Cat People1942

Oliver:
[about a statue] Who's it supposed to be?

Irena:
King John.

Oliver:
Oh - King John, the Magna Carta and all that stuff.

Irena:
No, King John of Serbia. He was a fine king. He drove the Marmalukes out of Serbia and freed the people.

Oliver:
Well, why have this around?

Irena:
Well, perhaps you have in your room a picture of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.

Oliver:
Well, what does it mean?...Why is he spearing that cat?

Irena:
Oh, it's not really a cat. It's meant to represent the evil ways into which my village had once fallen. You see, the Marmalukes came to Serbia long ago, and they made the people slaves. Well, at first, the people were good and worshiped God in a true Christian way. But little by little, the people changed. When King John drove out the Marmalukes and came to our village, he found dreadful things. People bowed down to Satan and said their masses to him. They had become witches and were evil, but King John put some of them to the sword and some, the wisest and the most wicked, escaped into the mountains...Those who escaped, the wicked ones, their legend haunts the village where I was born.