本片段剧情：玛蒂父亲遇害后，购买的马被谋杀犯偷走了。玛蒂找到卖主，坚持以325美元的价格把马再卖回去。卖主非常不情愿，两人一番唇枪舌剑，最后卖主无奈买下了本属于自己的已经丢失的马。来看看玛蒂是怎么给自己辩护的吧。

 

Mattie: How much are you paying for cotton?

 

Trader: Nine and a half, for low and middlin' and ten for ordinary.

 

Mattie: Think I'm surprise of that, really. I sold to the Wizten brothers in Little Rock for eleven cents.

 

Trader: Then I suggest you take the balance of it to the Witzen brothers.

 

Mattie: I take the balance to Witzen. At ten and a half.

 

Trader: Why'd you come here to tell me this?

 

Mattie: I thought I might shop around a place. I'm doing alright in Little Rock. I'm Mattie Ross. Daughter of Frank Ross.

 

Trader: Aw, tragic thing. May I say, your father impressed me. With his manly qualities. He was a close trader, but he acted a gentleman.

 

Mattie: My post was to sell those ponies back to you, that my father brought.

 

Trader: Well that I fear, is out of the question. Well, we'll see that they are shipped to you, at my earliest convenience.

 

Mattie: We don't want the ponies now, we don't need them.

 

Trader: Well that hardly concerns me. Your father brought the ponies, and paid for them. And there's an end to it. I have the bill of sale.

 

Mattie: And I want $300 for Papa's saddle horse that was stolen from your stable.

 

Trader: You'll have to take that up with the man who stole the horse.

 

Mattie: Tom Chaney stole the horse while it was in your care. You were responsible.

 

Trader: Yeah, I admire your sin. But I believe you'll find I'm not liable for such claims.

 

Mattie: You were the custodian. If you were a bank that were robbed. You could not simply tell your depositors to go hang.

 

Trader: I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world as it is vexing enough. Secondly your evaluation of the horse is high. By about two hundred dollars. How old are you?

 

Mattie: If anything, my purse is low. My Judy was a fine racing mare. I've seen her jump a eight rung fence with a rider at fourteen.

 

Trader: Oh, it's all very interesting. The ponies are yours, take them. Your father horse was stolen by a murderous criminal. I have provided reasonable protection for the creature as per our implicit agreement. My watchmen had his teeth knocked out, you can take on his suit.

 

Mattie: That would take to long.

 

Trader: You have no case.

 

Mattie: Courage would make the dartmore to long. This is by a jury. Petitioned by a widow and three small children.

 

Trader: I will pay two hundred dollars to your fathers estate. When I have in my hand a letter from your lawyer, absolving me of all liability from the beginning of the world to today.

 

Mattie: I'll take two hundred dollars for Judy, plus one hundred for the ponies. And twenty five dollars for the grey horse that Tom Chaney left. He was easily worth, forty. That is three hundred and twenty five dollars, sold.

 

Trader: The ponies have no part in it. I will not buy them.

 

Mattie: And the price for Judy is three hundred and twenty five dollars.

 

Trader: I would not pay three hundred and twenty five dollars for winged Pegasus. As for the grey horse, it does not belong to you.

 

Mattie: The grey horse was lent to Tom Chaney by my father. Chaney only had the use of him.

 

Mattie: I would pay two hundred and twenty five dollars. And keep the grey horse. And I want the ponies.

 

Mattie: Then it's settled, then. There will be no settlement after I leave this office and go to the court of law.

 

Trader: All right, this is my last offer. Two hundred and fifty dollars. For that I get the release, previously discussed. And I keep your father's saddle. The grey horse is not yours to sell.

 

Mattie: The saddle is not for sale. I will keep it. Glory Daniel will approve of the grey horse. He will come after you with a great vengeance.

 

Trader: What? All right, now look, listen very carefully. As I will not bargain further. I'll will take the ponies back, and the grey horse. Which is mine. And settle... For three hundred dollars. Now you must take that or leave it. And I do not much care which it is.

 

Mattie: My Lawyer Decker would not wish me to consider anything under three hundred and twenty five dollars. But I will settle for three hundred and twenty. If I am given twenty in advance. Now here's what I have to say about that saddle.