you doing?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Panicked, Birdy pats the bum of the Jesus sculpture.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Just visiting an old friend!</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Get off Jesus!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ABBEY CLOISTERS- MOMENTS LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy shuffles along under Edward's robe, hugging him from behind. Edward looks ultra-serious in an attempt to hide his stowaway. He nods at another MONK.</scene_description>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Deus sit apud vos.</dialogue>
    <character>MONK</character>
    <dialogue>Deus sit apud vos.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ABBEY BEDROOM- MOMENTS LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy emerges from her brother's robe, panting, and looks around.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>How was I to know that comely young women are a spiritual danger to monks!?</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>You are no danger to anyone but yourself. Does mother heal?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>In body, if not in spirit. Our brute of a father is no help.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Do you know what I find even worse than the pains she bears? That she must worry about us, always. Forever. She can never stop. Being a mother is a terrible job.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She picks up a wooden cross and begins to joust with it.</scene_description>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, please do not joust with our crucified savior.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Are there no better amusements here? Perhaps a sacred sword used to slay a pagan?</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Not a sword in sight.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I do not believe you. If I were a boy you would let me see. Everyone lets boys do everything. Boring, Edward.</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Boredom is for the dull-witted, Bird. You're not dull, are you?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course I'm not dull.</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>How comes your reading? And the diary I have tasked you with?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I write in my diary everyday and read the Bible over and over again.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I know all the important prayers by heart.</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Bird, there is so much more to read than the bible. Even devoted monks tire of that tome. Here, I've a gift for you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He pulls a small gold book from his pocket.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(disappointed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Oh good. A book?</dialogue>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Well, now that I have captured your attention mayhap you will actually read it. It is a book of the saints. Every day, a different saint.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat, as she inspects the book.</scene_description>
    <character>EDWARD</character>
    <dialogue>Promise me you shall read, read and read some more. Write too. Knowing your own story will be your salvation.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Promise?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Morwenna repairs the hem of Birdy's torn dress as she writes in her little book.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mayhap I could be a Saint?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Well, for starters, I believe Saints help their nursemaids with the washing.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Why does Edward want me to read this book? So full of strangers and their woes. Saints are just dinguses I will never actually meet.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy continues to write.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>At the very least, I will become an expert on their gruesome deaths, which are so displeasing that they please me terribly.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What does "defenestration" mean?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy rests her face in her hands, staring practically down the barrel of the camera as she contemplates what to write next.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HERB GARDEN- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks back and forth, extremely focused, wincing. We pan down and see she has set up a line of pointy stones and she is barefoot.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>16th day of October. A mission towards glory.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Whenever Birdy states the date, it loops across the scene in her signature script.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I don't want to be a lady, so perhaps a Saint?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna, hanging wash, looks at her crookedly.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy? Bird, put on your shoes for heaven's sake!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I cannot. If I am to be a saint, I must practice- ouch! I must practice self-sacrifice!</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <parenthetical>(amused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Any other jolly plans for this afternoon?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Why yes. I am denying myself buns. Then I am sleeping with a comb beneath my back.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>For I must emulate Saint Blandina, who was scourged, placed on a red- hot grate, enclosed in a net and thrown before a wild steer who tossed her into the air with his horns.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(gravely)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Tragically, she was killed with a dagger.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>You'll meet a dagger if you don't put your bloody shoes on.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- PRIVY- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>More rags, more stuffing of them in the deepest cracks in the floor using the stick. We see only Birdy's hands pulling the rags from her skirts, pushing the rags down with her stick.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I cannot believe I must bear this with good humor month after month. I would prefer a monthly bath in poo or to wrestle a lion. Ah, to wrestle a lion!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- PRIVY- SAME TIME- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Morwenna keeps watch like a sentinel.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HALLWAY OUTSIDE AISLINN'S CHAMBER-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>LATE MORNING Birdy walks down the hall, holding the recorder she has been given for her lessons. She looks at it hatefully. She is passing her mother's quarters, focused with a quaking rage on the instrument, and is about to crack it over her knee when she hears voices in the room- her parents. The recorder avoids its fate as she stops to listen.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- SAME TIME- LATE</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MORNING Rollo paces, already drunk despite the early hour.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Rollo, why did you not tell me we had nought to spend?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>I want only to be your partner, to stand beside you as lady of this manor--</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>But lady had to have her garlands. And her silver twine. She had to have apples in her roast and I had to keep this family from descending into utter poverty! And now Birdy is our only currency! So we're in real trouble.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HALLWAY OUTSIDE AISLINN'S CHAMBER-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>SAME TIME- LATE MORNING Hearing this, Birdy does attempt destruction of the instrument. It's stronger then she thought and she lets out a yelp of pain, then runs.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>From the high point on the road, we see Birdy watching a wat and daub fight like the one she participated in early on. We don't see it, just the sounds of glee and play and Birdy, alone, clean, listening.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- STREAM- LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sits on the bank while Perkin washes off in the water, alongside young village girls with varied, natural bodies of all shapes, sizes and shades. They play and splash at each other. Birdy stares, confused by seeing slightly more mature female bodies.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Perkin...</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <parenthetical>(suspiciously)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Yes, Bird?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What do you suppose about kissing?</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Suppose how?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Might it not be so foul as we once thought?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Perkin pauses, considering, then throws his soaking, still muddy shirt at her. It lands on her face.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>God's Thumb, it's slimy!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A MAN ON HORSEBACK approaches as they giggle. He is fancy seeming (in modern parlance, a metrosexual) with flowing hair and an obsequious manner.</scene_description>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>Good tidings I bring from Kent, where the weather has been finer than a silk from Kashmir laid out upon a table for twenty! Might I ask where your mistress is?</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Our mistress?</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>Lady Catherine of the manor. The fair cherub I have ridden so far to see...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy swallows, takes a beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>And what are your intentions with our mistress, sir?</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>Indeed, if she is as fair and as decent, as goodly as they tell me, then I...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(coyly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I suppose I shall marry her forthwith.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat, as Birdy processes what is happening.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Marry her? Lady Catherine? Surely you cannot mean our Lady Catherine.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>I do and as I said I have ridden from Kent to see her for myself.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>With no carriage and no manservant, so urgent was it that I see this phantom beauty for myself.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat, to himself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Sorely beating my inner thighs en route.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You needn't bother. Lady Catherine is... well, she is...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>A creature. A vile creature of vomit and hair and snot!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It takes Perkin a beat to understand, but when he does he joins with gusto, nodding vigorously.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>And some say she has a third ear!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>She does.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>Have you seen this third ear? Where?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(no hesitation)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Back of her neck.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>Is it functional?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY / PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Spare.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>But what of the Catherine I have heard about. With ebony trusses that tumble like waterfalls. The Lady Catherine with curves like an archipelago.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Archipelago?</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>What is an archipelago?</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>A small series of little islands I believe.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You've been tricked, sir. It would seem.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <parenthetical>(crestfallen)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Quite cruelly so... To dash a man's dreams as such...</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Sir you best be off before Lady Catherine comes and bares her ugly head.</dialogue>
    <character>MAN ON HORSEBACK</character>
    <dialogue>I want to thank you actually.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Perkin)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're very dashing.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Birdy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You on the other hand, have been a little churlish if I must say so.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy curtsies.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you very much, sir.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy storms in on her father meandering about the ale cellar inspecting bottles, one already open in his bloated hand.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>I will not sneak you a jug of ale so do not ask it of me.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I demand to know the meaning of this!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Now he knows it's serious.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>The meaning of what?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>A man has come and asked for me by name.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Sounds improbable.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>He hails from Kent.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, yes! Oh, yeeessss.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You must get washed up then.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I've sent him away.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo looks at her, the fate of his home and his reputation lying in her hands.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>You sent him away?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I sent him away. I am not interested in meeting him nor any man with his intentions.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>No! Go to the high road and get him back?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I am afraid he is quite gone. In fact, he galloped away.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo starts to grow red imagining his own future humiliation. He reaches for a long wooden object.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Hand.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He grabs Birdy's hand and begins to slap her across the palm with it. On Birdy's face: she doesn't wail but instead grimaces, refusing to concede any power to her father.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Things girls cannot do.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Birdy lists the following activities we see her wince, once for each impossible dream.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Go on crusades. Cut their hair. Be horse trainers. Laugh very loud. Marry whom they will. Be monks. Drink in ale houses. Go to hangings.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Now, back to her father's attempt at justice.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>You will behave like a lady when the suitors come or we will all be living in the cooper's cellar. Do you understand me!?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Hearing his bellowing, Aislinn enters.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Rollo! Rollo, please stop! I can't bear it!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He stops and looks at his wife.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Do you know your daughter has sent away a perfectly good suitor?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Do not rage, Rollo, over that man. My fathers were kings in Britain long ago. And he is just a simple wool merchant from Kent.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Sweet Judas, lady, think you we can eat your royal ancestors or plant your family name? The man stinks of gold!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Rollo, please. She is young yet. She cannot even bear children.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(too emphatic)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>No, I certainly CANNOT!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Just give her some time. Give her some time.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- LATE EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy is writing in her diary.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Just one more day until Uncle George...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A VERY SEXY entrance cue for GEORGE, Birdy's much-hyped uncle! He is returning from the crusades and he is gorgeous- a 24 year old Robert Redford, charming and golden.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>After one man brought doom on horseback, another brings divine hope.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He approaches the manor in chain mail on an actual white horse. Aislinn stands at her window with her spyglass, waving a greeting to her brother. Birdy stands outside the castle, wind blowing her hair, beaming at her incoming uncle.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My uncle is so unlike any other man I know; he has a twinkle in his holy green eyes, a song on his lips and all his teeth.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It's. Too. Perfect.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sits across from George, having combed her hair and worn a clean dress, as they whisper over dinner.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>I cannot believe my only sister's only daughter is now up to my shoulder.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She practically blushes. TEXT ON SCREEN: Uncle George - 28 years of age - Mumma's littlest brother - Fought bravely in the crusades - SO. HANDSOME.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>When I left, you were wearing a diaper with a big wooden pin. A tiny barbarian the size of a toadstool.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She actually blushes.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>My mother tells us you were in the Holy Land, wearing a red cross sewn on a white tunic. Nobly fighting for God and Christ and our King.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>The truth I'm afraid was much less picturesque. My tunic was covered in mud and briars.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>But there was a line of crusaders, Uncle George? Reaching from Jerusalem all the way back to London?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>There was a line indeed.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(his eyes grow distant, the hush of trauma descends)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>But it was a line of my injured brothers, waiting to have their wounds dressed. Some of them died standing there waiting.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He, too, sips from a waist flask, then tucks into a leg of fowl. Meat juice glistens on his lips, but it's not repulsive like when her father eats: it's sexy as fuck. It's magic. It's euphoria. It's first love.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy lies horizontal across her bed in her night clothes while Morwenna turns down her covers. Birdy is playing with a small wooden bear with moving arms and legs.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Will you ever put that little stick away?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It is not a stick! It is a little bear!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(under her breath)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>A gift from George.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Ooohhh, a gift from Geeeooorgie.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Quiet!</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Georgieee.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You are just mad because no one has ever whittled you a gift, most especially not a bear.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <parenthetical>(winking)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>No gifts for poor Morwenna. To bed!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy crawls between the sheets, tucking the bear into her dress as Morwenna blows out the candle.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>If I cannot be a hero, I will love a hero instead. He will tell my father he cannot sell me off this way, and he will fight for me.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- COURTYARD- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>George and Birdy fence playfully, as George teaches Birdy swordplay tricks and they each attempt to get the best of the other. The scene is shot with the camera operating as the opposing Cc, so that George and Birdy each play with the lens as if it is their comrade/foe/buddy. The energy is that of playful home movies as they enter and exit each other's frames, collapse on the ground in defeat and generally relax in a way neither can around other adults.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE HIGH MEADOW- LATER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Aelis, visiting again, and Birdy sit together on Birdy's cloak, talking and talking.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>I am trying to picture him. Does he look much like the archangel Michael?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No dead saint could be as beautiful as he.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>I must see him for myself then!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>If I were to marry, Aelis, I should choose him. If only he were my cousin and not my uncle, true love could prevail.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Aelis, there's a cottage raising this afternoon!</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, you know we'd be whipped.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You get whipped? My father only beats me across the hand.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy hugs Aelis.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Cottage-raising is not for girls with suitors calling.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- HILL- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Half-hidden behind a wall, Birdy watches the villagers in silence.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And so I watch the cottage-raising from the hill. Clean for my suitors but full of dirty rage. I shall never smear myself with mud again and shove Perkin into the ground, I shall never get to see a hanging, I shall never get to have anything like fun, and just because my birthright is to bleed!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- ALL HALLOWS' EVE- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>It's a full on EVENT! The manor is abuzz with holiday spirit as the town is filled with masked dancers and bonfires. The camera follows her in an epic shot as she walks through the crowd-a guy in a devil costume chasing some giggling kids, Robert bobbing for apples from a bucket held by a pretty milk maid.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>I hate this game! What need have I to catch an apple with my mouth!?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You are so pathetic!</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Shut up!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She walks on, smiling and laughing.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Many people are afeared of All Hallow's Eve, of the dead who come back to visit the earth. But the only dead I know are my tiny brothers and sisters who died before they were born.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks alone past excited villagers in wild costumes, dressed as bears and tigers and ghouls. She does not have an elaborate costume except a unicorn horn sewn of burlap fastened to her head with golden braid.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And how could I be afeared of them? I wish they would come visit. It would ease my mother's grieving.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy wanders the graveyard behind the house, gently touching the tiny tombstones of the lost children: Margaret, Edwin, William, Rhys, Rosemary. Behind is the soundtrack of people singing and cheering, growling and playing drums. Her reverie is interrupted when she hears a voice calling to her from over the fence:</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy! Birdy!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy turns to see Aelis, dressed in silk with her hair covered by an ermine-lined hood.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Aelis! Do you like my horn?</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>It's so lovely.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Morwenna sewed it herself!</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>That's so sweet.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Behind Aelis, Uncle George appears as her escort, much to Birdy's surprise.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>George...</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Hello Bird, that's a nice looking crown.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It's a horn!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Off Birdy's surprise,</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>I saw a man with gloves like devil's claws and became frightened! I was hiding behind the hen house when this kind gentleman found me.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>That is my Uncle George, Aelis!</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>The one of whom you have so often spoken?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy blushes.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Yes it must be he. For you said he was kind, and handsome too. A saint.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aelis smiles. George bows.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>I too was a bit shaken by that clawed man- and the mummer with the odd lump upon his face- was that a costume or a terrible natural affliction?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(shaking his head)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We may never know. In any case.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Let me get you both safely back to your chambers.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No, George! We won't go home! We want to see all the mummers and the dancing!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They start to walk back to the manor, each taking one of George's arms. Perkin approaches, covered head to toe in flour.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>BOO!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>George lets out a little yell, shocked by Perkin.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Perkin!</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>I am not Perkin! I have died, Birdy! And now I am just a ghost sent to haunt you until the eeend of your liiife. I am the ghost of Perkin!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He starts to make ghost sounds.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(stiffening)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I will have none of this silliness, goat boy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Perkin looks bruised.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(showing off for George)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I am simply trying to get back to my chamber to read some lovely verse before falling to peaceful sleep and entering dream-land.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Perkin is shocked and starts to back away.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <parenthetical>(cold)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'll leave you to your friends then, Lady Catherine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He runs off, his limping gait exaggerated in the shadowy darkness of the graveyard. Guilt flashes across Birdy's face, but she brushes it away, trying to catch up with George and Aelis.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy and Aelis lie beside each other in bed, their hair spreading on the pillow. Morwenna is asleep and snoring on Birdy's other side, and serving maids sleep on a trundle bed below.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>My father has agreed that I might stay for a fortnight or even two!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(glumly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I wish you had written to ask. How did you know it was convenient for me? I have a great many chores.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aelis looks bruised. Birdy rolls away.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Why am I being so unkind? I feel unsettled. Was it the eel pie?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GARDENS- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A marmalade cat is darting through the gardens. Right behind it is Birdy, reaching for it desperately.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Here, crazy orange man! Come with me! I have a lovely home for you!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Coming around a corner Birdy reaches again for the cat, getting close, but it escapes her grasp. When she looks up she sees Aelis and George, partially concealed by the trellised platform, kissing passionately. This is no amateur kiss. They are IN IT, what we would call in modern parlance HOOKING UP. WHAT THE HECK!!!</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>It is definitely not the eel pie.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aelis pulls back and George smiles dreamily into her eyes, lovesick and almost dorky with passion. Aelis turns away coyly (she's good at this!) Birdy gasps and runs in the other direction. They don't notice because they are loved up and horny, so they won't see Birdy's face crumple into tears and her first heartbreak happen in real time.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- MOMENTS LATER-</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>AFTERNOON Birdy bursts through the doors, weeping, to find Morwenna and her mother waiting for her with a bucket of bloody rags. Morwenna has a foreboding, guilty look.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Catherine, your father has found your monthly rags. Stuffed inside the privy. They were peeking from the cracks, Bird.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>They were not mine!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna stares at her, apologetic.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(defeated)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>How did you know?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Catherine, I am your mother, and the lady of this manor. There is naught I do not see and naught I do not know. It is useless to stuff your rags, no matter how deep.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I have tried to protect you as best I can. But your father has been waiting for his chance to make you a wife, and to bring propriety to this manor. I can deny him no more.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Do I not have a say?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(understanding but firm)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Everything has its time, its season. Birdy, it is your season, my love.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy stares at both women, the rage growing in her stomach so her shoulders shake. She takes a moment, deciding who to lambaste, and settles on Morwenna.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Traitor! Liar! Fiend!</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Devil! Pauper! Scum!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Catherine, stop.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I hate you! I HATE YOU!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy charges the full weight of her body at Morwenna, who can take it. Morwenna fairly but firmly throws Birdy back on the bed, where she collapses weeping.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>That is enough!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The two adult women share a look as they exit. The exterior lock clicks shut, and Birdy is alone, trapped. She sits at her writing table and begins to scribble furiously.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I have not a friend in the world. I have been cruel to Perkin. Morwenna has betrayed me. Uncle George, who brought gaiety and wonder into my life, loves Aelis, who is a weasel. And now my time is here. I ripen like a peach for plucking.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She weeps more and more, then stiffens with resolve, looking at her cage full of chirping birds. Birdy opens her book of Saints and places her head in her hands to think...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A wooden bathtub is set up. Morwenna bathes a cold and distant, quietly rageful Birdy in anticipation of her first suitor.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>25th day of November. I feel as though no part of me is my own.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <parenthetical>(clucking, ignoring Catherine's icy demeanor)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Your father told me to scrub every cranny of you before the guests arrive.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy shivers in the cold bath water, refusing to answer.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Would I choose to die rather than be forced to marry? I do not think either option appealing.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Nor fair.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A beat. Birdy dips her fingers in the black soap and makes a stripe across her face. Her eyes light up with an idea.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The family is eating with a suitor- Robert, Aislinn, Rollo, George. SIR JOHN from Normandy, a sad bloated man in a bad wig made of fox fur, enjoys a Cornish hen.</scene_description>
    <character>SIR JOHN</character>
    <dialogue>Where is the girl?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: John of Normandy - whale fat titan Offering: - many gold ducats - lavender fields - a curly-haired cow</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My lord, she is just making herself beautiful for you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy appears at the top of the stairs, smeared with streaks of black soap, wearing twigs in her hair like a bog witch. George cannot help but let out a guffaw when he sees her.</scene_description>
    <character>SIR JOHN</character>
    <dialogue>Wow I like this!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Surprised, Rollo and the family start clapping. Sir John joins them.</scene_description>
    <character>SIR JOHN</character>
    <dialogue>Entertainment! For me?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>SIR JOHN</character>
    <dialogue>Bravo! Very nice.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Now where is the girl?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(pointing)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That is the girl!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo slaps an emotionless Birdy's palm.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GARDENS- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sits across from a suitor on a bench (ROLF, blond and proper. Not so ugly and well fed.) She looks lovely and composed.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Now may I ask something of you, my Lord?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLF</character>
    <parenthetical>(shyly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Anything, Lady Catherine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She pulls her bird cage from under the bench.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Will you prove your love to me by wearing my birds upon your face and arms?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLF</character>
    <dialogue>To wear them?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She opens the door to the cage and places a pigeon on his head. Then another. A third poops down her hand as she passes it to him and she wipes the shit across his garment.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Another suitor gone. Another beating across the hands from her father. There is a grim routine to these, and that's how she receives them. Rollo looks into her eyes as he strikes her palm.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>If I still had Aelis to speak to, I might be less lonely in my beatings. But she has George, and I have smarting palms.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GARDENS- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sitting beside another suitor, GODFREY, this guy is close to her age with flowing dark hair and a forest green velvet coat.</scene_description>
    <character>CUTE ONE</character>
    <dialogue>Might you share some of your passions? Hobbies? Your soul's deepest inclination?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Godfrey of Glardenmere - Son of some other lord (WHO CARES) Offering: - a cellar of finely aged cheeses - ruby comb - smelly armpits!</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Alright then. I listen to God when he speaks to me.</dialogue>
    <character>CUTE ONE</character>
    <dialogue>A pious girl.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(smiling widely)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Usually he tells me to form an army five thousand women strong that will gut all men, and leave their entrails as offerings.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She smiles demonically. She has blacked out her front teeth.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Another suitor gone. Rollo watches as Birdy washes the floors with Lye on a rag. She gasps- it burns her hands.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Dirty devil. Snail's guts. Fanny in a hat. No purse is good enough for these vile suitors or my viler father.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo walks away. Birdy throws her rag after him.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Farting drumsticks!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo and Aislinn sit with another suitor. TEXT ON SCREEN: Balthasar of the Low Country - Silk Merchant Offering: - SO. MUCH. SILK.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Our beautiful daughter is going to sing for you.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(beaming with pride)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's her own composition. She wrote it herself.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy appears and sings terribly for the suitor, smiling beatifically as she squeaks out hideous.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>There's a dragon in the privy. He looks at me with pity and tells me that he wants to eat my eyebrows!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy puts her hands right in the suitor's face.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy. Don't touch!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Balthasar shakes his head at Rollo: "No, not this one. Not for me, sir."</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- MOMENTS LATER- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo locks the door, leaving Birdy in the cellar alone. She shakes the handle, but she is trapped.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You can't!</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>I can.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She slams the walls, kicks a cask of ale, shrieks at the top of her lungs but no one hears her. TIMECUT:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy is bored, sipping some ale. She hates it.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Blech. Rotten.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy tries to put the cork back in but can't. She's trying all kinds of ways and has resorted to trying to sit on the cork to get it into the bottle when the door creaks open- she jumps back but it is MEG, our dear dairymaid, holding a large ring of keys and a plate of bread and butter.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, MEG!</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Shhh.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(exaggerated whisper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I have stolen the keys off a sleeping Ferth the gate man! Here, the heel of the bread and some butter!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Meg, I knew it. You have always been a rebel.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And a true friend. Perhaps the only one I have left in the world.</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, m'lady.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(loudly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Not m'lady! Never m'lady!</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Alright, m'lady.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(catching herself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I am sorry. I am sorry.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy. Just Birdy.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! We pan along the mantle: it is decorated with small fir trees and home-made wreaths. Panning along the table: What would once have been a massive Christmas feast is now a single roast duck, some loaves of bread, boiled eggs, roast carrots and mashed beets. Rollo's hound runs through frame.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Christ's day. When I was young, father had a Golden Jesus that pissed wine. Now, we just cut the brown parts from the carrots.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn adjusts the decorations and hangs glass ornaments carefully according to Rollo's instructions.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>We want the stars to really sparkle as if the heavens have opened up right here in the great hall, so if we can get them at an angle... just so.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>My love, does this strike your fancy?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My angel, when you see the light hit the glass and twinkle you will know.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A Christmas play is being mounted. The townspeople have worked for months on the show and Perkin can be seen as one of the three wise men, along with ALF and GERD fidgeting, with a straw beard tied under his chin. MEG is the angel Gabriel, and someone else is dressed as a star. The LAUNDRESS, not a virgin by any means, her breasts dangling, is the Virgin Mary. The cook is Joseph.</scene_description>
    <character>COOK</character>
    <dialogue>Fear not! I bring great news. To you a savior is born.</dialogue>
    <character>LAUNDRESS</character>
    <dialogue>A child?! It cannot be, for I am just a simple young virgin!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The audience roars with laughter. Morwenna finds it intensely hilarious.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Why is it so funny?</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>She's no more a virgin than I am a princess.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy surreptitiously pulls her diary out and scribbles: IMPORTANT: FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT A VIRGIN MIGHT BE. As the angel Gabriel, Meg sings a sweet song of blessing over the couple and their baby. It sounds lovely, resounding through the great hall. Rollo sits beside Aislinn, Robert behind them, and he sways to the music, transfixed. He bobs along, conducting a bit with one finger, utterly involved, emotional even. Birdy sees a couple of PEASANT MEN watch him from a corner. One nudges the other and points at Rollo. They laugh at his expression of emotion, one does a small impression. Birdy registers this and stiffens up, oddly protective and humiliated on his behalf. She looks back to the stage. As Perkin helps to carry a large wreath of golden stars to the manger, Birdy tears up. She smiles at Perkin, clapping just for him. He sees her briefly.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My eyes prick and water. Perhaps I am allergic to cheer. After all, a diary is no substitute for a friend.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Perkin smiles, for the first time in a while. Birdy mouths:</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He looks cross.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(louder)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I am sorry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He shakes his head, no.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(full volume)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Perkin, I AM SORRY!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He laughs out loud. In his distracted excitement, he does a little happy dance for Birdy and lets go of his goat. The goat aggressively approaches the baby Jesus, which is just a little black dog in swaddling. Seeing the other animal, the goat bolts. Whining, the little black dog follows. Perkin runs behind them, dropping his staff with a clatter and his beard falling to the ground, still smiling and waving at a happy Birdy.</scene_description>
    <character>LAUNDRESS</character>
    <parenthetical>(looking at empty stage)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Me best line was coming!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy and Aelis sit in their winter cloaks near a burning fire, doing their embroidery, Cornethia watching them coolly. They whisper back and forth.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <parenthetical>(whisper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Will you be angry with me forever?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(bitter whisper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Perhaps I shall be, Aelis.</dialogue>
    <character>CORNETHIA</character>
    <dialogue>Ladies, we learn best when we close our mouths and open our ears.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They pause, then Aelis whispers more quietly yet more urgently.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>But I have done nothing wrong!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy ignores her, focusing on her tangled embroidery.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Except for stealing the man I loved with all my heart. And behind my back, no less! To my mind, you are a deceitful coward!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aelis bursts into tears, loud and intense. Cornethia offers the hem of her habit for Aelis to cry into.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Aelis, please.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I disavow my terrible mouth. She's a beast, my mouth, and she acted without my consent!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy slaps herself across the face.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Bad Birdy! Bad.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aelis grabs her hand, stopping her.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, I am to be married.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(stricken)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>To George?</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>No, to a boy of only nine. George has to marry some horrid old widow named Ethelfritha. And now you will not even be my friend!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aelis rushes out. Birdy looks at the nun wearily.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>For the first time in my life, I am choking on my words. My heart has been shaved and boiled like a parsnip. George is to be married. George is to be married. George. Is. To. Be. Married.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks at the nun wearily.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I suppose you're not taking joiners at the convent.</dialogue>
    <character>CORNETHIA</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Pity.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy wakes early, opening the shutters dutifully and struggling to put her dress on with care.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>6th day of January. Twelve-ninety- one is upon us, I have seen the consequences of my horrid temperament: friendlessness, boredom, purgatory. So, I embrace a new resolve. I will try my best to be a lady, to act and speak as beautifully as my mother does, to make my parents and god divinely happy.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Let me help you, Bird.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I will dress myself, I am a woman now! Stand back!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She continues to struggle. Morwenna watches, amused.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>It's back to front...</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It's not! Is it?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy passes the dreaded Robert, who is drinking a mug of ale and watching his horse be re-shod. She kisses his cheek sweetly. He is confounded.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Disobedience has gotten me nowhere.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(sotto)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What in God's name?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GARDEN- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy strolls through the garden in one of her better dresses, posed in a lady-like way that doesn't suit her, with a badly- attempted fancy hairdo falling around her face. She is fanning herself with a small fan of her mother's.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And who can fight an inevitable fate, anyhow?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She shivers against the winter air, collapsing back into regular Birdy posture, but when a young male gardener passes she stiffens up and starts again.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I resisted marriage and was dealt only pain. If I embrace it, mayhap there is even... pleasure?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sits beside FULK, a grotty loser with a bowl cut who at least has all his teeth. His father, FULK THE ELDER, is helping orchestrate it all.</scene_description>
    <character>FULK THE ELDER</character>
    <dialogue>Lady Catherine, do you enjoy riding?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(genuinely trying)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I do, my lord.</dialogue>
    <character>FULK THE ELDER</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps you and my son might ride together whilst we are here? Will your horses get along?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>My horse has a lovely and even temperament. Uh... yours sir?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As the adults talk, Birdy and young Fulk start whispering, like the only two teenagers at a grownup party.</scene_description>
    <character>FULK</character>
    <dialogue>Do you not hate having to dress up for these meetings?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Fulk the Younger - Son of Fulk the Elder Offering: - plot of healthy farmland - 6 hound puppies - a sweaty handshake</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(sign of relief)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Lord, yes. This dress is so tight I can barely breathe. Is yours tight?</dialogue>
    <character>FULK</character>
    <dialogue>I suppose this ones not so bad.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo clinks a tin cup, disrupting the teen convo.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(oddly composed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It is a tremendous occasion to have you here, Lord Fulk and Elder Fulk.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Especially as we have just learned the joyful news that my wife is expecting.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn smiles. Birdy goes pale.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>This is tremendous!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What did you say, father?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Catherine, are you excited to welcome your brother?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>But the midwife has said it may bleed her out this time!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, not now.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(hissed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's not the time. It's never the time.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Are you trying to kill her!? Do you want to prove yourself a man that much? It is going to die. THEY ALL DIE!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>You didn't die.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't die but the rest do!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy slams the table and leaves.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(embarrassed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Lord Fulk.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Other Fulk, she must have come down with a fever this eve, a light pox has been going 'round Stonebridge.</dialogue>
    <character>ELDER FULK</character>
    <dialogue>Pox? We best depart.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Fulks stand to exit.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>It's not a big pox!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Only a small pox!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- PRIVY- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy, weeping, rushes to the privy, holding a candle to light her way. When she arrives, Fulk the younger is waiting as well, holding his travel lantern aloft. They look at each other awkwardly, like teenagers waiting for the bathroom at a concert, which they basically are.</scene_description>
    <character>FULK</character>
    <dialogue>Hello.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I despise you.</dialogue>
    <character>FULK</character>
    <parenthetical>(confused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I thought we got on quite well.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She bangs on the privy.</scene_description>
    <character>ELDER FULK (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Let me pass my meal in peace!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I'll leave you in peace.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks behind the back of the privy, chucks her candle at the straw rushes around the base, and runs.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy watches the privy burn as Lord Fulk and Elder Fulk gallop away. The light from the burning privy illuminates her rage.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My new leaf was short-lived. But my rebellion will be forever.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The villagers run toward the burning privy with buckets of water. Rollo stands uselessly behind them, shrieking.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>For the sake of all that is holy, run! Help! Do something!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He turns to a peasant slopping water ineffectually on the privy.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>What are you trying to do, baptize it? Drown it! Are you familiar at all with the element of fire? Famously the enemy of water? It needs to be EXTINGUISHED, not drooled upon like a gumming infant!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo sees the Fulks gallop away.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>FULKS!!!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat, to peasants)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Why is that bucket so small?!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The villagers continue to battle the flames as the fire rages on. Birdy watches, stone-faced.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- ALE CELLAR- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo shakes Birdy by the shoulders of her dress, practically lifting Birdy her off the ground in a rage. She hides her fear and lets her body go limp as he shakes.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Do you not understand the danger you have placed us in? For once, Catherine, you could attempt to set an example for our tenants, for our villagers! To show them what a lady can be when she sets her heart to it! Perhaps you might try that, rather than bringing shame and mockery upon our home!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I am not a lady, sir, thus cannot mimic one.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Sit down.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She does.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(angry, close-talking)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>When I was a year younger than you, I inherited a town in shambles. My father had gambled away every pane of glass, every brick, every sack of grain. And I have used every ounce of my cunning and strength to bring prosperity back to Stonebridge.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Your cunning and strength, sir?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>And other qualities, yes.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Is that why I saw the tapestries going to auction? The finest cups being packed up and shipped away because of your cunning and strength?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He is hot with rage as he pounds the wall, hurting his hand.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>I your father. I am your father.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat, soft)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And if I say you shall be married, then married you shall be.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The servants deck the hall for a massive festivity- there are floral garlands and wreathes with golden angels perched on top of them. It's a level of opulence this home hasn't seen in seasons, but the taste is too wild and feminine to be Rollo's. Birdy sullenly watches the decorations go up, sulking and popping the halo off an angel.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Fifth day of February. George weds today. Some marry for love, some marry for money, some for duty, and some, like George, seem not to know why they marry.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy and her family watch George get married to ETHELFRITHA, a messy, manic but beguiling woman in her early fifties. It is a Christian wedding and FATHER HUY, the village priest, officiates. In traditional fashion, Father Huy meets the couple at the door of the great hall. The crowd follows behind them, forming a semi-circle around them. Pregnant Aislinn dabs her eyes, emotional. Rollo is less moved. Robert is basically picking his nose and inspecting it, and basically means literally.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Does anyone present know any reason why this man and woman should NOT be joined in holy matrimony?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo lets out a cough. Father Huy looks at him.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Since there are no objections, will you take this man to be your husband?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Ethelfritha Rose Splinter of Devon. - 48 years of age - widow who whittles - eats sugar with her fingers - richer than my father</scene_description>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <parenthetical>(looking around happily)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I... I will?</dialogue>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>And will you take this woman to be your wife?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <parenthetical>(tired)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I will.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>George pulls some gold coins from his pocket and places them on Father Huy's open liturgy book, along with the ring, which Father Huy blesses under his breath. George takes the rings and touches it to Ethelfritha's thumb.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>In nomine Patris.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>In nomine Patris.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>George touches it to her first finger.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Et filli.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Et filli.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Goerge touches it to her second finger.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Et spiritus sancti.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Et spiritus sancti.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And he places it on her third finger.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Amen.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Amen.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Father Huy blesses them, Aislinn whispers to Birdy.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Does your uncle not look dashing, Bird? And I remember when he was crawling about the floor in his christening gown!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy sulks in her pew, despite having a stunning new green dress with ermine accents. She looks, for the very first time, like a rose-bitten WOMAN but her frown says otherwise. Aelis watches from a separate pew. Her parents are bickering over her head. She tries to cover her weeping eyes with her hood but there isn't enough hood to do the job.</scene_description>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>You tell your daughter no crying. She should get used to it. She has a fine young man there who is going to grow up into a fine specimen.</dialogue>
    <character>BEATRICE</character>
    <dialogue>She has a nine year old boy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Standing next to Aelis is a little boy (her husband), staring absently ahead and holding her hand. TEXT ON SCREEN: Lord Suncerk of Dunkerk - 9 years of age - loves hide and seek, naps, and soft foods - Aelis's new husband Birdy looks at Aelis, then back at sad George. She cannot bear to watch any of this and darts out while her father is taking a secret swig from a flask, grinning absently.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks the village. It is cold and misty- warmth glows from inside houses but she is all alone. Her sombre contemplation is interrupted when she steps on something squishy.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Corpus Bones! Must my world always be peppered with shit?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A GUY of about eighteen, who is pushing a wheelbarrow full of leather mittens, hears her.</scene_description>
    <character>MITTEN SELLER</character>
    <dialogue>A mouth to shame a pirate!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She notices (any of us would notice) that he is cute and she bows her head, gathering her bravery.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I am endeavoring to find the best curse of them all. Is it Corpus Bones? God's Thumbs? Or just a simple "Satan and all his minions!"</dialogue>
    <character>MITTEN SELLER</character>
    <dialogue>I personally go in for "death by frying pan!"</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy giggles.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You are selling mittens?</dialogue>
    <character>MITTEN SELLER</character>
    <dialogue>It grows colder and colder and so I travel from town to town, looking for people whose fingers shiver.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I have not a coin to my own name, sir.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I am but a servant.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>MITTEN SELLER</character>
    <dialogue>A servant in fancy dress, though.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>If you have no funds, then a kiss will do.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Death by frying pan!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I cannot kiss you, sir, for... I have never kissed anyone before. I would be beat with the rod.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He laughs sweetly.</scene_description>
    <character>MITTEN SELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Than can I kiss you and take all the blame?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He grins. She looks down at the mass of mittens. She takes a step forward, closes her eyes and waits. He takes a long time to lean in- wha feels like years- and she opens one eye as she receives a kiss lightly on the lips. Not too long but not so short as to mean nothing.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>That was it? That was what made George and Aelis go so mad?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He grins, hands her the mittens and is off, humming to himself.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Well. He looks rather pleased with himself.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She shrugs, slipping one mitten on to see if they fit.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- LATER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A group of women are dancing an ornate dance in a ring, their dresses contrasting shades of silk so that they resemble a sort of Mondrian painting by way of Coachella. This is our modern unisex version of the Carole dance, a dance done at Medieval weddings. We move through them to Birdy, at a long table, playing with her new mittens.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Might I really count that as my first kiss?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I suppose I would like to, especially if it's the only one I'll ever choose to have myself.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy is seated beside Ethelfritha, who eats a fish clean off the bones while keeping one hand linked through George's arm. Birdy watches Ethelfritha with disdain- the food bits on her cheek, the frizz of her hair, her wrinkled sleeves. Ethelfritha notices Birdy noticing her and leans over.</scene_description>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>I paid for the festivities out of my own pocket, you know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy doesn't speak.</scene_description>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>That's one thing husbands are good for. Well, dead husbands anyway. It's very convenient when they die wealthier than when you wed them, though still rather sad, I suppose.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>We haven't had a party like this in months.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Oh dear.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>We have no money left, unlike you. There's so much food tonight that I've lost my appetite.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Or maybe love just makes me ill.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Who said anything of love?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks intrigued.</scene_description>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Do I believe your uncle George loves me? No, I do not. But he will protect me, as only a husband can protect a wife. I inherit his title and I hear he's good with a sword. And in turn, he has land to call his own, something his family could not provide despite their title. It is a perfect trade. Plus, he's gorgeous. You know, in a childish way.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>But do you not want to love somebody?</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>I have other fish to fry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Uncle George is Rollo-style wasted and it's sad to watch. He gets up and wanders down the table, picking up bottles of wine to check for remaining drops. When he finds a half-full bottle, he chugs. Birdy watches him.</scene_description>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <parenthetical>(eerily tuned in)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You are lucky, little bird, for you have wings. But you must learn to harness them, not to flap all about and crash to the floor.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy pauses and reflects on this. Down the table Birdy notices Aelis, sitting with her nine year old husband.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Might I excuse myself a moment?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Aunt Ethelfritha?</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>But of course, little Bird. Just don't try and fly the coop.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks purposefully toward Aelis, watching the adults who are not acting very adult. When she reaches her friend, she stops, standing vulnerably straight.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I wish you the same things you wish for yourself.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <parenthetical>(loud, above the din)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(hesitant, shy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I... I wish your happiness, Aelis. I am so sorry that I ever said otherwise.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(quiet)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Since we quarreled, I have only missed you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(even quieter)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And now, there is so much to tell. I hath only two words: mitten man!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A long, agonizing beat. Aelis considers, then throws her arms around Birdy. The two girls rock in each other's arms.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Ever since you moved away I have been so lonely and unlucky!</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>And ever since I moved away I have wondered why nobody is as funny as my Bird!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The nine year old smiles at them and interjects, clueless.</scene_description>
    <character>NINE YEAR OLD HUSBAND</character>
    <dialogue>Would you like to see my doll? He has a turnip for a head.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No, thank you.</dialogue>
    <character>NINE YEAR OLD HUSBAND</character>
    <parenthetical>(to himself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>How silly.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Who are you?</dialogue>
    <character>NINE YEAR OLD HUSBAND</character>
    <dialogue>Why, I am her husband of course!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The girls burst into hysterics, as if they're making fun of a kid who is a few years behind them in school, only it's Aelis's husband.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- LATER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>After the party is the after party! The event is raging, everyone drunk on Ethelfritha's rich lady wine. At their wedding seats, Ethelfritha slides her head onto George's shoulder. He chugs his wine. She stares at him, pouring him some more. He chugs that. She giggles. A beat.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <parenthetical>(drunk)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What do you want from me?</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>What do you want for yourself?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A truly disgusting MALE GUEST (SHAGGY BEARD) starts making waves: he's a bearded, troll-like nightmare, belching, chasing serving maids with his tongue wagging, giving a wet willy to a girl who is tidying the flowers. He notices Robert's lurcher dog, which is excitable and jumping, and he delivers a swift kick to its gut. The dog whimpers, shocked, and wanders off. Shaggy Beard stands on the table...</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Quiet! Silence!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Then bends over and loudly FARTS.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>I'll blow this shit-hole down! I'm the seventh richest man in Yorkshire and I want to fornicate!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He chases after female guests.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Adults call me insolent, but have they ever met their own drunken friends? Bleh!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>George and Ethelfritha ride off in a cart with colorful ribbons hanging, as the servants and peasants wave goodbye from the road, banging pots and pans. Birdy watches, waving, not so sad as she once seemed.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Do you not love a wedding with every beat of your heart?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(crinkling her nose)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I do not. But how strange, that I should like the woman who has taken George from us!</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Life is quite a shock, Bird.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ethelfritha smiles and pats his back, utterly free, an example to Birdy and to them all. George waves meekly then vomits off the side of the cart.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>That vomit was yet another shock.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy, her hair in fresh plaits, sits at breakfast across from her father, mother, the maybe, possibly, not-so- abominable Robert and... that awful male guest? The man glares at Robert. Robert glares back.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Good morning, little bird.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She doesn't respond.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Perplexingly pleasant.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Why does this shaggy-bearded cretin remain?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The man chews a boiled egg, bits hanging from his sagging jaw and sparse hairs. He must be a Medieval age , aka a age 52.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Lord Murgaw, do you know that Catherine spins the finest yarn in Stonebridge?</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>I do not care much for fabrics. No, I would dance in the nude if it were not a sin.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(confused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And what is it you like to do, my Lord? The bit where you follow an animal using a sort of pointed... ahem...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Arrow? As in hunting?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>I know about hunting. I was thinking more along the lines of when men use their bodies to, er...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Climb trees? That's one I'm excellent at, father.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>I collect rare lizard skins and play puzzles, one piece a night. Moderation in every area except the carnal.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The guest stares at Birdy, who is unaware of any tension. Rollo, meanwhile, is horrified.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What's carnal? Car-nal. It is a funny word.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>A funny word. That's all.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Something you should talk about with mom, she might know...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rollo relaxing in a throne-like chair. It's clear Birdy, despite all her spying, has hardly ever entered this room and regards it with a hushed reverie.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes father?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My beloved daughter. My sweetest girl. My only raven-haired lass.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Who do you speak of? I am your daughter, God help me, but hardly beloved. So who is it you address?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Her father smiles.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My lady of Lithgow. Your bridegroom awaits you and none of your tricks will profit you this time. You've reached the end of the charade and you will move forward and out.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>The guest? The man they call Shaggy Beard? Is my betrothed?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Be respectful, Catherine- his name is Lord John Murgaw the Eighth, and he is the last, and blessedly most wealthy, suitor.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy gasps.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Is that all sounding satisfactory?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy tries to speak but can only stutter. Unable to summon words, Birdy runs from the room and into the hall, panting.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>He is not a man. He is a mottled troll and should live in a cave. A murderer does not deserve such punishment. It cannot... it will not be!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The family is gathered around an elegant lunch spread, with Shaggy Beard present. They are eating meat pie and courgettes shaved into flowers- fancy foods for their fancy guest. Birdy eats in silence.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Luckily, I am most experienced at outwitting suitors.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She stares at her food glumly.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>So, Catherine can be prone to fits of silence. Right, my lady?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(curt)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>She speaks when she wishes and is a great deal of fun most of the time.</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>I can only imagine how delightful you were when your husband first procured you. Bold, playful, but dutiful. Exactly my sort of woman.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo laughs uncomfortably. Aislinn winces- she will tolerate this only because she has to.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>The only women I cannot abide by: criers and those with liver spots.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Just then the cook brings out a large cooked pig with an apple in its mouth.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Ah, the prize pig.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Made with my good mother's recipe.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks at it and after a beat of scheming...</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, criers? I am an expert crier, since the day I was born.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy begins to wail and flail over the pig's corpse.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Nooo, not Jiminy. They've killed Jiminy.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(louder wailing)</parenthetical>
    <character>THE ONLY FRIEND I HAD. JIMINNNY.</character>
    <dialogue>AND PIGS CANNOT GO TO HEAVEN!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo and Robert look shocked.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(laughing, confounded)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Who in God's name is Jiminy?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Shaggy Beard looks at Catherine.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(through bites of newly cut meat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>So, Catherine, am I to believe the pig was a good friend of yours?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy flashes him a demonic smile then oinks at him, hoping this display will do the job.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(about the pig and Birdy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Spicy. I like it!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>TEXT ON SCREEN: Sir John Henry Murgaw aka Shaggy Beard - wheat salesman -landlord - hideous mottled troll Offering: - filthy stinking riches</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy wanders the high grass looking carefully for something. When she finds it, she grins and scoops it into a tin mug.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>In Rollo's man cave, where guests are put up, Shaggy Beard is being dressed by his MANSERVANT. He is in his undergarments, coughing vociferously, when there is a knock at the door.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Who goes there?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(sweetly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Tis I, Lady Catherine.</dialogue>
    <character>MANSERVANT</character>
    <dialogue>Ahhh. Your sweet wench, sir.</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Do not call my sweet future wife a wench, you fool.</dialogue>
    <character>MANSERVANT</character>
    <dialogue>So sorry, sir. I was simply... I was only... I was just...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Shaggy Beard laughs, as if delighted to have put the fear of god in the guy. The manservant laughs too, half relief and half terror. The Manservant opens the door. Birdy bows.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>I was not expecting to reveal my skivvies to you until our wedding day.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>And why must we dabble in formality, m'lord, when we all know that very soon what's mine is yours and yours is mine?</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(looking her up and down)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Indeed it is and indeed it will be.</dialogue>
    <character>MANSERVANT</character>
    <dialogue>Indeed, it is and--</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(sharply)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Too many bloody voices in this room!</dialogue>
    <character>MANSERVANT</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. Mine being the problem.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I hear your joints ache, and so I have prepared you a traditional Stonebridge poultice.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She extends the plate.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Simply cake it over your elbows and knees and let it absorb beneath the layers of your clothing, and let it soak into your bones.</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>You are even more considerate than you are beautiful.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Good day, my Lords.</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Good day, my Lady.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy curtsies and exits.</scene_description>
    <character>MANSERVANT</character>
    <dialogue>Considerate, beautiful, and she curtsies! The whole package.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Manservant picks up and smells Birdy's poultice and cannot hide his disgust.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Ah, my finest work yet! I can taste my freedom.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy, Perkin, Gerd, Alf and Meg do a medieval version of the limbo. Meg and Alf, making eyes at each other, hold a stick as Gerd sings and Perkin attempts to shimmy under it.</scene_description>
    <character>ALF</character>
    <dialogue>Don't touch the devil's toothpick!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Perkin truly is my heart's brother, and so we managed to resolve our troubles with a good old fashioned arm wrestle which I won fair and square.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Meg calls to Birdy to hold the other end of the stick and she obliges.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Meg?</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Birdy?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What really is a virgin?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Meg laughs, shyly, and drops the stick mid-limbo, causing Gerd to fall on his ass. As the boys all wrestle, Meg whispers the answer to Birdy. We hear selected words: his man- sword... push... in and out... smush... done...</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I thought a virgin was when God made you pregnant?</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Oh no, that was only that one virgin.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks horrified.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- HERB GARDEN- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy walks alone in one of the nice capes her parents had made in order to make her seem like hot property. She is breathing the cool air in big gulps.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>That is what a virgin is? I had no idea what I was asking.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She stops and closes her eyes, trying to ignore her problems, when one comes up behind her: Shaggy Beard.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Lady Catherine...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He quickens his pace to catch her.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(slowing)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Lady Catherine, might I join you?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(lowering his tone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You are the reason that I stink of shit.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(smiling)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>If the shoe fits...</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>You thought you could outsmart me with tomfoolery, right? But what you didn't bargain for is that I. Like. The. Chase.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Catherine looks confused and scared as Shaggy Beard leans in.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Tomorrow I shall give your father the marriage purse, a large sum of gold for him. But this is for you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He hands her a pouch of silver coins.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>And when you spend that first piece of silver on something pretty, remember that it is you finally saying yes to me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy, totally without recourse, pops Shaggy Beard in the nose and runs.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>He will not be able to marry me for I will not spend the coins, just angrily hoard them.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He touches his smarting nose- a thin trickle of blood- and grins. He's got a feisty one on the line.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy is running, her fancy cape flapping, the camera close on her face and pulling her. Rollo and Robert follow, shouting. They all run the same way, their limbs flailing, more related than they want to be. Birdy pauses, catches her breath, her eyes fiery with angry disbelief. Eyeing her father, Birdy simply holds her hands out, asking for her palms to be whipped. But instead, Rollo just stands there.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Why don't you whack me? That's what you'd really like, is it not?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo is shocked- he hates hearing this from his daughter. Does she not understand that he punishes her to make her a more successful member of society?</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Put your hands behind your back. Stand up straight.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(cold)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You must pack your things at once. The lord has officially proposed.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>You need to leave here.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No. No. No.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>YES! Birdy, I cannot play these games! I am tired. I AM TIRED!</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Respect your father!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(begging)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Please. Just let me stay to meet the baby.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>The baby does not come for months yet.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Please.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she is weeping)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I just want to meet the baby. I must meet the baby. I have to meet the baby.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A beat.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Fine. I will tell Lord Lithgow you are finishing lessons in keeping the home. But the moment-</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>The moment!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo pushes Robert's head away. Enough.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>The moment the babe is here, then you are not.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The men walk away as if they haven't just ruined her life.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy flees up the hill, where Perkin is tending his goats.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Perkin! PERKIN!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He turns to her.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy? Why are you wailing so? Are you possessed by a demon?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She grabs him around the neck, weeping. He's taken aback by the rough physical affection and pats her awkwardly.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Perkin. We must marry.</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>You'd make a sorry bride in this state, Birdy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy pulls away, her mind racing with plans.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>All we have to do is get married tomorrow in the village and only Morwenna and Meg and the pigs have to be there. I shall be Lady Perkin and your goats shall be our children--</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy! Birdy, stop! I do not want to marry you!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You have to marry me! My life hangs in the balance and you refuse me?</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>And what of my life Birdy? My plans? Have you ever asked what I dream of when I lay my head down at night? No!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>If I was fair of face like Aelis, you'd marry me.</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>No, Birdy! It's not about being fair-faced!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What's it about then?</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know. I just don't want to marry you or Aelis or Meg or Morwenna or any other woman God has or shall put on this earth.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>What, would you marry a MAN instead!?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Perkin looks stunned. She has taken him by such surprise that his ability to hide the truth is rendered obsolete. It's clear on his face that yes, what she's said is true. In a profound and nameless way, Birdy understands. She hurls herself at Perkin and hugs him tight. After a moment of resistance, he hugs back. They cling to each other desperately, each caught in their own tiny hell. Birdy cradles his face.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>We must run away, Perkin. Run faraway and never comeback.</dialogue>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Birdy. That is always your answer. Do you not see? You would like to ride into the crusades, but you are a lady. I would like to be a great scholar, yet I cannot even read. We do not get to choose what we do. Life does not care about us- we are given our stations until death.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This is too much for Birdy and she collapses, panting. Perkin sits down beside her, laying a hand on her back, and begins to sing- the same song as earlier but much sweeter now, cozy.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKIN</character>
    <dialogue>Through the buckle till the pin Holds the belt-end safely in...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- DAY- A MONTAGE OF SPRING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Moving through springtime! The sheep have given birth. They nurse, the babies shaking their butts while they drink up.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Village women shake out their sheets and beat their rugs.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- STREAM- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The stream meanders on.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy lays on the bed with her mother, heavily pregnant once more. Aislinn lifts her night dress to reveal her naked stomach and the side of her thigh, and Birdy places a hand on it.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mother! She kicks like a pony!</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>She?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(shy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I might like a sister. Edward and Robert all have each other. I am quite alone.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(dropping her dress again)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I should like that too, Little Bird. But would she be as perfect as my first-born daughter? You are as naughty as God hoped you might be.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy runs her finger along the scar on her mother's neck.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Mother, why does the skin on your neck bulge like a rope?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>That's what happens when you touch fire, Birdy.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Did you touch fire, Mumma?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>No, Bird. Fire touched me.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's why I tell you to obey. I was once willful too and my father showed me how he felt about that with the iron. And so when you try so hard to bend the ways of the world, Bird, I cheer for you, but I also fear for you. To see you hurt... I could not sustain that, Birdy. I would rather see you settle than be seared.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>There are worse fathers than yours, Bird.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>But what of husbands, mother? What of the man I am meant to marry, mother?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(strained)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I believe that you will be protected, that he will see the goodness in your eyes and it will bring out the goodness in his. I must believe that.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A knock at the door.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Enter.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert peeks his head around the door, uncharacteristically shy.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Mumma? I require your council.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He spies Birdy.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(cold)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>But I will wait until your bed is free of fleas.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Children, please. Let us leave behind childhood teasing and act a family while we still can. It does my heart a great deal of good.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert enters--this is a different kid than we've seen before. He's sheepish, almost embarrassed, with a sweet hope brimming around the edges. He's clutching a slip of parchment.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>We have had word from Gloucestershire.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Gloucestershire?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Aelis!</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Indeed.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he reads blankly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The child husband is dead. Fever. Oh, little Bird, everyone cries but I cry with joy for I am coming home.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>The message was for me. Hand me my letter!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy prepares for a fight, but Robert simply hands it over.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Life can be very cruel, my loves.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Do you think they buried his turnip head doll beside him?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(clucking)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Birdyyy.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Mother, might I...?</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>You did well to never lose hope that you might have your own love, chick-a-loo.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks at Robert, who wants to die: "Chick-a-loo?" What goes on between these two when she's not around?!</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(crossly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What is going on here? I do not like to be on the wrong end of secrets, Mumma.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn looks to Robert for approval. He nods.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, your brother has long harbored hopes of proposing to Aelis.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Robert? Aelis?? That Robert? My Aelis??</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>No. She is everyone's Aelis, like Jesus or springtime, and she brings the world just as much sacred joy.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>And if she would have me I would consider myself a man reformed, reborn and blessed by a God whose existence I could not deny.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn smiles. Even Birdy is moved. Wow, Robert.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Well, I guess I don't know everything. I think by sneaking and spying I can avoid surprises but they come anyway... sometimes in the form of unexpected love.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE COUNTRY ROAD- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>In her new lilac dress, Birdy is bouncing along dirt roads in a wooden carriage. Birdy looks at the driver's strong back, his handsome neck, the wind ruffling his hair.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>It is a good day, for I head to Aelis's and we can rejoice in the news that we are now, and finally, sisters. I bring a welcome to the family gift of preserves from the kitchen and a comb for her hair.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I once caught Morwenna staring at this driver while he washed blood from a boil on his thigh. She calls him Golden Tiger when she speaks of him in secret. Imagine life with a peasant. So simple. So passionate. So...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He turns to her to check on her, smiling to reveal absolutely zero teeth.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>... Toothless.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. AELIS'S ROAD- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The carriage lurches to a stop, waking Birdy. Birdy notices that Aelis's family is waiting for her by the road and they bum-rush the carriage. Aelis stands between her baleful father and step mum. Lord Sidebottom wears some of his old chain mail and it clanks as his push chair moves.</scene_description>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy!</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Aelis!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy jumps out of the carriage and races to Aelis.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Whatever is the emergency, Aelis? Why are you all standing in the road like cattle?</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <parenthetical>(scared)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Hello, Bird.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Aelis hugs Birdy, she bursts into tears.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Aelis, what is the matter? It is a happy day! You're to be married! We are to be sisters!</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>Young Catherine, I am glad to see you. Please tell your drunk of a father that his offer is offensive.</dialogue>
    <character>BERENICE</character>
    <parenthetical>(to her husband)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>She is not one of your special hunting dogs, the ones you pay for in gold brick! She is a girl. Just as I once was.</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>Shut up, shut up, shut up Berenice! I grow so tired of your voice!</dialogue>
    <character>BERENICE</character>
    <dialogue>And I grew weary of yours the moment I heard it. Good thing you don't have long to live.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Can everyone please stop shouting?</dialogue>
    <character>GOLDEN</character>
    <dialogue>There do seem to voices. I always butter, not like</dialogue>
    <character>TIGER</character>
    <dialogue>be a lot of raised say, speak like knives...</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>AND WHOMST ARE YOU!? My daughter is a virgin, confirmed by exam!</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>She can command more than twice the pitiful marriage purse your father proposes.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>They pay more for virgins?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(nobody hears her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Aelis! They pay more... for virgins?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She looks at Aelis, awash in tears. She feels the bag of silver at her side. She backs slowly away.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You men are not God! You don't get to decide who we are, where we go, or how much we cost! We aren't things, we are people. We can think and we can hear and we can feel, and you just broke my best friend's heart because of your greed.</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <dialogue>Insolent whelp! What difference does that make! A girl's master merely changes from her father to husband!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks at Aelis as if to say "I love you, I'm sorry." She hops back in the cart and taps Golden Tiger on the shoulder, hard.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Can we move?</dialogue>
    <character>GOLDEN TIGER</character>
    <dialogue>But where, m'lady.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Rutherford!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The wind whips Birdy's hair as she stews.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry Aelis, I want to save you more than anything, I do.</dialogue>
    <character>AELIS</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy!</dialogue>
    <character>LORD SIDEBOTTOM</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Aelis)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You! Get inside and straight to your room.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I am all out of tricks, it seems. Well, all but one.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HANGING TOWN- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy wanders into a town, bigger than her village, overwhelming her senses. The streets are bustling- sellers with food stalls and men welding steel. Birdy is dressed in baggy peasant's clothing, stolen from Golden Tiger.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I convinced Golden Tiger to give me his clothes, so I can run to the only place I think they might see me as more than a shiny gold coin.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. ROAD- SAME TIME- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Golden Tiger sits wearing Birdy's cape with her dress draped across his lap, showing too much flesh.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GEORGE AND ETHELFRITHA'S MANOR- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ragged and exhausted, Birdy approaches a house in the woods, and staggers toward the door.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Uncle George is a hero and perhaps he can tell me how to be one myself. Not just in fantasies. But in real life.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She raps at the door using a large welded knocker. It thunders through an empty-sounding house. She waits. The door finally rumbles open, revealing her uncle George. He is tired and drunk, bloated and sad. Our Golden George is a thing of the past.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <parenthetical>(coldly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We have nothing for you, peasant boy.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No, Uncle George.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy removes her hat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It is I, Catherine.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Bird?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hugs her uncle around the waist.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGE AND ETHELFRITHA'S MANOR- SOLAR- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sits across from George and Ethelfritha, wrapped in blankets and cozy. A fire roars. George and Ethelfritha wear their matching sleep outfits- George looks dashing but distracted, a little lifeless, in his silk robe. Birdy is eating an orange from an ornate dish.</scene_description>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Delicious, no? I had my first orange upon my father's return from the Moorish country.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I should like to go to the Moorish country!</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>I had bet you would. I should think you'd like to go anywhere your father isn't.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>We have a baby due any day, you know. My father wants a boy but we secretly hope for a girl.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And I am to marry Shaggy Beard.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <parenthetical>(stunned)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Of Lithgow?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It is he.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Birdy. I knew it would be someone of note, but not that sort of note.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat, empathy lessening)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Lord Murgaw keeps a fine house and he will keep you well.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>He owns three small towns and a leper colony- perhaps you can keep an arboretum in the back there behind it? George himself has started a garden of plants beloved by Christ.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>It is barely a garden, my love, but a place to smoke my pipe in peace. Thus far only the crows seem impressed by my green thumb.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <parenthetical>(proudly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Crows adore George! They find him soothing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>This tea has soothed me, my darling, and so I must retire.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(confused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>But I have just arrived.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>I tire easily these days. I am not young.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(sad smile)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>My back stoops and my stomach bloats. In the morning, I will deliver you back to Stonebridge.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy stares at her uncle, who was also her first love.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Uncle George, please tuck me in?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He stares at her- despite the ways he's changed, her face still tugs at his heart strings.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGE AND ETHELFRITHA'S MANOR- GUEST CHAMBER - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>George pulls back the covers on a bed in a richly decorated room and Birdy scrambles in.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Alright, blow out the candle.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>No, will you tell me a story?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>George sighs, sitting down in the rocking chair beside the bed.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't think I know any stories.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You? No stories? But you have been around the world. You have seen the ocean.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>But I did not keep a little book like you do. And so the memories have slipped through my hands like snow when I try and take them home.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I remember very little about very little...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Uncle George?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Bird.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>If you are a hero, then why did you not try and save me?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Save you?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>From my father. From Shaggy Beard. From my future...</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>But you see, Bird, I am not a hero.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Can you ever forgive me, my sweet girl?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>You are right, Uncle George- heroes are just in storybooks. Even the saints only escaped by dying.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>And that does not sound like much of an answer either.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Do you love Ethelfritha?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>As best I know how.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Do you love...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Me?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <parenthetical>(smiling, a flash of his old self)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Desperately.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGE AND ETHELFRITHA'S MANOR- GUEST CHAMBER- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy sleeps, the candle burnt down to a nub, and George snores lightly in the rocking chair beside her. Ethelfritha, still in fantastic pajamas, busts in and shakes Birdy. She awakens with a start.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Ah!</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Shhh! Hurry! We must go and feed the owls.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GEORGE AND ETHELFRITHA'S MANOR- GARDEN- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy follows Ethelfritha to a large wooden habitat in the back yard. Between metal bars, she sees only sticks and leaves.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>There is nothing inside.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Just you wait, little bird.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ethelfritha pulls a dead white mouse from her pocket and hurls it through the bars. The owls swoop and one catches it. They return to their bars, hoo-hooing and staring with their big eyes. Birdy looks on in awe.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I keep birds, but mine are very small!</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>These are more than birds. They are creatures. I'm a creature, too, you know.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Shaggy Beard, eh?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It is not fair.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>You're right, Birdy. It is not fair. You should not have to marry him.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I should not!</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Or have to be a lady.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I hate being a lady!</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <parenthetical>(leaning in conspiratorially)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Then let us run away.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Us?</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Why not? I am rich and you are young. Together, we have it all. We can make our way to Arabia and taste the orange straight from the tree. Have you ever met a lion?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy is finding her aunt more and more manic and also starting to consider the reality of the situation.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(hesitant)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>No...</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>A sultan? Would you like to slay a sultan and steal his gold? Yes?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes! I would... But I would miss Morwenna, my nurse.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>Silly girl, you are too old for a nurse.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>And Perkin. He is my dearest friend.</dialogue>
    <character>ETHELFRITHA</character>
    <dialogue>You need no friends when you have adventure.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>At least if I am in Lithgow I can visit home. I can sleep in my bed at Christmas, check on my mother.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>If we went on a big adventure I could never reunite with Aelis. And I would never see the baby grow. And they would miss me. They would miss me, Birdy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ethelfritha smiles. Birdy gets it. They are divinely trapped in their lives and sometimes it is not a curse but a comfort.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- LATE MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks out at her home with a new fondness. Her arms are wrapped around George's waist as they gallop home on his white horse. George hops off the horse and helps his niece down, catching her in a hug as she slides off the saddle. For a moment, he can protect her. Then he lets go.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Uncle George?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Bird.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <parenthetical>(real advice)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Next time a peasant boy raps on your door, please give him a scrap of something to eat.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGE</character>
    <dialogue>Bye Birdy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They hug deeply.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Bye Uncle George.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna rushes to the door, angry and frazzled.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy! You pest, you rat, you-</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We were so afraid. Golden Tiger arrived late last night in your cape, CRYING!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hugs Birdy tight, crying into the front of her dress. Birdy kisses Morwenna all over the face, kissing her tears. The love between them is apparent and, for a moment, free of the push pull we've come to know.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Do not weep, Morwenna. When you do, you puff up and resemble a roast beef.</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>My Bird, it's your mother.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Aislinn is in the midst of a painful and terrifying labor, on her knees on her bed holding two ropes tied to the bed post. Her chambermaid, concerned, supports her on one side while NAN the midwife is between her legs from behind. This isn't pretty TV labor- it is grim and real, the sheets soaked with sweat and dotted with blood.</scene_description>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <dialogue>Push more still, Lady Aislinn. Gather your strength yet.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn screams. Birdy runs to the head of the bed.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>It is me, mother.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Urrrggghhh. Gahhhh.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Her eyes roll back in her head.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Your Birdy. Your only one. I am back, Mumma.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Morwenna is pulling at Birdy.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Leave her be, Bird. She can't hear you right now.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>I will always be the person you want me to be, Mumma. I promise.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Aislinn lets out a long, wild scream.</scene_description>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <dialogue>A crown!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Nan looks closely.</scene_description>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <dialogue>Stuck. The skull too big to pass.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door opens and the priest, FATHER HUY, enters. A few servant girls scatter.</scene_description>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>There is nothing to be done. You must baptize, father. Now. Bless them both.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The priest begins. Birdy watches in horror.</scene_description>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Our father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Stop it! I can do it!</dialogue>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>Lead us not into temptation--</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Just then Rollo enters, screaming.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Did I hear that you are giving up?</dialogue>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <dialogue>Lord Rollo, we have tried all there is to try. The babe's head is stuck deep within her hips.</dialogue>
    <character>FATHER HUY</character>
    <dialogue>We baptize the baby in the name of the Holy Father.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo grabs the priest by the neck.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Doubters! Doubters, all of you! My holy wife will not fail to do this. My holy child will not fail to live.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He hurries from the room, bellowing nonsense, then moves close to the terrified Nan.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>You, midwife, will stay. You will stay and you will not sleep until the child is delivered forth safely. I will not lose another child and I will not lose my only wife. Do you hear me? DO YOU HEAR ME!?</dialogue>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispered)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Yes, m'lord.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(to the Priest)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Thank you, we do not need you. Get out and don't come back!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Nan looks at the cook.</scene_description>
    <character>NAN</character>
    <dialogue>Go get some more boiling water and rags, and some butter too.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo kneels at his wife's side.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My darling. My brave, beautiful darling, who is all I need and all I hold sacred. You were born for this. You are strong. So strong.</dialogue>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Rollo, my love. If this is to be, it is to be. But if it is not, and I am not, then all I ask is you make sure our children find their place in this world. Not just any place. Their place. Do you... Can you...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Her lip trembles. Her hands loosen on the ropes a bit.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(tears in his eyes, gentle smile)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>No. Look at me. All that I am is us. All that I can be, you already are. You are so good, so wise, so powerful. So spritely in the morning and so grumpy if you're denied a nap. So happy when the first flowers bloom and so pitiful when it rains. So good to our children and so intolerant of fools, but too polite to show it. So close to God while barely ever uttering his name. I want to make you laugh and to make you safe, and I will not live in a world where our children's children do not have the chance to hear you laugh as you watch them tumble on our grass.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Can you try? Will you try?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A soft, loving beat as they gaze into each other's eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Nan)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Do not stand idle! Get the doctor! Get two doctors! Get three!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Aislinn)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You are so strong.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The town is misty and solemn. A few farmers are afoot but they move slowly in the heavy air.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- GREAT HALL- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The servants change out the dirty rushes and open the leather window flaps, letting the air and light in.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- AISLINN'S CHAMBER- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Close up: An empty cradle dressed in white lace. Close up: Aislinn and Rollo's empty bed. Sat in a rocking chair by the window, Aislinn- pale but mighty- breastfeeds a tiny, naked baby.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Our baby was born last evening, a dear beautiful scrawny little girl.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We widen out to find a second baby in Rollo's arms.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>In fact, two of them.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy enters the frame and dangles a gold tassel on one baby's head, kissing the other. Aislinn laughs.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My father, for all his bellowing about sons, is floating on air. Which brings me to the strangest words I have ever said: thank you to my father, the most unlikely agent of a miracle that I know.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy writes at her desk, the cradle beside her- the babies sleeping peacefully, head to toe, inside it. Birdy rocks the cradle with one lazy, ecstatic arm. She smiles at the babies, who slumber in linen swaddling.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>We will call them Eleanor and Mary Catherine, proper yet lovely. I wish I had more time to teach them tricks.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy lies in the tall grass, taking in her surroundings. She spies Meg and Alf walking further down the hill, holding hands and engaged in private, sweet conversation. Meg carries a rough but charming bouquet of flowers, a gift from Alf.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Tenth day of June. I feel something changed inside of me. Just because I cannot be happy does not mean that I do not wish happiness for others. Joy is infectious, I am learning. I want to save Aelis and I think I know a way, even if it means sacrifice.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- SOLAR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy is talking with her drunken father and Robert, but this time it's not a fight. We barely hear them, as we exist in Birdy's roaring mind as she makes this decision. She holds the velvet bag of coins out and, knowing she's sealed her fate to Shaggy Beard, dumps them. The sound of clattering coins brings us into the present. Robert starts gathering and counting the coins.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Is it coins?</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Shaggy Beard's.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>For... me? Is it enough, father? Is it??</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, you fool. I counted it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo is shocked.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Wonderful I can buy my tiger back!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They both stare at him incredulously.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, I am jesting. We will plan a wedding forthwith.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(in disbelief)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Well this means I am a husband.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Not yet...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Birdy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>This is really nice. The first nice thing you have done for me. Fantastic!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert begins to jump up and down like a teenage girl, does a happy dance and happy dances out of the room. Rollo looks at his daughter, understanding her deep and inherent goodness. She is a remarkable woman, despite him. Unsure of how to express this, he grabs her shoulders tight and, almost vibrating with love, shakes her. She nods at him as if to say "yes, sir."</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>This was as much for Aelis as it was for my brother, likely more. She is safe now. I may not be safe with her, but I do know she will walk my grounds, sleep in my quarters, watch out for Perkin, and feel something like love.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Aelis and Robert dance at Aelis's wedding, staring into each other's eyes. Aelis looks like Lily Collins at the Oscars, only 14 and anaemic.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>We are having a wedding, for my Aelis and her Robert. It may be the last time I ever celebrate so I better enjoy it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The field is full of the people who love them and the ones they love. Birdy's whole family. Perkin in his finest coat (which has a rip at the seam). Morwenna with her breasts hiked high in a royal blue gown. Meg and Alf kiss and cuddle, their hands entwined with wedding rings on. Meanwhile, the Baker tenderly hand-feeds Berenice bites of fancy cakes and pastries from a platter. They kiss without shame as Lord Sidebottom grumbles in a push chair. As Robert and Aelis's dance ends, Aelis reaches for Birdy and together they dance a merry jig, whirling and twirling, no longer girls, though not exactly women either. We see Rollo dancing while Aislinn watches and smiles- he dances much like his daughter, delicate, free and joyous. He bows to his son, who bows back. They dance on, the moves all their own. Rollo looks as cheerful as he can. Aislinn stares at him as a single tear falls from his eye, despite his lips being stretched into a smile.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Rollo.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She whispers something to him. His face contorts in pain.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>One more night in my own bed, then... Shaggy Beard.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The bells on Aelis's toes become the church bells ringing on a rainy morning. The family- Aislinn, the babies Eleanor and Mary Catherine, Rollo, Robert, Aelis- form a goodbye line for Birdy, who is stepping into a cart. Aislinn smiles, pained, and holds the babies up. Aelis tears up and Robert comforts her. Perkin stands with his goats, waggling a little finger awkwardly.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Do not cry. Do not cry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy steps past the group and through the gatehouse. They wave.</scene_description>
    <character>PERKINS</character>
    <dialogue>Goodbye Birdy!</dialogue>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>We love you Birdy!</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Meg breaks through the crowd, running in her dirty skirt, and gives Birdy a quick kiss on the cheek. She turns to run back to the servants, but Birdy clutches her, hugging her as hard as she wants to hug all the others, panting into her hair. Meg lets out a little cry. After a beat, she lets go and Meg retreats. Before she turns onto the road, Birdy looks back at her family and- despite her clear pain and desperation- sticks her tongue out. It's a tiny gesture, brave and playful, and a teary-eyed Rollo takes it in.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispered to Rollo)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Sometimes as the man of the house you have to make very hard decisions.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy enters the carriage waiting beyond the gatehouse entrance.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CARRIAGE- SAME TIME- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As Birdy enters she makes eye contact with the waiting Shaggy Beard, who smiles tightly with his mouth though not his eyes, his hands folded around a handkerchief in his lap. He blows his nose. She doesn't smile back, but she is placid, resigned to her fate.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>My yearly hay fever has come about- I trust you know how to prepare a proper cordial for your lord?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The carriage takes off for Shaggy Beard's castle. As they ride he chats on and on, his dialogue dulling to an abstract drone in Birdy's ears.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>My health has never that of a man in his prime, but I have always dealt with it by being pure of habit and maintaining a stolid countenance, a regular schedule of cool baths and requiring that the servants dust daily under the wardrobe to rid the space of impurities.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Then, a shout. "BIRDY!" Someone is calling. "CATHERINE! BIRDY!" Her father catches up with the carriage, jumping and pounding the side.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Stop! Stop! Stop!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It finally draws to a stop.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>My lord?</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>My lord indeed.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(panting)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Good sir. We have changed our minds.</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Excuse me, my lord? I seem not to have heard you, for my allergies--</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>We've changed our bloody minds! The girl remains with us.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks at her father in shock.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>For the time being.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Frankly, sir, I would burn in hell for allowing my daughter to accept a proposal from such a rank and uniformly uncompelling man. She will die of boredom and furthermore, you resemble a bear who has attempted union with our local locksmith. It cannot be.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy is utterly flummoxed- could this be real? Is it a hoax from the man who has always treated her like she's made of roaches? Shaggy Beard departs the carriage, careful of the mud, and stands in the road with Rollo.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Birdy, out of the carriage.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She starts to follow, but is sharply stopped:</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <parenthetical>(terrifying tone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Stay. My lady, stay.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She watches from the window of the carriage.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Well, you've spent my money I gave for her dowry, so I do not see what we have to discuss.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>The fact is, sir, I am walking back that path with my own daughter under my own arm.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Beat.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>If you want Lady Catherine, we will duel.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Alright. Yes of course. A duel. That does seem fair... May I just take a moment to... Fine, yes, I see...</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I am to believe that my father plans to fight this man, swordplay being a skill he does not possess, in order to keep me, his greatest pest from having to marry?!</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Robert! Collect my sword and accoutrements! For we are to...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <character>DUEL!</character>
    <dialogue>SHAGGY BEARD</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Etienne! My sword! Up by the gatehouse, Robert announces it to those around him, eyes lit up with excitement.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>We are having a DUEL!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The town rings out with people shouting DUEL!!! DUEL!!!</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>So duel to the death... or what?</dialogue>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Aye! But if by my sword you do not die, I promise you life-changing injuries today, sir.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Around Shaggy Beard and Rollo, townspeople start to crowd. They are SO DARN EXCITED. Robert appears with Rollo's sword, as well as his Rollo's MANSERVANT who begins to suit Rollo up with chain mail. On Shaggy Beard's side the same thing is happening with his groom. Aislinn and Morwenna appear, each holding a twin, and they grin at Birdy in nervous shock. Behind them, Perkin with Alf and Gerd and Meg- this is prime entertainment but there is also a hush- because it has consequences. Still in the carriage, Birdy is watching it all in awe.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>And if this duel is won by I, Lord Rollo of Stonebridge, then you will return our Lady.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Shaggy Beard nods.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>And if it is won by I, Lord Murgaw of more villages than I can name in one earthly breath, you will hand me my wife.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo nods solemnly.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Someone say go!</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Go!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And OFF WE GO. The two men begin- while they aren't knights, they fight with some power and confidence, clearly each serious about winning. It's unclear for a beat who is on top, with each making some serious strides. Then, Shaggy Beard gets Rollo in a compromising position and he wounds him- a sword slash across the chest that bleeds. Rollo stumbles back, weakened and scared.</scene_description>
    <character>AISLINN</character>
    <dialogue>Rollo!</dialogue>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>Father!</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's alright, Robert. It's alright.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I am too afraid to speak, but if I could I would tell you not to lose blood for me. You have Mumma and the babies to look after. Be careful father.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rollo looks to Aislinn, who makes intense powerful eye contact and blows him a kiss, then to Birdy who throws him an adoring child like gaze of wonder that says she believes him but, moreover, that she needs him. And with that he gathers his strength, lets out a growl and charges Shaggy Beard, who crumples:</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Christ our Savior, my spine. My legs. They tingle! They tingle! Me back is gone! I suffer from a sore case of spinal weakening! Pause! Pause!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert steps in from the crowd.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBERT</character>
    <dialogue>There is no clause to pause for spinal weakening, Lord.</dialogue>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(giddy, relieved)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>My Lord, that is called losing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robert and Rollo do the Medieval equivalent of a chest bump. Rollo lets out a cry of pain, realizing he just chest bumped with a chest gash.</scene_description>
    <character>SHAGGY BEARD</character>
    <dialogue>I do not call that defeat. We simply ran into a barrier and could not continue the match. We shall depart forthwith.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He staggers towards the carriage.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Not without you giving us our lady, you won't.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And then, Rollo starts a cheer.</scene_description>
    <character>ROLLO</character>
    <dialogue>Give us our lady! Give us our lady!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The whole town joins. GIVE US OUR LADY! GIVE US OUR LADY! GIVE US OUR LADY! Shaggy Beard's carriage attempts to pull out but cheering villagers have circled around it and stopped it. GIVE US OUR LADY! The crowd starts to rock his cart. Inside, Birdy and Shaggy Beard are being jangled back and forth, sliding all around. Shaggy Beard screeches like a little girl. As the carriage stops our Catherine, smiling, realizes she is free to just dismount. And so she opens the door and hops out, coming face to face with her father who stares plaintively. After a beat, he grins. The last image of the scene: Birdy in her father's arms, both cheering.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>If I've inherited a bit of my father's heart... I suppose I shall leave it there in my chest.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy takes her cage, walks to the window and opens the door. She releases her birds, one by one, into the air.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I will never fully fathom what my father did for me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It's a beautiful moment as she throws them each out and they fly through the air with ease and grace.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>What any father should do for any daughter, but rarely does. Better late than never.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy waves at each of her birds. We can hear her call to them.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY</character>
    <dialogue>Goodbye, Juniper! Goodbye, Breadberry! Goodbye, Joseph! Goodbye, Sir Neal! GOODBYE, LARD TURD, MY FAVORITE!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(whispering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Do not tell Breadberry.</dialogue>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I wish I could help every girl in the world, but for now I am enough. And I know he has not granted me a pardon, only a reprieve from the most ungodly beast of marriage, but my father will find that my gratitude does not mean I have lost my fight.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She releases the final one and smiles to herself, running back toward the hall before she can see it take a massive nose-dive, making a hollow thump.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE VILLAGE/STREAM- DUSK</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As dusk falls, Birdy walks along the stream. The same place she has always lived looks new and beautiful to her now- the setting sun creating a rosy glow. She walks up along the field.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>It is in this field I raged and dreamed and met Aelis in secret and cried over uncle George and over the fate I have been able to trick, just a bit.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She troops through the village.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>There is the goat barn where I met Perkin when I was but a babe, hiding from Morwenna's silly slap.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She walks past the bakery.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And here is where the smell of bread is so strong it makes me want to eat the whole entire world as if it were a mere loaf.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy looks out over the sunset town, dotted with houses, carts, people, animals, life.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And some day I will take my little sisters to the tippy top of the village and say run, little girls. Lift your skirts and run for everyone to see.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STONEBRIDGE MANOR- BIRDY'S CHAMBER- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy lays in her bed, hair down, scribbling away. As she writes, her words appear on screen in her signature cursive.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Here ends the book of Catherine, called Little Bird or Birdy, of the manor of Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln, the country of England, in the hands of God.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy hears a sound and looks out the window down at the haystacks, where Morwenna is in the throes of passion with the toothless cart driver.</scene_description>
    <character>MORWENNA</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, Golden Tiger!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Birdy smiles. We pull out to reveal Perkin on a separate stack, writing slowly but surely in his own little book, showing the letters to a curious Gerd.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Someday, this journal will belong to my sisters. The two of you can see what I made of becoming a woman. It was not much, but it was my own.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ABBEY BEDROOM- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Edward sits at his desk, unwrapping a parcel.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>For right now, it's up to you to decide Edward, has writing in this diary made me more learned?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It is Birdy's diary- he opens it to a page with a drawing Birdy has made- her hand on Jesus's bum.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Or simply more cheekier?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STONEBRIDGE FIELD- SAME TIME- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Birdy and Perkin play their usual game of fetch. He chucks the stick. She runs hard, ecstatic to be where she is, as he chases her. Behind Birdy, in the distance, a man comes on horseback. Is he a stranger? A messenger? Another suitor for her to fight? It doesn't matter right now, because what she doesn't know can't hurt her, and there's so much she doesn't yet know. She is panting, having caught the stick, and she throws it for Perkin, who takes off. The man on horseback looms closer.</scene_description>
    <character>BIRDY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Things girls can do: run in the fields, invent original curses, save the day, pee standing up, well that one was a bit tricky, and keep fighting... no matter who may come on horseback!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She raises her chin, her hair sweaty to her brow, and makes eye contact with the camera. Is that a wink we see? She looks behind her and notices the man, then looks back at us, shaking her head. THE END.</scene_description>
  </scene>
</script>
Catherine, known as Birdy, is a 14-year-old English girl living in 13th-century Lincolnshire with her father Rollo, mother Aislinn, and 17-year-old brother Robert. Her other brother Edward is a monk at a nearby monastery. The headstrong and rambunctious Birdy is attended by her loyal servant Morwenna, and is friends with a peasant boy named Perkin who often joins in her antics. The indulgent Rollo is informed that the family finances are in terrible shape and that he can solve them by wedding Birdy to a wealthy suitor. When Birdy starts her first period, Morwenna shows her how to deal with it and Rollo begins seriously looking for suitors. Aislinn gives birth to a stillborn child, the latest of several such tragedies. Unwilling to grow up and lose her freedom, Birdy begins chasing off potential suitors through strange and off-putting antics. Birdy's friend Aelis comes to stay with them. Handsome Uncle George, with whom Birdy is smitten, soon returns from the crusades. Birdy discovers Aelis and George kissing, and breaks off her friendship with Aelis. George breaks Aelis' and Birdy's hearts by marrying Ethelfritha, a wealthy widow. Rollo announces that Aislinn is pregnant again, much to the anger of Birdy, who fears that her mother will die in childbirth. A new suitor, Sir Henry Murgaw, arrives, and Birdy dubs him Shaggy Beard for his unkempt appearance. Birdy attempts to scare away the much older man, but Shaggy Beard finds her antics alluring. Saying that he "enjoys the chase," he gives Birdy a purse full of money, saying that she should spend it when she agrees to marry him. Aelis' father marries her off to a 9 year old boy, but her new husband soon dies. This pleases Robert, who is secretly in love with Aelis and plans to ask her to marry him. Aelis' father demands a higher bride price than Robert can afford. Birdy decides to give Shaggy Beard's money to Robert so he can marry Aelis. Birdy runs off to Uncle George's. There she learns that her romantic notions of George's adventures are false.  Ethelfritha suggests that the two of them run off and have adventures, but Birdy realizes that if she does so she will miss her family and friends.  Resolved to marry for the sake of the family, Birdy returns home to find her mother in labor. When complications arise, Rollo helps talk Aislinn through the labor and she gives birth to twin daughters. The day has finally arrived and Birdy says tearful goodbyes as she prepares to leave with Shaggy Beard. As the carriage  trundles away, Rollo intervenes, and says that Birdy will remain with them.  Shaggy Beard insists that she marry him and the two men agree to a duel. Despite his poor swordsmanship, Rollo disarms Shaggy Beard, who fakes a back injury in order to remove himself from the duel.  The assembled people take Birdy out of the carriage, ending the marriage agreement. Birdy, who has been keeping a diary of these events, summarizes what she has learned and vows to preserve what freedom she can in her world.  As she roughhouses with Perkin, a suitor approaches.