These were the roughs I made on the trip:
They might not look like much but I hope they will contain all the information I need to construct the first version of the story.
For the purposes of submitting my concept to the editorial team - and for this blog - I have decoded the drawing into a typed script ^-^!
Some information: The theme of this issue is friends. The priest in the story is the same one who appeared in the first issue of Loaf...
THE HERDER
(panel break = /)
picture described in italics
/ Something is floating in the middle of a river. there is forest on either side
/ Children on the river bank
1st child - Look! There's something in the water!
/ older child - I don't believe it!
2nd child - A baby!
3rd child - Is it dead?
1st child Standing in the river having swum to fetch it - It's alive... it's breathing.
/ older child - Who does it belong to?
/ New scene. A lady is carrying the baby before her through a street in a village. The children we just met are running behind her
2nd child - Mama, no!
1st child - We found it!
3rd child - It belongs to us!
/ mother - 'It' is a little girl. Will you pay to feed her, to clothe her? Will you change her dirty rags?
/We are inside a church now. The priest is working at a desk in a private room. The mothers words spill over into this panel
mother - She must go to the church.
/A knock at the door
priest - ?
/The priest answers the door to find the mother and her four children outside with the baby
mother - Father, my children have found a baby
/ mother - We have brought her to you
priest - ah.
/ mother - The church must take care of her
/now the priest is alone with the baby. He is frantically flipping through books
baby - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
priest - I know there is a procedure for this...
/baby- WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
deacon - WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
priest - THE CHILD NEEDS A WET NURSE!
/New scene. A farmhouse, slightly squalid. A woman is outside with a baby at her breast. Two boys are carrying buckets nearby.
baby - (distant) waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Mrs Arthur - Whatever is that noise?
/ The priest comes into view carrying the baby in his arms.
baby - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Mrs Arthur - Father??
priest - MRS ARTHUR I HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR YOU...
/ New scene. Mrs Arthur is rocking the two babies, her own and the one she is now nurse to. Her older boys look on
first boy - We are mother's real children
/ New scene. A frog held in someone's hands
/We see it is the two brothers who have the frog. In the foreground is a sleeping infant. It is recognisable as the foundling baby, though somewhat older.
second boy - Do it!
first boy - I will.
second boy - Go on!
first boy - I will!
/The boy has his arm in the cot. The foundling is awake and sinking her teeth into his hand. The frog is on her head looking indifferent to it all.
first boy - OOOOOOOOOOW!
/New scene. We are back at the priest's chambers. As before there is a knock on the door.
priest - ?
/It is Mrs Arthur with the now two year old child.
Mrs Arthur - The child is nursed. The child is walking. Now you will take her back if you please. She never would settle with my boys.
/New scene. The priest is at the door of a shop with the girl at his side. The shopkeeper is regarding them
priest - Edna, we have often spoken of how you need an extra pair of hands about the place...
/The priest's chambers, a knock on the door.
/It is the girl and the shopkeeper. The girl is somewhat older again.
shopkeeper - I am sorry Father. The girl will not to do. She is just too lively...
/a sequence of different individuals at the priest's door. Each time the girl is a little older.
/doctor - too clumsy
/butcher - too loud
/baker - too restless
/blacksmith - too wild
/New scene. The village pub. The priest sits with some of the other people of the village
priest - I am at my wits end what to do with that child.
baker - Let her make her own way. She has the spirit for it!
doctor's brother - She's little more than an infant.
doctor - The old herder would take her. She's always after help.
/ priest - That must be a last resort. The old lady is mad as the Mizzle.
/New scene. The priest and the girl are in a field full of animals. An old lady is with them
priest - ...in short herder, I think she would make you a fine apprentice...
herder - Yes.
/Now the girl is alone with the old lady who is pointing away at the fields.
herder - Show.
/...at the large buffalo like beasts of the herd.
herder - Beasts.
/...at piles of fodder
herder - Feed.
/... at a row of wolf's heads on spikes
herder - Boundary.
/... at some straw in the corner of a barn
herder - Bed
/Now the girl is alone on the straw bed.
/She bows her head and begins to cry
/ herder - GIRL! no.
/ From her shawl the herder gives the girl a tiny little puppy.
herder - Friends.
/New scene. It is a windy day with great puffy clouds. The girl stands on a hilltop. She is much older now. She is holding a staff like the one the herder had. By her side is a huge dog. It is looking up at her.
Thanks, that was fabulous. Hope you are happy with the end result.
ReplyDeletejust posted the second part of this along with images of how it turned out... ^-^
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