"Saro!" ".." "It's a young male and he's brooding!" "It's hot." "Hey little fellow, what are you doing?" "Are you brooding?" "Let your wife do that!" "Watch it..." "It's escaping, catch it!" "Mr. Male with egg." "Shame, what a man you are!" "Brooding eggs!" "Wait..." "If you hit it, it's yours." "Go on!" "Missed!" "Let me try." "My turn." "What are you doing?" "Salvatore, what are you doing?" "Give me back that bird!" "Music." "Off you go." ""I am a child of Chaos." "Not so to speak ...but literally, because I was born on our piece of land..." "Near to a forest that the people of Agrigento call Cevasu, ...a dialectal corruption... of the old Greek word Kaos" Luigi Pirandello" "First Story:" "THE OTHER SON" "Second story:" "MOON-STRUCK" "Third story:" "THE JUG" "Fourth story:" "REQUIEM" "Epilogue:" "CONVERSATION WITH MY MOTHER" "First story" "THE OTHER SON" "My beloved children here writes your mother to your Beautiful Golden Land from our vale of tears." "Today it is 14 years ago since you left and for 14 years I've been alone waiting for you." "have you got that?" "Tomorrow a new bunch of poor sods sets off for America." "Out of them I choose the smartest, and most christian." "and trust him with this letter so it reaches you in person." "I will choose him for his eyes because through the eyes you see somebody's heart." "I will not be deceived by fancy talk." "If they have told you That I have become insane ...don't believe them." "Believe, my sons, in the words that this good girl is writing on behalf of me." "Old hag, you want to put my eyes out?" "No, I envy your eyes they shall see my sons in Santa Fe." "I'm going to Boston." "So much the better." "I don't trust you, with your shrewd eyes." "Listen to everybody, speak less." "Never spend more than half of what you make." "Don't lend money." "Drink no more than two glasses of wine per day." "Be a man but never marry a foreign woman." "Pray each morning at rise." "Let that dog go, before I get mad." "Leave him." "It's our last day." "In America, Where I have been, donne are called 'women'." "Bacio is 'kiss'." "Amore 'love'." "That raven is bad luck." "Don't cry." "I will come back." "Salvatore, let her cry." "You won't come back." "Mothers, don't believe your children." "Mine left me 14 years ago" "And for 14 years they have forgotten me." "I've sent letters and messages." "But never heard a word back from them." "Gather round, we're departing." "WHO IS DEPARTING, LET CAME HERE FOR BEING NUMBERED" "Doctor!" "Are you going as well?" "No, I would If I could." "Here are the medical certificates." "Give them to Antonio." "There are 10 of you." "Wait!" "He is number 6." "He's coming as well." "He's wearing the clothes he owns." "Here is the money." "You are my man." "Take my letter." "If I were king, I would destroy all letters." "Outgoing or incoming." "I would not let them arrive." "It is useless." "You say that, old hag!" "If they arrive, they are cursed." "They never write about the misery there." "Like a hen they call out for their chickens to get them to join them." "As for you, you must never write to me!" "You will all forget about us." "We shall work our land by ourselves." "forget your women so that they go to the dogs," "With that wheel you ain't going far." "Hurry." "Repairs will take three hours at least." "Three hours!" "We've still got three hours together!" "I will write it again." "Is it illegible?" "There is nothing written." "Just something scribbled." "Nothing?" "What do you mean nothing?" "I dictated it, word for word  and she was writing it down." "What does it say?" "There is nothing in the letter!" "Nothing!" "What do you mean nothing?" "There's just something scribbled" "You really are dumb, doctor" "You cannot read." "Mariagrazia wrote in American." "I am so glad." "My sons didn't forget me." "They have never forgotten me, Doctor." "Now I know why they never answered." "They have never received anything." "Bull's eye!" "She wrote my letters." "But I forgive her." "Because now I am happy." "And you are going to help me to write a real letter." "I get it." "And how are you getting on with that dance?" " I showed it to you yesterday." "Like this!" "I wrote more than 50 letters for her." "Usually real ones to the right address in Santa Fe." "Those two bastard sons." "Good looking boys, I remember." "But no use to us here, and they disappeared over there." "If you were my mother I would drown you in your own water." "Should I open up her eyes?" "Don't exploit the poor sod." "She doesn't have enough air to breathe" "She?" "She could live like a queen waited upon hand and foot." "At her son's home, If that is what she wants." "But she doesn't want it." "Does she have another son?" "Him over there." "There is no grass for his herd but he's coming this way with his cows because his mother is waving goodbye to the emigrants." "He's follows her everywhere." "Why didn't you ever tell me that you have another son?" "Drink something, you need it." "Look, I go into a cold sweat when you name him." "Why?" "O, he is a good son, respectable and honest." "Why don't you live with him then?" "I gave birth to him, but he's not my son." "I think you're crazy." "There are some things that you just don't comprehend, Doctor." "You are still a child." "Finish it up." "What?" "A child?" "If you don't explain, I won't write the letter." "Tie my hanky to that reed." "So we can wave goodbye for longer." "You were not born when I first set eyes on these these terrible things." "Have you ever heard of a certain Cunebardo?" "Cunebardo?" "Cunebardo, who said he would bring freedom." "You mean, Garibaldi." " Certainly sir." "He came to here and let city and country revolt against unjust laws." "Cunebardo emptied all the prisons." "The good were freed, but also the bad." "Bloodthirsty animals." "Raging after years of being chained." "One of them was a particularly nasty brute:" "Comizzi." "A murderer of the worst kind." "And there was another one:" "his helper Rocco Trupia." "Comizzi and Trupia went into the countryside and killed the farmers that wouldn't follow them." "They also took him, my husband." "I already had the two boys, who are now in America." "I saw him return two days later." "He was unrecognisable and said nothing." "He had seen too much." "Nino, are you wounded?" " No" "Did you escape?" "They will kill you!" "He was hiding his hands." "Pitiful hands that were forced to commit atrocities." "Three days he kept himself hidden." "On the fourth he came out." "We were poor." "We had to work." "He went out working but never came back." "After three days I went looking for him." "Close the door!" "Stay inside you lot!" "Quiet you." "Enough." "Rocco Trupia dragged me into the mountains." "Three months he kept me cuffed, with a gag in my mouth." "...because if he came near me, I screamed and bit him." "Finally I was released." "The child came nine months later." "But what could he do about it?" "Nothing, but he looks so much like his father." "I start shaking when I see him." "What can I do?" "They left without a letter." "Next week a new group will leave." "We will give the letter to them." "But do you still want to write the letter?" "My beloved children..." "Your mother is writing you from this vale of tears to your Beautuful Golden Land." "You left 14 years ago." "...and for 14 years your mother has waited for you." "Another group of poor devils leaves for America." "From them I will choose the smartest, the most christian like... to hand over this letter to you personally." "Second story" "MOON-STRUCK" "Batá and Sidora have married 20 days ago." "Batá taken his bride to his small estate." "A house and stable, one hour's walk from the village." "The twentieth day is coming to an end." "But Batá hesitates this afternoon before he goes inside." "Batá, did you hear that?" "Batá, didn't you hear that?" "What's the matter?" " Stay away from me." "Don't be frightened." "Don't come closer." "Batá, what's the matter with you?" "Go inside." "Close the doors and windows." "Go inside." "Don't be afraid." "When I bang on the door." "When I scratch and scream," "...do not open." "Above all do not open." "What is it then?" "I'm sick." "Very sick." "But tell me." "Go on." "Don't..." "I'm afraid as well, you know." "Help... help." "What kind of sickness?" "What kind of sickness?" "The moon!" "You had me marry him." "You had me marry him." "Now everybody knows, Tita." "It's my fault." "Let me be punished as well." "I..." "I am guilty." "Because I hid my sickness." "Nobody would have wanted me if I had confessed before the marriage" "Now I shall tell you How my misery started." "As a young woman, my mother was harvesting the corn." "One day she had to work longer." "Till deep in the night." "She left me alone amidst the corn-stacks, a very beautiful summer night." "Exposed to the moon." "I played with the moon." "And the moon bewitched me." "At every full moon this sickness comes back." "But this sickness is only for me, to others it's enough to stay away." "It takes one night and then it's gone." "In the morning I have forgotten all about it." "I hoped my wife had more courage." "But alas..." "Right, we can do the following:" "At every full moon, her mother will keep her company and I shall stay outside." "Enough, stop it." "Stop this, stop." "At full moon I will come." "You will be more afraid than me." "I won't come alone, but with Saro." "Saro?" "Did he say that?" "We'll tell him tomorrow." "Is there somebody else?" "As your husband, I can't let you spend time with that waster." "But as cousin and protector that emptyhead will do his duty." "You mean that I and Saro..." "You talk too much." "I will wait for you overthere." "She is right." "At full moon I will come to your husband as well." "You call that bloke my husband?" "Everbody has his shortcomings." "Batá has his sickness and I am in worse shape." "I couldn't even marry you." "Did you cut yourself?" "The barber." "It tastes sweet." "I can't wait a month untill full moon comes," "Don't you worry." "there's plenty of time." "The misery starts when the moon is round." "The first time we receive guests." "A special occasion." "They have to be treated like real guests." "Use a tablecloth from your trousseau." "I love you, Batá." "Forgive me." "Me forgive you?" "There they are." "Shall we eat outside?" "Maria, stay with me." "I'M DYING..." "I shall never ask you again Never, never, never." "Let me enjoy it." "Just this once." "Tonight..." "She isn't coming." "The moon is fickle." "It never shows up where you expect it to." "But we know each other well." "Tonight it will rise behind the mountains." "There's still time for a grappa." "Self distilled." "It's illegal." "That's why I hide it with a rope attached." "If I want to take a nip in the dark I can find it by groping." "With moonlight I can see it with bare eyes." "Also at full moon?" "I am afraid." "You've gone through this, Sidora." "And Saro is a man." "But I am old and frightened." "Hide me in the stable." "And lock me up well and let him pretend he is a wolf outside." "I'm going to take the pig inside." "To lose it is worse than moonsickness." "Water, water." "I have a dry throat." "Where are you going?" "Have a sip as well, Tita." "We're lucky tonight." "The moon cannot find us." "Is that him?" "Quiet." "Relax." "I can't" "Are you afraid?" "You are afraid." "He suffers." "Where are you going?" "He needs help." "He has stopped." "Don't listen to it." "Don't listen to it!" "Get away!" "get away!" "Come with me." "Third story" "THE JUG" "It was a good year for the olive harvest despite the fog during the flowering period." "Somebody far-sighted ordered an enormous jug for his harvest." "...as big as a mother prioress." "The old ones made of glazed earthware, were not big enough anymore." "To whom does this here belong?" "To Don Lollo." "Then there we have it This jug is for him." "You still have a long way to go." "I don't know the way." "Get up, I'll show it to you." "Go on." "Do you see that hill over there?" "It belongs to Don Lollo." "Behind it is the farmhouse." "It belongs to Don Lollo." "Then go down to the river." "That is also his." "Go past it and climb the next hill." "Then go down again and Don Lollo will be waiting for you." "What a year!" "Clean yourself up." "They are watching you." "They're watching." "You are their Charlemagne." "Still it makes me sad, Sara." " What are you saying?" "God is unjust." " Don't be blasphemous!" " Take that boy." "He who hasn't a penny, could live for 60 years." "And I, who owns all of this, how long will I still live?" "Fifteen, twenty years?" "Don't you like working for me?" "Of course I do, Don Lollo." "Then do something." "There he is!" "Did you hear that?" "It sounds like a bell." "Let me down." "My poor jug." "What happened to you?" "Jealousy it was, jealousy." "And cruelty." "Where will I find another one like that?" "It's my own fault." "I never should have left you alone." "Then you still would still be in one piece and not broken forever." "What am I to do?" "No, don't do that." "It still can be fixed." "It looks like a simple crack." "Maybe it was flawed." "No, he rang like a bell that will never chime again." "Yes it will." "It'll take a miracle." "There is a man who can fix it" " Who?" "The best restorer in Sicily." "Does he have magic hands?" "It is not his hands, but his glue that works miracles." "When that dries, it's as hard as rock." "What kind of glue is that?" " He knows its secret." "How can I find him?" "Here's around here." "Nearby." "We have sent for him." "Turn and look." "It is uncle Dima." "They say that you..." "They say you have a miracle glue." "May I see it?" "Don't handle it like that." "It is very sensitive." "Can my jug be repaired?" "The glue." "The court has delivered its verdict." "Be aware that I, miracle glue or not don't have the slightest confidence." "It should be clamped." "SO DO YOU TRADE WITH ME?" "Who do you think you are?" "Charlemagne?" "We must put oil in that jug." "I want it clamped." "Glue and a clamp That's an order." "No, not on my hump." "Please." "I beg you." "Don't stand there looking." "Get to work!" "If you want it clamped, I need help." "If you want it clamped, I need help." "My hat!" "Did you really get the formula for that glue from a dream?" "Yes yes." "And what did you see?" "My father." "Did he tell you how to make it?" " You dolt." "How come?" "Do you know who my father was?" "The devil who devours you." "So you are a devil's child?" " Yes." "And here, in this bag I carry a pitch that will stick it together, People want to wreck jugs with these bad clamps." "Black pitch?" "White." "I learnt it from my father." "They will feel how powerful it is when they boil in it." "Their hellish pitch is black." "Understood?" "If I smear it on your hand and press firmly you will never get it off." "Get to work." "Get out of my way." "Turn around." "Easy." "Pull!" "Pull!" "Knock!" "Knock on it!" "And now the cramping." "You there, help us." "Help me out." "Damn, help me out." "You are pretty well stuck in there." "Beautiful, as good as new." "But unfortunately you did not consider your hump." "And now you want out by breaking my jug." "Who pays if he breaks again?" "So?" "You want to leave me in here?" "No, no." "Let's see What we can do." "What shall we do?" "Help!" "Help!" "If you don't break it, I will." "I'll let it tumble so it breaks against that wall." "Let's be sensible." "I will help you." "Slowly, slowly." "It won't go, it won't go." "My shoulder is in the way." "It is ever so big at one side." "My hump is not too big but the neck of your jug is too narrow." "Get down." "Get down." "Bite on it" "Now I'll show you something." "Turn around." "No, don't do it." "Your tickling me under my armpits." "Ho, stop!" "Get in as well!" "The carriage!" "Did you hear me?" "It would be in your best interest to consult my lawyer." "But first my obligations." "I'll pay you for your work." "You shall all witness this." "Five liras." "You probably don't like me, Don Lollo." "I've just had my appendix operated on." "If I laugh, the stitches will burst." "What is there to laugh about?" "It's about my jug." "And you want him to stay in there so at least it is still useful?" "Please, stop it." "You know what this is called?" "deprivation of liberty." "Who deprives him of his liberty?" "He's doing it himself, isn't he?" "I could ask damages for abusive housekeeping" "Send a warrant to evecuate." "Ouch!" "My wound opened again." "Come back another time." "I did warn you." "Please." "Let him stay." "Advice is always possible." "You, Don Lollo, must immediately release the prisoner." "He, uncle Dima, on the other hand is responsible for the damages created by his stupidity." "He must pay compensation for the jug." "I must choose my words carefully now." "Not for a new jug." "It was already broken." "But now it's better than before." "He says so himself." "Let him assess the value In front of everybody." "Me?" "Pay you?" "Ridiculous." "If I only had used my own glue I wouldn't rot away in here." "My lawyer did not anticipate that." "You don't like me, do you?" "But I like you less." "You didn't have fantasy to begin with." "Put him in front of the stable and take away that canopy!" "Quickly!" "You are going to prison." "You're lodging in my jug, aren't you?" "." "I'll sue you for abusive housekeeping." "You want to stay there?" "Fine by me." "You will perish by starvation!" "And I will eat from it, and you too." "Go fetch what's needed." "Come, there is more light here." "The moon!" "The Moon!" "Don't leave me here." "I want to see the moon too." "Me too." "No, don't lift it." "Roll it, slowly." "Yes, like that." "Shift it on its side." "On its side, yes." "I can see it!" "Stop." "It is beautiful." "Seems like ages ago since I last saw him." "Look." "Break your neck, old devil." "He is dead!" "You have broken it." "And I have won." "My jug." "My poor jug." "Fourth story" "REQUIEM" "It's my son." "Just because his mother isn't here doesn't mean we didn't want the child." "It was our first." "But the delivery was difficult." "I can't bury him before tomorrow." "I should have know earlier." "Day and night I have walked." "Tomorrow I have to be back with my herd." "I can carry him." "Tonight he can stay in the crypt." "Which is the most beautiful spot?" "There, in the light." "Or in the middle." "Forgive me, but I'd rather lay him where the others from our village are buried." "He maybe be scared if he is alone amongst strangers." "How much is it?" "Three Tari." "Six months later the villagers formed a committee that claimed their own cemetry." "Untill the Prefect receives us, We'll remain here." "I am their vicar and speak in the name of God." "He put us on this earth NOT ONLY TO LIVE, BUT to live AND to die TOO." "A cemetry!" "A cemetry!" " Quiet!" "If a bad human law denies us poor ones a little piece of land of which we can say:" ""This is ours" they cannot withhold from us a cemetry." "Stand up for that man and his children." "His father is dying." "A father to us all." "The founder of our village who now wants to rest in peace in the grave he dug himself." "Sixty your ago this dying man came from the land of Magari for the first time and built the first house from clay and straw." "Now there are many others and more than one hundred people live here." "But the baron..." "Don't go!" "Don't go, lord baron!" "But the baron of Magari deprives us in a barbaric way of permission to bury or dead... to have them close to us, so that we can watch over them." "We have endured this torment until now without grumbling..." "If you light your pipe it is a bad sign." "bad thoughts, aren't they, papa?" "Do you really think I am a barbarian like that kind of priest says?" " I do." "He is the barbarian, that old one." "Since he is dying, I cannot say anything bad about him." "He built on our land without everpaying any rent." "Even though he did not have permission." "In fact we don't control our own territory anymore." "That was ten years ago." "Do you remember?" "I'll carry the backpack." "Mama, Ermanno, Valentina..." "And this is the old man." "Yes, that's him." "He brought us the Ricotta." "A curious man." "Authorative, malicious..." "It was a nice trip." "Nice trip, yes." "Just give him his cemetry, Then they'll all be quiet." "I would want to but it's not possible." "Do you understand, Francesca stealing my land would go on under the ground by their death." "I believe I am right." "I think they are gone." "If the carabinieri won't intervene the old one will let himself be buried alive when he hears about my ban." "You can stay and live on my land, but only while you are alive." "To misuse it for the dead also, never!" "Pardon, that was meant for him." "Take him down." "Your pistol." "We must bury him." "No, we must be in Magari before nightfall." "We will never make that, Captain." "You must never leave animals unburied." "Sergeant!" "Where are you?" "Perhaps father is still alive." "I hope not" " Why!" "He will think he's buried on his own land." "Quiet, the dead will hear us." "I am afraid." "I cannot get through the night like this." "And now, at a gallop." "Listen!" "Bravo." "But you can't do this." "The wind and the rain." "Are you asleep?" "Was that you?" " No." "I did hear it." " So it seems to you." "Come on boys." "Call the Captain, quick!" "Have you found it?" "Look in the house behind the hills." "There is nobody there either." "Captain..." "There is our father." "He ordered to be carried to the place where he want to be buried" "Up to his grave." "He wants to die under the bare sky amongst his own people.." "...and to be buried under his own grassland." "The carabiniri." "Lower me into the grave." "Help me!" "Push me in." "Push!" "Leave him." "You are traitors." "Let yourself be taken home." "Take him home." "You'll be fine in your own bed." "You also have deceived me, my son." "Why are you still standing there?" "You too!" "Cross and plough upfront!" "Demolish the wall!" "Follow the procession." "But keep a respectful distance." "Macaluso, get the Baron's camera." "I hope I can handle this." "What happened?" "He is dead." "In such matters." "...I need to have orders in writing." "Let's go men." "father said:" "We can now all wait together." "Epilogue" "CONVERSATION WITH MY MOTHER" "I have slept two days in a row." "Throughout the journey to Sicily where I not have been since my mother died." "Somebody called for me." "I'm not sure who exactly but it did me well to be away from Rome where the weariness of my life has become unbearable." "My work, my children, my age." "Apart from that, I don't want to explain what is inexplicable." "And, torn from sleep." "...I had to ask myself if I were dreaming." "American?" "Are you American?" "Taxi!" "Signore, your carriage." "I saw the American first." " which American?" "Luigi!" "Luigi." "I'll take you home." "Get in." "Do you remember me?" "It doesn't make any sense to go through town." "Don't worry, I know where to take you." "I know what kind of work you do." "I follow you closely." "You have given a lot of service to Sicily." "Yes yes." "But let's go now." "How many ballerinas have you had your hands on, Luigi?" "You didn't recognise me." " Who do you think I am?" "What's my name then?" "Don't hold it against me." "You are Saro." "Saro!" "When I entered into the house." "I never felt lonely." "There was always something lurking in the shadows." "The shadows spied on me with such intensity that it caused me to spin around." "You called me, didn't you mother." "Certainly, Luigi." "And isn't that your music?" "I remember when you were singing it." "I called you to tell you something that I couldn't in my life say before, because you were so far away." "You want to tell me to be strong." "Today and for always." "You're laughing at me, aren't you?" "But I want to hear it, mother." "That's why I came." "Calm yourself." "Being strong doesn't mean you have to live like that all the time." "...but also like this." "My God." "Mother, your fingers..." "Yes, Luigi our bodies deteriorate, don't they?" "That's why death came, It had to." "Don't cry, Luigi" "If you love me... ..remember me as you see me now." "Living." "Yes mother, living." "But that's not why I'm crying." "Of course I think of you and I see you as you are now while I always will remember you alive in your armchair." "But I cry for something different:" "because you don't think about me anymore." "When you were sitting in that corner, I thought:" "If she thinks of me from her faraway place, I will live for her." "And I felt comforted." "But now you're dead and you can't think about me anymore." "...I'm no longer alive to you anymore and will never be." "I'm finding it hard to follow what you are saying, Luigi." "It has become too difficult for me." "One thing I still must tell you:" "You must learn to see things through the eyes of those who can no longer see." "You will feel sorrow, that is sure but that will make them holier and more beautiful." "Maybe I asked you to come just to tell you that." "I know, mother, What your eyes now see." "The sail of a fishing boat." "You told us about that trip so many times." "But as often as I tried, I was unable to write it down." "There was something missing." "Tell it to me again." "When I was 13, I went, as you know with my mother, my brothers and sisters - one sister was younger than I, just like a little brother on a big fishing boat to an unknown place:" "Malta." "My father, your grandfather who was persecuted by the Bourbons after the revolution of 1848 stayed there in exile." "We were to join him there." "Didn't you forget something?" " Yes, the pussy cat." "Quiet, quiet, they will know." "Exile means tears and fear for a mother." "Deprives the children of their home and playthings." "That was what exile meant." "But is was the journey by sea as well." "...with the red sail..." "the huge void around us." "And the childish pride That, faced with adversity a child, dressed in black, can say:" ""I am mourning."" "As if it was a privilege." "Exile is also our bravery of having to face new things with a fixed gaze." "The journey took three days." "What you may not remember from MY story ...is that we stopped at an island halfway and went ashore for a few hours." "It was an island made of pumice stone." "If we hadn't undertaken the journey I would never have heard about it." "There was no wind, Signora." "There will be no wind blowing this evening." "We must wait on this pumice island." "Come sit here, mama." "Lay your head down here." "Be careful, Signora." "The sun is burning hot." "Let the little ones cool down in the water." "Can they bathe?" "Aren't there any sharks here?" "No, they have gone eastwards." "It's safe." "Girls, the sailors are here." "Hurry up then." "Scour your skin with the pumice and go quickly into the water." "How about you?" "Come on boys." "Help me!" "You too."