Tanglewoods' Secret (1980)

Timothy Bateson: Mr. Tandy

Quotes 

• Ruth : Hello Mr. Tandy.

  Mr. Tandy : [cheerfully]  Hello. Heh-heh-heh-heh, well then Ruth, and how are you eh?

  Ruth : Very well thank you. We've just built a wigwam over there, by the pond.

  Mr. Tandy : By Hill Farm there? Well I know that! And who's "we"?

  Ruth : Me and my brother Philip, but he's hurt his ankle today so he had to stay at home.

  Mr. Tandy : I'm sorry to hear that. One of my sheep's lost himself. And I'm thinking maybe he's got stuck in some of these bushes somewhere. Y... you can stop and help me find him if you like.

  [Ruth nods happily] 

  Mr. Tandy : [kindly]  Come along!

• Ruth : Have you always been a shepherd?

  Mr. Tandy : [cheerfully]  That's right. Always have been. Now see through here.

  [they pass some big trees] 

  Ruth : Why doesn't he stay?

  Mr. Tandy : Well, I expect he's like the rest of us: He likes his own way. And his own way has got him into a *deal* of trouble.

  Ruth : Well, I expect he's sorry for it now, all caught up in the bushes and wishing he'd stayed in the meadow.

  Mr. Tandy : Yep. Aye. Takes a deal of thorns and briers to teach these lambs that their own way ain't the best.

• Mr. Tandy : Hello littlein'!

  [Ruth stops by a tree] 

  Mr. Tandy : Hey, what's the trouble then, eh? Is it your Terry? Hmm, I 'erd about that in the village. It was sad for you.

  Ruth : [sadly]  I prayed so hard he'd get better, didn't do any good. God didn't even listen.

  Mr. Tandy : [kindly and wisely]  Littlein', if you were to come to me and say... there's a little lamb down there yonder, who can't run about and can't do the pasture being so steep and the stones are sharp. Hmm? I used to go down there, pick that little lamb up in my arms and carry it... to another pasture... where the grass was sweet and ground more, well easy like. Heh-heh. You wouldn't come to me and say that I hadn't needed you would you? No. You see, the Shepherd took his lamb *home*. That's all. You've no caused a fret.

  Ruth : [sadly]  But it didn't seem like that at all.

  [Ruth walks away] 

  Ruth : [sadly]  We buried Terry in the earth, and we left him there. Seems so sad and lonely. How could Terry be with the Shepherd when we left him lying in the earth?

  Mr. Tandy : Yes. Here.

  [picks up a conker] 

  Mr. Tandy : [wisely]  You see this conker? Hmm? Well what's gonna happen to it, eh? And what's gonna happen to its shell?

  Ruth : Well... it-its shell will probably get covered and... wither away, and the... conker will grow into a Chestnut Tree.

  Mr. Tandy : That's it! Heh-heh. You couldn't have said it better! Now, when you see that Chestnut Tree blowing in the wind, you're not gonna fret about its case mongering under the leaves are you?

  Ruth : No.

  Mr. Tandy : [wisely]  No. Heh-heh. Then, cease to fret about what's laid in the earth! 'Tis only the case. Your Terry is growing strong up there, with his Saviour. That's the truth.

• [last lines] 

  Terry : [voice only as Ruth climbs over a fence and stops in a field to think]  No more pain. Cor, that would be smashing. Can anyone go?

  Mr. Robinson : [voice only, wisely]  Yes. *Anyone*. Anyone who belongs to him. Anyone who comes to the Good Sheperd.

  Mr. Tandy : [voice only, wisely]  Your Terry is growing strong up there, with his Saviour.

  [Ruth realizes what it all means and excitedly looks at the sky as the Sun shines brighter] 

  Ruth : [running happily through the fields to tell Philip the good news]  Philip! Philip! Philip? Philip! Philip! Philip!