(30th anniversary edition. Courtesy of Barnesandnobel.com)The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, is one of my all time favorites. William Goldman's "Good Parts Version" has been adapted into the wildly popular 1987 Rob Reiner film starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Wallace Shawn and narrated by the amazing Peter Falk (if you haven't seen the trailer or the movie, you are missing out on one of the greatest cinematic classics of all time).
I am reading an excerpt from the "Good Parts Version" abridged by William Goldman using an M-Audio recorder. Enjoy!
The Princess Bride:
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| The Spaniard.Courtesy of scriptshadow.blogspot.com |
"There!" The Sicialian pointed.
"The Cliffs of Insanity."
And there they were.
Rising straight and sheer from the water, a thousand feet into the night.
They provided the most direct route between Florin and Guilder, but no one ever used them, sailing instead the long way, many miles around. Not that the Cliffs were impossible to scale; two men were known to have climbed them in the last century alone.
"Sail straight for the steepest part," the Sicilian commanded.
The Spaniard said, "I was."
Buttercup did not understand. Going up the Cliffs could hardly be done, she thought; and no one had ever mentioned secret passages through them. Yet, here they were, sailing closer and closer to the mighty rocks, now surely less than a quarter mile away.
For the first time, the Sicilian allowed himself a smile.
"All is well. I was afraid your little jaunt in the water was going to cost me too much time. I had allowed myself an hour of safety. There must still be fifty minutes if it left. We are miles ahead of anybody and safe, safe, safe."
"No one could be following us yet," The Spaniard asked.
"No one," the Sicilian assured him. "It would be inconceivable."
"Absolutely inconceivable?"
Absolutely, totally, and, in all other ways, inconceivable," the Sicilian reassured him. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason," the Spaniard replied. "It's only that I just happened to look back and something's there."
They all whirled.
Something was indeed there. Less than a mile behind them across the moonlight was another sailing boat, small, painted what looked like black, with a giant sail that billowed black in the night and a single man at the tiller.
A man in black.
The Spaniard looked at the Sicilian. "It must just be some local fisherman out for a pleasure cruise alone at night through shark infested waters."
"There is probably a more logical explanation," the Sicilian said. "But since no one in Guilder could know yet what we've done, and no one in Florin could have gotten here so quickly, he is not, however much it may look like it, following us. It is a coincidence and nothing more."
The Spaniard and the Man in Black duel. Photo from scriptshadow.
"He's gaining on us," the Turk said.
"That is also inconceivable," the Sicilian said. " Before I stole this boat we're in, I made many inquiries as to what was the fastest ship in all of Florin Channel and everyone agreed it was this one."
"You're right," the Turk agreed. "He isn't gaining on us. He's just getting closer, that's all."
"It is the angle we're looking from and nothing more," said the Sicilian
Buttercup could not take her eyes from the great black sail. Surely the three men she was with frightened her.
But somehow, for reasons she could never begin to explain, the man in black frightened her more.
Music and Sound Effect credits to:
Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride: YouTube clip uploaded by DeathbyBlunderbuss
Water sound effect uploaded by Sphivelala on YouTube
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