"THE BURNING EARTH" "THE DRAMA OF AN AMBITIOUS PERSON IN SIX ACTS" "FIRST ACT" "God protect us!" "On a night like this, the old man of the field would be able to return!" "May he rest in peace." "Don't tell those stories in this house." "But, day and night, you could not free your spirit from this place." "You seemed to be Satan's toy." "He ordered his peasants and his servants to work hard digging a well, because... the old man Rog agonizes." "Must I visit you?" "I don't want you to go out on a night like this..." "Hasn't Johannes arrived yet?" "Gerda, for 2 months, I have no news." "I'm dying from anguish and impatience." "Johannes goes to the head of his dying father." "I'll accompany Llewellyn to see for myself." "Don't you want to go with me next to the spinners?" "To hear the story of Devil's Field for the umpteenth time?" "Johannes has not arrived yet." "Do you want to go to look for a parish priest, Maria?" "Soon it will be the end..." "What the hell don't you take the direct route for?" "By night, ten horses were not enough to make me move in front of the damned chapel." "We go, my father dies...!" "No, I will not say anything." "The count has forbidden it." "Tell it, Mary!" "I adore those old stories!" "There where you find today the expiatory chapel of Satan in person." "He ordered his servants and his peasants to dig a deep one" "Well because he was convinced that there was a buried treasure, and he could not rest until he found it." "Don't push your luck." "If a land does not bear fruit, it is because it is damned." "They managed to put out the flames and in expiation, a chapel was built." "But ever since, no grass, no tree has grown on the Devil's Field." "And whatever happens there you make the sign of the cross." "As to Johannes, you are too ambitious to be a peasant." "Stay on the farm and get married with Maria." "Too late..." "The parish priest left." "Father has died." "Johannes has arrived too late." "Why do the village dogs howl so?" "It's the death that happens." "...to find the secret, my descendants will have to excavate the ground without cease until they discover the treasure of Devil's Field, and then take advantage of its riches." "Not always..." "END OF THE FIRST ACT" "SECOND ACT" "Forgive me for coming so soon." "I have just arrived in the city..." "Gerda's last letter upset me so." "Have you sent for me, dad?" "Llewellyn has gone by." "How much more time will you waste with your whims?" "I cannot tolerate this any longer." "You will have to make a decision if you want to get married or not..." "Forgive me, my horse awaits me." "For the peasant, bread is sacred." "Johannes, don't play with your bread." "Another thing, Johannes." "You don't come on time to work or to meals." "You have been born in this land, but you care less than a foreigner." "...if it were not for the one belonging to the farm?" "I don't want anything to do with that woman." "Aren't you ashamed to trick her out of the land where she was born?" "I have breathed the beau monde's air." "I cannot live like a peasant in those places where I drown, at those tiny man-to-man houses that are like his own cattle." "Do I hook up the reddish horse or the bay?" "You will have to be content with my company, Ludwig." "Gerda has gone out." "If you want to remain on the farm, go to see my father." "You always got along well with him." "Will you want to tell us his walk?" "My new secretary." "I cannot live in uncertainty, Gerda." "When will you become my wife?" "I don't know!" "END OF THE SECOND ACT" "THIRD ACT" "Are you going to date Johannes every day?" "Is that inconvenient?" "Does he really know what to do?" "There they are still side by side!" "Jealous, my little girl?" "I wanted to ask you, Peter, if you would treat me like a housemaid on the farm." "That way, I would await the day Johannes will return." "If you have a moment, Gerda, I want to talk with you." "Are you convinced that the Devil's Field contains oil?" "Unless all our calculations and investigations are mistaken...yes!" "Don't you think, Gerda, that your bridegroom will have resentment about your quotidian exits with Johannes?" "I should write up my last will and testament, Johannes." "Every minute counts!" "I won't quit until I succeed, and if Ludwig agrees..." "I, Josef Emanuel, Count Von Rudenberg, declare myself to be in possession of all my mental faculties." "Upon my death, my daughter Gerda, being born of a first marriage with Clarisse Rudenberg, Countess Calas," "All my fortune will inherit, that is, all my goods, houses and castles, to dispose of as she sees fit." "For Helga, you will inherit the lot known as the Field of the Devil." "I specify that she will have to own the castle Rudenberg." "Josef von Rudenberg" "While you handcuff your father, I would request that you not expose yourself to the tittle-tattles with Johannes that way!" "Would you care about the honour of this house so much if Johannes was interested in you?" "It's an idea..." "Lock me up if I love anyone more than my life, Johannes, and if she be annihilated for solitude and grief, it would by the world force me to sacrifice my husband's honour." "Do you love him?" "Yes, I love him!" "And you, Johannes?" "Do you love Helga?" "Since you have written up my will to Helga, this cannot come from more than a sincere heart." "The doctor only gives me a few weeks to live." "Your patience will not be put to the test." "From now on, you can marry when and with who you want." "I don't care." "END OF THE THIRD ACT" "FOURTH ACT" "SECOND NUPTIALS" "If this performance is taken care of in 24 hours, we will be ready to bargain with you." "At last!" "The Devil's Field..." "I should go to the city... and the formidable treasure that sleeps under the Devil's Field only needs to be exhumed!" "Days and nights follow one after the other." "Must I sacrifice my life because of this inheritance?" "Can I be useful to you, Countess?" "Peter, address me as Helga." "After all, you are my brother-in-law." "Peter, you are the dearest village peasant." "They all come to see you with their worries and desires." "Do you know somebody in the region that would buy the Devil's Field?" "This way, nobody will think you bought the Devil's Field." "You're ill spoken of, so what should you do?" "Our society offers you the sum of twenty million in exchange for rights to the Devil's Field." "Then a buyer should search in town." "How much would it cost for the lot?" "Twelve thousand marks?" "A lot of money for unproductive land." "Would you accept 25 million marks?" "As for me, I hadn't planned to sell the Devil's Field." "This cannot only be about exploiting the oil." "But I accept twelve thousand marks...that will prevent it falling into someone else's hands." "We're going to close the deal in writing...for better or for worse!" "I bear witness by this means having sold my lot called the Devil's Field to Peter Rog for the sum of twelve thousand marks." "Helga Rog widowed countess Rudenberg." "I have the honour of telling you that the commerce minister would be pleased to receive you this afternoon." "The government expresses its gratitude and recognition." "By opening up these riches you render a great service to the whole country." "END OF THE FOURTH ACT" "FIFTH ACT" "On the following day, Johannes recovers the castle Rudenberg." "He only thinks about having everything that he ever dreamed: to be able and rich." "Where does this money come from?" "It is what the Devil's Field has yielded for me..." "I have sold Devil's Field for twelve thousand marks to Peter!" "Do you know what you have done?" "You have sold for 4 bitches a lot worth a million!" "An oil field is sleeping below that ground!" "Then, did you know that I would inherit a lot worth a million ?" "So then, you never loved me!" "You should annul that sale as fast as you can!" "Maria, do you want to be my woman?" "I'm housemaid of this farm because Johannes has grown and prospered." "You forget what you have asked me for, Peter, but I remember." "If not, I will have to leave this house." "It is just to accept the suffering for your cause." "I will never suffer for you, Peter, because I don't love you." "I beg you, Peter, for God's sake, take the money and return the contract to me." "Otherwise, Peter, I will despair!" "It's exactly what I said to you, Peter!" "The tureen is not empty." "Take a seat and eat!" "We'll talk later." "My woman has contracted a sale with you." "It's necessary to annul it." "As far as I know, your woman is of age, and she may do with her inheritance as she pleases!" "But she didn't know what she was selling when she gave up Devil's Field." "How could she know that the Devil's Field concealed an oil field?" "Hasn't nobody in your town disappeared?" "OK, I'll give her back her lot!" "I'll never deal with you again!" "Get out, everyone!" "This man must examine his conscience." "END OF THE FIFTH ACT" "SIXTH ACT" "The general manager Rog has a business meeting." "I have orders to keep everyone out." "Is it true, Johannes, that Helgase killed herself because you didn't love her?" "Realize, Johannes...you didn't love Helga, only her money!" "I love you, Johannes!" "Tell me that you haven't ever loved her..." "I didn't love you or her!" "It was only pure ambition..." "He takes this message soon to the Llewellyn castle." "The drilling tests surpassed all our expectations." "It's possible to begin work immediately." "Forgive me, Ludwig!" "I refused you." "But now, my love has also been refused." "You are good and will forgive me." "But I cannot!" "I want to get revenge...and to atone at the same time, Gerda." "Our father who art in heaven." "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." "Devil's Field is in flames!" "Never again...never again will the hellfire be extinguished in me!" "Good news, sir!" "Everybody is helping." "The fire is getting under control!" "The people are assembled." "I'm going to speak them." "Brother, I don't merit the hand that you offer me." "Forgive me, Peter, I've offended you." "I have offended you and the country where I was born." "Forgive me, Mary!" "I have offended you, because I have despised your love." "Forgive my sins!" "I have offended you because I wanted to be superior to you!" "Did you know that I would go back to the house today?" "Every day, we have waited for you." "Your room was always prepared." "THE END"