#1 (Prod #166141) "King of the Mountain" Teleplay By: Herman Miller (Writer's Guild of Am. Award for Best Drama) (also #2, 3 & 55 and producer the last year and a half) Directed By: Jerry Thorpe (also pilot & #2, 3, 4, 16, 18 & 40) First Broadcast: ABC, October 14, 1972 Guest Stars: Brandon Cruz, Lara Parker Special Guest Star: John Saxon Regular Cast: David Carradine, Philip Ahn, Keye Luke, Radames Pera Caine befriends a young boy who just lost his parents. Later when the priest goes to work for a woman whose ranch is in disrepair, he asks to bring the boy. Meanwhile, on the mountain overlooking the ranch, a bounty hunter plans to earn the $10,000 reward for capturing Caine.

[Revised and Expanded - March 20, 2004]

• The Wanted Poster Many viewers over the years have asked for a clear view of the Wanted Poster Jim Hamilton sent us this copy, which is the clearest we have seen. Click on the image for larger version

  "Your only hope of freeing her lies in your own survival." -Caine to a boy whose mother has been kidnapped by the Indians, who killed his father. "My way lies through Perrysville. If you wish it, we could walk together." offering to take the boy to his aunt to the north.


• "All creatures - the low and the high - are one with nature. No life is insignificant. If we have the wisdom to learn, all may teach us their virtues.... From the crane we learn grace and self-control. The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance. The praying mantis teaches us speed and patience. And from the tiger we learn tenacity and power. And from the dragon we learn to ride the wind." -Master Kan (also pilot) "Life sustains life and all living creatures need nourishment. Yet, with wisdom the body learns to sustain in ways that all may live." -Master Kan


• "'Master, do we seek victory in contention?' -disciple Caine
  'Seek rather not to contend.' -Master Kan
  'But shall we not then be defeated?'
  'We know that where there is no contention, there is neither defeat nor victory. The supple willow does not contend against the storm, yet it survives.'" -Master Kan


• "You wish me to leave? ...Is there nothing I can do for you?' -Caine
  'You?' -the boy who has lost faith in Caine, who allowed two men to search him
  'From a single action, you draw an entire universe. Could you not see I had nothing to protect?'" -Caine


• "'Please get up. Why have you come?' -Master Kan to Caine who returnwd to the Temple after the death of Master Po
  'To confess my unworthiness, Honorable Sir. I have disgraced my teachers and shamed this holy place.' -Caine
  'Tell me how.' -Master Kan
  'I have senselessly ended a life.' - Caine
  'You speak of the nephew of the Emperor. It was he, was it not, who ended the life of Master Po? Wasn't Master Po wounded but still alive when you struck the fatal blow?'
  That is so.
  'Would you have wished to desert Master Po while he lived?' -Master Kan
  'I could not find it within me, honored Sir .' -Caine
  'The sin would have been to desert Master Po, or to remain, to senselessly accept your own death. Death does no one honor. The shame of his death does not lie on you but with the nephew of the Emperor. So shall it be recorded unto eternity. Now, go. For you may no longer remain here.'" -Master Kan


• "What is ranch work?" -Caine


• "I can handle a horse." -Caine


• "You may satisfy yourself, I have nothing." -Caine


• "What is 'broken?'" - Caine, asking how the term applies to a horse


• "Weakness prevails over strength. Gentleness conquers. Become the calm and restful breeze that tames the violent sea." -Master Kan (may refer to TAO TE CHING #78 "The weak can overcome the strong")


• "'You never seem to get tired.'
  'But I do.'" -Caine


• "'What is 'surname?' -Caine
  'There is so much you don't know. And so much you do.'" -to and about Caine


• "You're entitled to wages. Isn't there anything you want?'
  'Food. A place to sleep. Work." -Caine


• "'Master, our bodies are prey to many needs: hunger, thirst, the need for love.' -disciple Caine
  'In one lifetime a man knows many pleasures: a mother's smile in waking hours, a young woman's intimate, searing touch, and the laughter of grandchildren in the twilight years. To deny these in ourselves is to deny that which makes us one with nature.' -Master Kan
  'Shall we then seek to satisfy these needs?'
  'Only acknowledge them and satisfaction will follow. To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance.'" -Master Kan


• "'You sit by yourself grasshopper. What do you think of?' -Master Po
  'My mother, my father. Both gone. I am alone.'
  'You hear the flock of birds flying overhead? You hear the fish? The beetle?' To all of this the young Caine nods. 'In this crowded place you feel alone. Which of us is the most blind?"


• "To know nature is to put oneself in perfect harmony with the universe. Heaven and earth are one. So must we seek a discipline of mind and body within ourselves." -Caine


• "He wants me.... To stay would be to bring danger here.... The sheriff will not protect a wanted man. The man on the mountain is acting according to your laws." -Caine


• "He will try first to take me alive. That can be the only reason he has waited this long." -Caine, on the bounty hunter.


• "'Will you fight him?'
  'If I can.' -Caine
• 'Will you kill him if you can?" - to and about Caine
  'The taking of a life does no one honor.'"


• "Fear creates the victim.... I will survive if I can." -Caine


• "It is you who feels the fear.... It is the death that fascinates you." -Caine to the bounty hunter


• "The paper says your feet and your hands are deadly weapons." - to and about Caine and the wanted poster.

• Kam Yuen, who will become Kung Fu advisor for the last half of the series, was assistant Kung Fu advisor for this episode.
• "The fear of death is the shadow of the fear of life." -Master Kan^*2*p8
• "In the cycle of birth and death, nothing changes." -Master Kan^*2*p8

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