It was he who was the alonest of the alone.
~old storyteller

Eleven years of drought,
the rocks are sick.
The world is dying.
Evil is a trick.
~introduction, opening credits

I will die now.
Be quiet,
or the bench will crack from sadness.
~Francisco’s mother

Do not move
Stay still
The water, the earth and the sun turn black.
God in His Perplexity,
pretends it’s His Will.
~Francisco’s mother

Francisco, traveling,
reads a line in the sky.

“Don’t set your eyes
on the salt sea shore.
Don’t reason. Don’t argue.
Don’t ask us why.
Fate will send you a lover,
and one friend more.”
~line read in the sky by Francisco

There is no place here for bloodsuckers.
~gold mine owner

Euclides (hunchback barkeeper): It’s only my chest and shoulders that are crooked – at night… I always dream I have to carry a whole mountain range on my back.
Francisco Manoel: You stand taller than the whole town.

Francisco Manoel: And where does the snow come from?
Euclides: You’ll see it out there! There’s always snow on the moon! That’s why it’s always white! White and cold. You have to look very carefully.
Francisco Manoel: And why is that?
Euclides: It’s because the moon.. takes the water out of the ocean. And when night falls… the tips of the mountains attract the snowflakes. But only as much as the salt we have in our tears.
Francisco Manoel: And here on earth?
Euclides: It’s very far away – you must keep going west. Four years on horseback… and ten on foot. And after that, there are high mountains. They rise higher and higher – right over the clouds. And then above the clouds, then you find the snow. It only falls in the night-time. Just like feathers. But it only falls… from above the clouds. And then the whole world turns light as a feather – and snow white! Even the lions turn white… and the eagles… the rabbits get a snowy coat… and all the animals in the world turn white! And when you’re walking through the snow… your feet don’t weigh anything at all. And the little snowflakes go flying up in the air… just like feathers

I never had a friend in all my life.
Farewell.
~Francisco Manoel

Francisco Manoel: Your money or your life.
Woman: My life.

Woman: And why are you barefoot? Don’t you have any shoes?
Francisco Manoel: I don’t trust shoes.

I long to go forth from here to another world.
~Francisco Manoel

I have nothing to lose
I don’t have to talk to anybody.
~Francisco Manoel

Taparica: Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you afraid of dying?
Francisco Manoel: I never tried it..

The mad king’s wives: Dada, breathe for me! Dada, steal from me. Dada, break my bones. Take me! My head is yours. My body is yours. Take me. It’s yours. I’m all yours. Dada! Please!

My house needs thatching.
I’ll thatch my roof with the skulls of my enemies.
~King Bossa Ahadee of Dahomey

I can not hear what you are saying, for the thunder that you are.
~Francisco Manoel

In this place, the dead are more alive than the living.
~Francisco Manoel

Out there live many hills.
~Prince Kankpe

He says yes to anything,
you see he is quite insane.
~Prince Kankpe’s spokesperson

Don’t bother me now.
I’ve got to get this herd of women organized first.
~Francisco Manoel

No more arguments from you
Only that way can we succeed.
~Francisco Manoel

I cannot begin to describe this cretinous existence of mine. Nor how lonely it is to be without family or friends.
~Francisco Manoel

The heat here is mean and inescapable. It courses through the bodies of the people like a fever – and yet my heart grows colder and colder.
~Francisco Manoel

I cannot begin to describe this cretinous existence of mine. Nor how lonely it is to be without family or friends. The only white man in this country… perhaps on this whole continent. Meanwhile I have become the father of sixty-two children… but this gives me no satisfaction. Perhaps next year I shall come back and marry. I would live in the lands of ice and snow… anywhere to be away from here… The heat here is mean and inescapable. It courses through the bodies of the people like a fever – and yet my heart grows colder and colder.
~Francisco Manoel

Finally something has happened.
~Francisco Manoel

Slavery is an element of the human heart..
To our ruin!
~Francisco Manoel