"No rats here, I hope?" "No, I've been here before." "No one will find us here." "I've some pork too." "No thanks." "No more." "Eat plenty and you won't feel cold." "Cold?" "No, I'm fine." "It's nice here." "Anna dearest, rose of Sharon." "I can feel your soft shoulders through the dress." "Little flowers, with greenery behind." "How lovely." "Like long, soft grass." "It's prettier than the dress." "If only you could walk." "Anna, my dear one." "Then I'd kick your wheelchair to pieces." "No, why?" "I'd give it to someone who needed it." "That would be better." "But you and I, my love would go for a long walk breathing in the sweet smell of new-mown hay and perhaps dance with each other." "Quite still." "It's fish making rings and white water-lilies bobbing on the surface." "The yellow ones are sticking up above it." "If you drop a piece of bark into the eddies it will go with the boat." "A lot of things are hard to understand..." "Collywobbles!" "That's what comes of gobbling." "Your hair smells so nice." "It's best to strike you with the back of my hand." "The skin is thinner there and I can feel how soft you are." "I'm thinking of my mother, who's dead lying under heavy, black earth..." "She was so soft too, under her chin and I used to press my lips against it." "But her arms always shook as if there was an engine in them." "I never saw my father in real life but there's a picture of him in the museum." "Not his face but his body." "The head's a real officer they painted in." "Dad was a model for the body." "He was a brave soldier." "I've got his head here." "That's my father." "He's an angel in heaven now, defending everyone." "Do you remember my sister Vera?" "Remember?" "What?" "Remember Vera?" "She came all the way from Stockholm by train." "She has pretty clothes too." "She's married to an engineer and they live in Stockholm, same as the King." "He's so rich they can go where they like." "He's thinking of buying a farm down here." "They've been in Germany and America." "They can take a boat or an aeroplane, wherever they like." "Vera!" "Why, Sven!" "Anna and Mrs Andersson." "Erlandsson." "It's Bengt." "Vera gave me a bible." "She's kind now but she was with the others when I was little." "If you touch me I'll hurt my hand." "Once she made me eat porridge with hen shit in it." "You stupid idiot!" "Everyone said I was an idiot and she hated it." "I went to school for a time and learned to read." "Mostly the "Triumph"" "but also Vera's bible." ""Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb honey and milk are under thy tongue." "And the smell of thy garments!" "is like the smell of Lebanon."" "That enough?" "I'd have taken more of there was room." "Lift the pig down and it'll be easier to load." "Carefully now." "Christ, the pig's loose!" "Well, that's that." "It's late, I must get to town." "I was wondering if..." "What are you gaping at, you idiot?" "Go to hell, you bloody idiot!" "I should have killed him then." "The bastard." "I didn't dare." "Carrying on like that..." "Bastard!" ""I'm fed up here." "I'm off to town."" ""All the best, Mum." "Vera."" "Vera sent money from Malmö but things got worse after she left." "Mum began to get pains in her stomach." "I don't know what it was but she seemed to shrink and try up like poisoned mice." "She went from farm to farm doing odd jobs." "Anyone at home?" "Sven, are you ready?" "Why is it so dark here?" "What's the matter with Mrs Olsson?" "I don't know." "She's been lying like that all night." "She hasn't spoken a word." "Then I suppose she's dead." "Yes, she's dead." "I'm awfully sorry." "Is Mum dead?" "Yes." "She made a peaceful end." "No pain." "Is Mum dead?" "Don't be sad now." "You're to go to Mr Höglund today." "Good thing you're being taken in hand." "I'll notify the vicar and the police." "Is Mum dead?" "Get yours things and come with me." "Mr Höglund wants you to start work today." "Is Mum dead?" "Take the chest and I'll take the sack." "Come on, Sven." "Let's go." "That's Mr Höglund's house." "You're to sleep in the stable over there." "It's the door over there." "The first pen on the left." "Go on, in you go!" "Are you the new hand?" "Take these and fill them up there." "Here are some sandwiches for you." "Welcome." "Are you the idiot who is to work here?" "We'll soon get you moving." "I'm Höglund, the manager." "I've seen you before." "Call me sir." "Understand?" ""Yes, sir."" "Yes, sir." "Are you strong?" "Good." "You're to work here on the farm and lend a hand at my workshop in town." "I'm sorry about your mother." "Where's Äspet?" "Straight ahead." "They found they'd given him the wrong bottle so they went back and said:" ""Still alive?"" ""That was hydrochloric acid you drank."" "And he said: "No wonder it made a hole in the jerry."" "It's dangerous to drink hydrochloric acid." "That's what is so funny." "He drank acid instead of brandy." "He might have died." "It's no good telling you funny stories." "Take that thing out, and be careful of it." "It's worth several thousand." "You can hang her on that hook there." "I've got him!" "I've got him!" "What am I to do with him?" "Drown it." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen..." "No I can't." "I can't." "Easy Sven." "I'll take it." "I know, it's bloody awful." "But someone's got to do it." ""A nd I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud:" "and a rainbow was upon his head and his face was as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire."" "You stay here!" "Ever since the day we married..." "I get so bloody mad." "Out you go, kids." "Look sharp!" "I'm damned if I'll stand it." "Stop blubbering." "Stop your whining." "I can't stand it." "Stop, for Christ's sake!" "Get this off to Håkanssons today." "Bengt's ill today, sir." "You drive then." "How the hell does this work?" "There's no oil." "Where the hell's the oil?" "Over there." "This is molasses, but it may do." "Molasses!" "If you pour that in the whole engine will seize up." "I'd like to see his dad if he wrecks the engine." "Oil is what it needs." "My mum darned my stockings." "My mum's dead." "Dead and buried." "You damned idoit." "The word's not idoit." "It's idiot." "Start by putting it in first gear." "That's fine." "No, never mind those." "Now gently with the clutch..." "No, no!" "Take it easy!" "Now drive straight ahead." "No, wait!" "To drive forwards you put it in first." "Easy now." "No!" "Stop!" "Shall I put them in the bows?" "Yes." "I can row." "We'll have a snifter first." "No, Sven, you stay here." "Hi, there!" "Come here!" "Come here!" "Like a sweet?" "Nice day." "Yes." "You can keep me company while they swim." "I'd like to." "Do you like wild strawberries?" "Like it?" "Yes." "Oh, look!" "I'm sorry." "Like some?" "No." "Go on." "I've had some." ""Do you know him, do you know him, the little tailor?" "Do you know him, do you know him, the little tailor?" "One evening he cut off the head of the apprentice" "He threw the head into the river and then he ran away."" "Have you heard it before?" "We met Sven down by the lake." "Like some coffee?" "Axel, run and get some cups." "Do sit down." "I haven't laughed so much for ages." "I could never do it." "Go on, try!" "So you have to sleep with the animals." "In a pen." "It's warm." "It's damned wicked." "Let's play grab." "I've been waiting four hours for the bugger." "Like some, Sven?" "No, thanks." "You don't want any?" "No." "Coming!" "Coming!" "Hurry up, I haven't all day." "Sorry, sorry!" "You drunken sot." "Up you get." "I must be in Malmö before six." "You bloody boozer." "I'm not well." "Sven can drive." "Can you drive?" "I've no licence." "I asked if you can drive." "A little." "Put on his uniform then." "Stop!" "I forgot my briefcase." "It's up in the bedroom." "Come in!" "What are you doing up here?" "I've come for the briefcase." "It's there." "What the hell is it doing on the road..." "Why didn't it look where it was going..." "Where the devil have you been?" "Out hunting." "Here's a little present." "You can make it into sausages." "The man carrying it is a Nobel Prizewinner." "Tell him to take the corpse out to the kitchen." "You can give him some hogwash." "Yes, sir." "I will see to it at once." "Sit here and keep out of the way." "This is the stuff to give the troops." "We must drink while we're sober, as the miller said before being drowned." "He couldn't see, so a waiter had to help him." "There was a huge bowl of prawns and his eyes lit up." "Do you know what he said?" "Hi, girls!" "But he was blind." "He had a glass eye and it was phosphorized." "Bring the bill!" "I've dropped the money under the table." "You can crawl in and pick up what you have the heart to." "I'm not going to count it." "Thank you, sir, thank you." "He's half-jew." "Yes." "At least." "Now to my place for a sauna." "Yes." "And I know some nice female bath attendants." "I'll go and call them up." "Come along, you boozers." "Let's get started." "Welcome." "In with it." "You do live in style." "Bet you bloody life I do." "Put me down, I'm sober." "Down to the cellar and the sauna." "You can go out to the kitchen." "I'll tell him to carry the case down." "Take the champagne down to them." "Put the champagne over there." "Vera!" "Hallo." "Come over here." "You're so old, my dear." "So bloody old." "Why must one grown so bloody old." "What do you want, you hideosity?" "What's the time?" "Speak up!" "You bloody idiot." "As late as that." "It's prize-giving for the best stallion today." "Get my clothes!" "I'm going home." "I thought I heard something." "It was only Sune." "It's only the postman on his bike." "He always talks to himself." "He's in charge of money and parcels and letters." "He talks to someone inside him but they don't call him an idiot." "Mind the train, Simple Simon." "Go to hell, you bastards." "Watch out or you'll get a sock on the jaw." ""A nd the angel trust in his sickle onto the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God." "And the winepress was trodden without the city." "and blood came out of the winepress."" "I'd like to speak to Mr Höglund." "He's in the office." "It was about the rent, sir." "Oh yes, it's due today." "You're late, by the way." "You'd better pay it to Wallin, I'm going home now." "But I've no money." "We've been ill." "Can't I have a respite till the spring?" "You're crazy." "It's for this year's bookkeeping." "You must pay it tonight." "Can't I have a respite?" "I don't want to be unfair." "What's today?" "3rd December." "You can bring the money on Xmas Eve." "But I can't scrape it together by then." "It's impossible." "You can sell your fine cart-horse." "I want the money on Xmas Eve." "Or out you go." "With a flea in your ear." "The bastard." "The sodding bastard." "I'm no better than the beasts." "No wonder I can't go to church." "My wages are nil." "But Höglund gets money from the public relief for having me here." ""I water my couch with my tears." "Mine eye is consumed because of grief."" "This meadow and the castle and the woods and the fields are mine as far as the eye can see." "My estate is under my mercy and my domains for thousands of years." "But this is hidden from most." "I have drawn a line in the air with the ray of my eyes and made an invisible fence round all this estate and enclosed the very air above though you cannot understand." "Sven!" "You're to help Mrs Höglund with the Christmas cleaning." "Stop that squabbling." "Can't you be nice to each other?" "At least on Xmas Eve." "I've finished now." "Anyone at home?" "Here's Santa Claus." "It smells of Christmas." "Has the post come?" "Yes, Father." "Can Sven clean the office windows now?" "Good morning, sir." "Oh, it's you, Månsson." "About time too." "Sit down." "Merry Christmas." "Have you got the money?" "Yes, but it was hard." "I've sold the horse and been to the pawnbroker." "Where there's a will there's a way." "Couldn't I pay by instalments?" "We're broke now." "You've already had three weeks." "I've got it all here but couldn't I pay some of it in March?" "Oh no, my friend." "You pay it now." "That's how it is in business." "One, two, three..." "Quite correct." "Thank you, Månsson." "I've written a receipt." "I'll just sign it." "Once again Merry Christmas." "Don't think I'm fussy about such a measly sum." "It's the principle of the thing." "To pay on the right date." "I managed it this year, said the cobbler and hanged himself on New Year's Eve." "What the hell do you want?" "What's this?" "Why do you bring this?" "Wait!" "This belt is for you." "It's from Father." "Merry Christmas!" "For the first time in these parts the world's gayest abortion" "Miss Flora, the legless woman." "She can neither walk or dance but wriggles along like a snake." "I earn my living by being on show as Flora the legless woman, you know." "My fiancé is a handsome man who gives me kisses when he can." "But when he wants more than a kiss, you see he embraces my twin sister, not me." "And then his bliss is complete, heigh-hop!" "For she is the lady without a top!" "I'd like a ride on that." "It's too dangerous." "But I want to." "It's risky." "I want to all the same." "Are you sure you dare?" "I bloody well am!" "Let me go!" "Faster!" "So long." "It was a nice evening." "Be seeing you." "Glad to meet you." "We'll make a good deal." "We have before, so why not again?" "Vera!" "In that nice car!" "For God's sake shut up!" "What is it?" "I've got something for you later." "There's that idiot." "Come in!" "Dinner's ready." "I was thinking..." "You needn't let people know that..." "That you're my brother." "I'll ask if you can have a better place to sleep." "This is..." "Father, they've come." "Have a go." "Try and hit that white one." "It will be interesting to try." "Bull's eye!" " Fetch it!" "Bloody god for a pastor." "We cannot keep silent while gypsies, Jews and others sneak into our country, poisoning our community and pinching out money and work." "We know that resolute men with a will of steel can put a stop to it." "We have only to look out over the world." "It is happening now, my friends." "Let us show out firmness tomorrow when those damn reds have their meeting." "We'll teach them to shut up." "This can be the fatal hour of our struggle." "But today we'll muster our strength and enjoy ourselves." "Three cheers for our generous host!" "Attention!" "Dear friends." "I hope you feel welcome and have a good appetite." "We have very few of the fair sex but I've asked my wife and Mrs Berghald to lend a hand." "I'm glad to see you all here." "Here's the chicken." "Oh, my quarry!" "Cock-adoodle-doo!" "Wake up!" "We're going to have some fun." "Put this dress on." "No." "Put it on, I say!" "No, I won't." "No, I won't." "Do as I say!" "Here's a little poppet with something to drink." "May I have the pleasure?" "Let him go!" "Leave him alone!" "What's biting you?" "Can't we have some fun?" "What's the use of this?" "Heavens above Sven!" "Just look at you!" "Come on in, my dear boy." "He must stay here." "He can sleep in the parlour." "It's a bloody shame." "Drink this hot milk." "It's soothing." "There now." "Sleep well." "I've come to take him home." "Home!" "He lives here now." "Work for me." "Like hell he does." "He works for me." "He ran away a few weeks ago." "Now I need him." "You treat him like an animal." "Don't you talk to me like that." "I have the custody of this half-wit." "He has all he needs." "He's not half-witted." "He works for me and gets a wage." "I don't argue with bloody peasants." "What are we to do with the likes of him?" "Here are your wages." "Don't be afraid of that Höglund any more." "There's an ad in the paper today." ""Indian Big Chief with sidecar only 400 kronor, good as new."" "I've only got..." "You can borrow from me." "We'll go and look at it tomorrow." "Look straight ahead." "Now a nice big smile." "No, it's better serious." "That was fine." "You did it very well." "Now drive round the yard." "You're ready to take your test." "You must get a good-conduct certificate." "I've got photos." "Have you?" "Let's look at them." "It's me in all of them." "That's fine." "Any first names besides Sven?" "Gösta." "Write your name right there." "There's a letter for you." "A letter for you, Sven." "Use the knife." "Well, I'm damned." "Höglund must have stopped it." "What has happened?" "They won't give you a certificate of fitness." "You must have it for a driving licence." "I'll ring and ask what the hell they mean." "I've spoken to the parson too." "He said you were mentally deranged." "And he never met you." "Höglund told him to say it." "He's like a king in these parts." "His word is law." "But I'll show the bastard." "Dear friends, my warmest thanks to Mr and Mrs Andersson for looking after me so generously." "Soon the hour of destiny will strike and we will combat the enemy side by side." "You cared for me, let me live with you in a proper room with wallpaper paid me a wage so that I could bye this English overcoat and take driving lessons and apply for a driving licence." "I'll gladly work till the sweat runs because I get real money once a week." "Mr Andersson helped me and a lawyer spoke to those in authority and the press came and a doctor examined me at the madhouse." "He said I was fit to drive and wasn't an idiot." "Mr Andersson sat up every night writing and put out a lot of money." "He spoke to the police and stopped them from taking me away." "Mr Höglund had to give in." "They gave me a certificate and wrote that folk are not to be kept in a calf-pen." "In the end I got my licence." "I got a real driving licence!" "A hot dog." "No mustard." "Simple Simon is out for a ride!" "Fine motorbike you've got, Sven." "Where's the tooter?" "Is that it?" "That's for you." "Goodness gracious!" "What..." "Have you made this?" "Why are we to have..." "Because..." "Help!" "Help!" "I didn't see anyone... a sack..." "He kicked and beat me." "He smelled of smoke." "It's awful." "Why must the road go over my land?" "It's to go through the bog." "Your land?" "You only rent it." "But I have a lease." "It was decided at the meeting and all have agreed." "Hell!" "Sven, wake up!" "The pigsties are in fire!" "Fetch more water!" "My lawyer wants a word with you." "You've been careless about your bills." "No, I've..." "How did you get hold if them?" "We have our connections." "About the lease..." "Can't we go inside?" "Yes, this leasehold..." "It adjoins my land and I'd like to take it over." "Is this your famous motorbike?" "Do you keep it in here at night?" "Yes." "Must have cost quite a lot." "Four hundred." "Where is Bengt?" "I can't here you." "Where is Bengt?" "He used to drive the car." "Oh, he quit." "He drank too much." "He was fired." "A nice bike, this." "Very nice." "Those bastards are hand in glove." "He'll just have to take it over then." "And the bills he has ferreted out." "They turn the law inside out." "But we'll find a way." "You've had enough." "I'll drink as much as I want." "I suppose they'll auction all out things now." "How else can we scrape it together?" "Have a dram, Sven." "No, thanks." "You'll bloody well have a dram and be human." "Well, it's late." "Let's go to bed." "It's your fault." "It's all your fault." "It's all because you came." "I can't help it." "Why did you come here?" "You've ruined everything." "You and your motorbike." "Don't touch me, you idiot." "Don't touch me!" "Leave me alone!" "Darling Anna..." "Darling Anna..." "Five chairs, who'll bid a krona?" "One ten." "One ten." "One twenty-five." "Going, going, gone." "One thirty." "Too late." "Here's a cushion with a Chinese pattern." "25 öre." "50 öre." "That's the way..." "They've taken it!" "My motorcycle!" "They've passed through here." "Anything there?" "I can't see anything." "Dive deeper." "It's here." "No!" ""Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high." "As many were astonished at thee his visage was so marred, more than any man and his form more than the sons of men;" "He is despised and rejected of men;" "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."" "I know I can talk to him." "I cannot take that responsibility." "He is such a kind man." "He is armed." "He is an idiot." " Onwards!"