The Storyteller (TV Series)

Hans My Hedgehog (1987)

John Hurt: The Storyteller

Photos 

Quotes 

• The Storyteller : And when all was done, he went to his mother and she kisses him and then to his dad and hugged him. And the farmer knew for the first time how soft he was. They watched him until he was a faint smudge in the distance. And his mother felt a crack in her heart like a tiny pencil line. And each day after, the pencil line got thicker and thicker, and one day not long after, her heart split in half, and she died.

• The Storyteller : And so the princess who could not keep her promise won back her husband through looking without hope of finding and holding on for dear life. And in time her hair grew red again and there was another wedding all over, and we were both invited. And I told the best story there is to tell: a story which begins in hello and ends in goodbye. And for a gift, she gave me a shoe worn to nothing. And... here it is

  [holds up an empty hand and chuckles] 

• The Storyteller : Now to say you wouldn't care when you want something is a dangerous thing. That woman wanted a baby so bad she could't care what she got.

• The Storyteller : And Hans my hedgehog learned he was strange and he learned he was ugly and he learned to be sad and he learned the name that was given him:

  Child : Grovelhog!

• The Storyteller : Well, this king woke up the next morning after a night of the kind of dreams you only dream about. And he opened his eyes and almost yanked off his ear because he found himself under a tree which certainly wasn't where he'd fallen asleep. And more confusing: it was a tree from which he could see the edge of his kingdom. And he began to dance as only kings once lost and then found can dance: a jig, a jiggle-joggle and a leap.

• The Storyteller : Here we are, dearios, in the king's great hall. And lo and behold, a handsome storyteller has been summoned to court to entertain the royal family.

• The Storyteller : I'm very good at this.

• The Storyteller : [hearing a guard tell the king an army of animals is approaching the day after he reminded the king he'd have to give his princess to the Grovelhog]  Told you.