"THE VIRGIN SPRING" "Scenario by Ulla Isaksson based on a medieval legend" "Directed by Ingmar Bergman" "God Odin, come!" "I seek your service" "God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, with Your angel host" "Protect us this day from the devil's snares" "Save us from sin and shame and harm" "It is Friday, the day of Our Lord's Passion" "Lord, I almost trod on them in the gloom" "Poor mite, live out your miserable life as surely as God allows us all to live" "Where have you been all night?" "You could help with the milking, but you don't care if my legs ache" "Jesus-Maria!" "What a look!" "What is it?" "Nothing but the old story:" "bastards beget bastards" "Serves you right, Ingeri, the way you behave" "You spit like a wildcat" "You should thank God for His mercy in allowing you to live here even though you act like an animal" "The milk is still on the porch" "You must ride to church with the Virgin's candles" "Isn't Karin going to take them?" "She is unwell" "She'll be better when it's too late for early Mass" "I think she has a fever" "Last night she danced feverishly enough" "You're no more like your stepsister than a thorn is like a rose!" "You still act like a wildcat even now, when we ought to turn you out" "Lord, bless our daily bread" "Isn't Karin taking the Virgin's candles to Mass?" "Karin is unwell" "She's a lazybones." "She was well enough to dance" "Today she is unwell" "Too ill to ride to church?" "Frida will take the candles" "But a maiden must take the Virgin's candles" "You are always so strict with Karin" "You are always so easygoing with her" "She is the only child I have left" "So she should be brought up well" "I had evil dreams last night" "You mortify your flesh too much" "Send Ingeri to wake Karen" "I'll go myself" "Go and rouse the sluggard" "Ingeri, prepare Karin's food for the journey: bread, cheese and meat" "Are you ill?" "No, only sleepy" "May I have breakfast in bed?" "Father says you must take the Virgin's candles to church" "lf you are ill, Frida will go" "I'm not ill" "Then you must go" "lf I can wear my silk shift" "On a week day?" "Then I won't go" "You're behaving childishly" "If I had answered my parents in that tone I'd have been birched and made to fast" "Birch me and starve me, then." "Give me berries instead of bread" "You know I can't be strict with you, though I should be" "You're laughing now, but I warn you:" "father is angry" "Get my yellow shift, my Sunday skirts and my blue cloak" "Then I'll be happy, you'll be happy and father will be happy" "How demurely I'll ride to church" "And Tawny's hooves will trot as though on a pilgrimage and I shall look neither left nor right, but straight ahead and think of the candles and the Holy Virgin" "White stockings and the blue shoes with pearls" "This is no ordinary shift" "Fifteen maidens stitched it" "Fifteen all at once?" "Sit down so that I can comb you" "No, I want it loose, to go with my fine clothes" "If you always get your way, you'll please the devil so much the saints will punish you with toothache" "Why do you talk so much of the devil?" "Father never does" "Because the devil is the seducer of the innocent" "He strives to destroy all goodness" "But I always say my prayers" "Who did you dance with last night?" "I danced with him... and him..." "and him" "Why do you ask?" "I had such evil dreams" "What did you dream?" "How I'd love to dream big, wonderful dreams" "But I never do" "Now the skirts: the blue and the red with golden threads" "Tighter, or it won't puff out as it should" "What about the clasp?" "Save that for Sunday, you've gone far enough" "You're in my light" ""It's father; he's angry"" "Didn't mother say you were ill?" "Do you think I look pale and wasted?" "Is it right to sleep after sunrise?" "I'll ask Father Erik's forgiveness for not attending early Mass" "I'll tell him that all of you are ill and no one woke me the candles were not ready and Tawny was not shod" "I'll ride to the mountains with this wicked maid and say I don't want such a daughter" "Imprison her in the mountain for seven years" "When she is chastened, I'll take her back" ""Let Ingeri come with me;" "she never leaves the farm now"" "It's a pity the church is so far away" "The likes of you need a confessional closer to hand" "You can't talk!" "You fled your town in fear for your life" ""I know all about you, "learned man"" ""A bird on the wing finds food;" "a bird on the roost dies"" "I have seen women and churches" "How were the churches?" "As high as heaven - and built of stone, not wood" "With windows the colours of the rainbow" "You may come, too, Ingeri" "Hurry, or you won't get to church before nightfall" "Hurry, Ingeri" "Drink some mulled ale" "It's a long journey" "Give it to Ingeri, she's coming, too" "Who said so?" "Father" "Won't you kiss me good-bye?" "The Lord Christ bless your young life" "Take this cheese and these candles to the priest for me" "Don't forget to give Father Erik my message... you know it" "He's to say five paternosters and fifteen Hail Marys" "I know an orchard sweet and fair" "A maiden with virtues so true" "Shining like spun gold her hair" "Her eyes like the heavens blue" "Happily the streams meander" "Through valleys green they wander" "In the springtime" "The little bird soars up so high" "Glides softly on the breeze" "How sweet it would be to fly" "Floating o'er mountains and trees" "Happily the streams meander" "Through valleys green they wander" "In the springtime" "Is the child paining you?" "One day you'll know how it is" "I'll be mistress of a house and married with honour" "We'll see how your honour is, when a man starts fumbling you" "No man will bed me without marriage" "And if one tumbles you behind a bush at night?" "I'll struggle free" "But he is stronger" "It's better to brighten the road than languish in church" "I'm taking the candles" "So you've put your best on in honour of the Virgin" "Not for you" "Don't think I wear them to please you" "Thank you for last night, Karin" "Why Thank me?" "You've nothing to thank me for" "What is it, Ingeri?" "I saw you with him last night" "I wanted him to find a way out for you and the child" "And he said he'd help, if you lay in the hay with him" "You danced with him and took his hand" "I danced with all who gave me their hand" "Forgive me" "Don't ask my forgiveness" "Let's turn back" "But we're going to church" "I can take the candles" "Father and mother wouldn't like that" ""The forest is so black;" "I can't go on"" "Don't cry so, you might harm the child" "Afraid of the forest?" "Not I. I'm riding to church" "May she rest here until I return?" "This is enough for you both" "Did you think I'd slap you again?" "In labour?" "Worse than that" "Come, I can help" "Sit down." "It's long since anyone sat here with me" "What Is your name?" "These days I have no name" "This is a forlorn place." "Have you no neighbours?" "I hear what I will and I see what I will" "I hear what mankind whispers in secret and I see what it believes no one can see" "You can hear for yourself, if you do as I do" "What thunders outside?" "Three dead men ride north" "It's long since a woman made my seat narrow" "Here is a cure for your suffering" "Here is a cure for your woe" "Blood, cease to flow" "Fish, high and dry" "Eagle, fall from the sky" "Here is the power" "You have made a human sacrifice - a sacrifice to Odin" "I recognized you at once" "I recognized you by your eyes, your mouth, your hands" ""But you are afraid; you must not be"" "I shall give you strength" "That's a funny thing" "My father's - who got it from his father's father" "Who are you?" "Three brothers, orphaned all too soon" "Who cares for you?" "We're goatherds, we live on roots in the forest" "Mother gave me food for the journey" "Is he dumb?" "Wicked men cut out his tongue" "He says we can only accept the food if you share it with us" "I must take the Holy Mother's candles to church" "Early Mass?" "No, I overslept" "If Mass is past, there's no hurry" "And your mother meant you to eat the food" "My brother says we can go to a sunny glade, if you will honour us" "Blessed Jesus, God the Father's Son" "You are the living bread from heaven come" "Make me worthy to receive this bodily bread" "And save my soul when I am dead" "My brother wonders where my lady lives" "East of the mountains, west of the forests the battlements of my father's castle reach to the sky" "Is my lady a king's daughter?" "Father's robes are of silk, his helm is of gold and his lance flashes like gold in the sun" "Mother has so many keys she cannot wear them at her belt so a maid carries them on a cushion" "And perhaps you three are princes under a witch's spell and the goats are really bears and wolves" "My brother says my lady has such white hands" "Princesses do not launder or make fires" "My brother says my lady has such a white neck" "So that gold necklaces will gleam brighter" "My brother says my lady has such a slender waist" "You can cut this for us" "But perhaps you have no knife" "This is Simon of Snollsta's mark" "I am on my way to church with the Virgin's candles" "Mind the goats until we get back, or you know what to expect" "What do you want?" "The night is cold and the road is long" "Where are you from?" "The north, from Vasternol" "How was the winter?" "Hard, with much sickness" "People are starving and the cattle are too weak to stand" "Yes, I heard you had a cruel winter" "Where are you going?" "We'll look for work in the south" "You can sleep inside." "There'll be a frost tonight" "The master said we could come in" "Sit there till he comes" "Those shoes have seen some wear" "If a day begins well, it will end in woe" "Seldom, if ever, was a morn as promising as today" "The bright sun dispelled all the misery of winter" "Legs felt like dancing" "But by dusk she lay dead" "The May Queen rode off on the sun, but never returned" "Blessed Jesus, God the Father's Son" "You are the living bread from heaven come" "Make me worthy to receive this bodily bread" "And save my soul when I am dead" "Did you finish?" "All manured and ploughed" "Manure clay thick, manure sand thin" "Forgive my poor brother" "Is he often like this?" "Only if we've starved" "Rub his temples with salt and vinegar, put a hot wooden lid on his stomach" "Our humble thanks but the less attention the better" "I may be able to give you work;" "we can talk of it tomorrow" "Keep the fire going, the night will be cold" "I hope you say your prayers, even if no one reminds you" "Yes, you poor thing" "The Lord is more merciful than you think" "Say your prayers, tonight and every night" "See the smoke trembling under the roof?" "As if it were terrified" "Yet when it gets outside it has the heavens to swirl about in" "But it doesn't know that" "So it crouches beneath the roof and trembles" "It's the same with people" "They quiver like a leaf in a storm afraid of what they know and what they don't know" "You are about to walk a narrow plank" "So narrow, you don't know where to place your foot" "A river runs below you" "Its blackness wants to engulf you" "But you cross unharmed" "A chasm lies before you" "So deep, you can't see its depths" "Hands stretch out for you, but they cannot reach you" "Finally, you stand before a fearful mountain" "It belches flame, an abyss opens at its foot" "All colours blaze there:" "copper and iron blue vitriol and yellow suphur" "Flames dazzle and flash and devour the rocks" "People leap and writhe, people tiny as ants" "This furnace devours murderers and violators" "When you think you are lost, a hand will grasp you" "An arm will embrace you and you will be borne away to where evil can no longer harm you" "If Karin is not home tonight, she is sure to be home tomorrow" "Rest, Mareta" "How can you speak of rest?" "That's all you have ever said" "What would have happened to us if I had been like you never worried, never anxious, never crying out to God?" "Open your hands" "I know you are worried about Karin" "I have no one but her" "She has stayed in the village without permission before" "I have no one but her" "She is all I have" "They hit the boy" "I thought the boy screamed" "It was probably an owl;" "we've heard it several times" "This silken shift..." "These other things, too, belonged to our sister who died at Candlemas" "It is dear to us but we have no choice than to offer it for sale" "We can see that you appreciate beautiful things and this was our sister's most treasured possession" "It is a bit worn and stained but the embroidery is surely the work of nine maidens" "A deft hand like yours can surely make it good" "I must ask my husband what would be a just price for such a costly garment" "Now you must take your rest" "The herdsmen offered this for sale" "It is Karin's" "It is bloodstained" "What will you do?" "First, bar the door -it Is done" "You'll call our men?" "Be careful" "Tell me what you know" "Kill me, rather" "My guilt is greater than theirs." "I wanted it" "Since I've been with child I've hated her" "The day I prayed for it, God Odin did it" "It was him and me, not the herdsmen" "They were possessed by him, they flung themselves on her like devils" "They took her" "You saw it?" "I stood in the forest, I saw it and I wanted it" "I had a stone to throw at them, but I let it drop" "When it was over, they killed her with a cudgel" "I saw that, too" "Heat the bath-house." "I'll fetch birch twigs" "Bring me the slaughtering knife" "God have mercy on me" "We must search for Karin" "I loved her more than God Himself" "Then she turned to you and I began to hate you." "The guilt is mine" "Not yours alone, Mareta." "Only God can judge" "You saw it." "God, You saw it" "The innocent child's death and my vengeance" "You permitted it" "I don't understand You" "I don't understand You" "Yet now I beg Your forgiveness" "I know no other way to reconcile myself with my own hands" "I know no other way to live" "I promise You, God beside the body of my child I promise You in penance for my sin I shall build a church" "Here I shall build it,a church of stone" "With these my hands"