"THE SEVENTH SEAL" ""And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal..."" ""there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour."" ""And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets..."" ""prepared themselves to sound."" "Who are you?" "I am Death." "You have come for me?" "I have been at your side for a long time." "I know." "Are you prepared?" "My flesh is afraid, but I am not." "Wait a moment." "You all say that." "But I give no respite." "You play chess, do you not?" "How do you know that?" "I have seen it in paintings." "Yes, I am quite a skillful player." "But no more so than I." "Why do you wish to play chess with me?" "That's my concern." "You're quite right." "As long as I resist you, I live." "If I win, you set me free." "Black for you!" "It becomes me well." "Between a strumpet's legs I lie" "That's the place for such as I" "The Lord is up aloft, you know" "But Satan finds us here below" "There's talk of omens and other horrors." "Two horses had devoured each other... graves gaped wide and bones lay about." "Four suns were in the sky." "Where is the inn?" "Did he show you the way?" "Not exactly." "What did he say?" "Nothing." "Was he mute?" "No, milord." "He was most eloquent." "Indeed." "But very gloomy." "Have you had breakfast?" "Pity I can't eat grass." "You must teach me." "We're feeling the pinch." "People here are not interested in art." "Mary!" "I have seen something!" "What has happened?" "A vision." "It was quite real." "You and your visions!" "I saw her anyway." "Who?" "The Virgin Mary." "Did you really see her?" "I could have touched her." "With her crown of gold and her blue robe." "She was holding the Child and teaching Him to walk." "When she saw me, she smiled." "I had tears in my eyes." "And when I wiped them away, she was gone." "And there was a great silence... in heaven and on earth." "The things you make up!" "You don't believe me, but it was true." "It's not the reality you see, but another kind." "Like the Devil painting the wheels red... and using his tail as a brush." "Why did you remind me?" "And you had red paint under your nails." "Well, I did make that up... so that you would believe my other visions." "Mind you're not taken for a fool." "Because you're not." "At least not yet." "It's not my fault if I hear voices... and see the Virgin, and if angels and devils like my company." "I have told you once and for all..." "I must have sleep in the mornings!" "I have asked you, but nothing helps." "Now will you shut up!" "I want a better life for Michael." "He is going to be a great acrobat." "Or a juggler who does the one impossible trick." "What trick is that?" "Make a ball stand still in the air." "But that's impossible." "Yes, for us, but not for him." "Always daydreaming!" "I've written a song." "Do you want to hear it?" "Yes." "I'm very curious." "A dove on a branch" "At Midsummer time" "She sang so sweetly of Jesus Christ" "In heaven is great rejoicing" "Are you asleep?" "It was a lovely song." "It's not finished." "I heard, but I'll sleep a bit more." "Sing me the rest later." "You just sleep and sleep." "Is this a mask for an actor?" "The priests pay well, so I play." "Going to play Death?" "Scaring decent folk out of their wits." "When are we to perform?" "At the Saints' Festival in Elsinore." "We will perform on the church steps." "Why not something bawdy?" "People like it better." "They say the plague stalks the land." "The priests speculate in sudden death and moral bellyache." "What parts are we playing?" "A fool like you can play the Human Soul." "Not a good part." "Who decides?" "I'm the director of the troupe." ""Your life, O fool..."" ""hangs by a thread."" ""Short is your day."" "Will the women love me in this get-up?" "Well, what is it?" "Don't move." "Don't speak." "I'm as silent as the grave." "I love you." "What is this supposed to be?" "The Dance of Death." "And this is Death." "Yes, he dances with them." "Why all this daubing?" "To remind people of death." "That won't make them any happier." "Why make them happy?" "Why not scare them?" "Then they won't look at your picture." "Yes, they will." "A skull is more interesting than a naked woman." "If you scare them..." "They'll think..." "Then they think." "And are still more scared." "And fall into the arms of the priests." "That's not my business." "You're only painting your picture." "I paint life as it is." "Then folk can do as they like." "That makes people angry." "Then I paint something funny." "A man must live." "At least till the plague takes him." "The plague." "Ugh!" "You should see the abscess... the limbs knotted in frenzy." "Unpleasant." "They try to tear out the boils... they bite their hands... scratch open their veins... scream in agony." "Did I scare you?" "Scared?" "You don't know me." "What's that rubbish there?" "People think the plague... is a punishment from God." "Crowds wander the land lashing each other... to please the Lord." "Lashing each other?" "Yes, it's a horrible sight." "You feel like hiding when they pass." "Give me a gin." "I've had nothing but water." "I feel as thirsty as a desert camel." "Scared after all?" "I want to confess as best I can... but my heart is void." "The void is a mirror." "I see my face... and feel loathing and horror." "My indifference to men has shut me out." "I live now in a world of ghosts... a prisoner in my dreams." "Yet you do not want to die." "Yes, I do." "What are you waiting for?" "Knowledge." "You want an guarantee." "Call it what you will." "Is it so hard to conceive God with one's senses?" "Why must He hide in a midst of vague promises... and invisible miracles?" "How are we to believe the believers when we don't believe ourselves?" "What will become of us who want to believe, but cannot?" "And what of those who neither will nor can believe?" "Why can I not kill God within me?" "Why does He go on living in a painful, humiliating way?" "I want to tear Him out of my heart... but He remains a mocking reality... which I cannot get rid of." "Do you hear me?" "I hear you." "I want knowledge." "Not belief." "Not surmise." "But knowledge." "I want God to put out His hand... show His face, speak to me." "But He is silent." "I cry to Him in the dark, but there seems to be no one there." "Perhaps there is no one there." "Then life is a senseless terror." "No man can live with Death and know that everything is nothing." "Most people think neither of Death nor nothingness." "Until they stand on the edge of life and see the Darkness." "Ah, that day." "I see." "We must make an idol of our fear... and call it God." "You are uneasy." "Death visited me this morning." "We are playing chess." "This respite enables me to perform a vital errand." "What errand?" "My whole life has been a meaningless search." "I say it without bitterness or self-reproach." "I know it is the same for all." "But I want to use my respite for one significant action." "So you play chess with Death?" "He is a skillful tactician... but I have not yet lost one piece." "How can you outwit Death?" "By a combination of bishop and knight..." "I will break his flank." "I shall remember that." "Traitor!" "You have tricked me!" "But I'll find a way out." "We will resume our game at the inn." "This is my hand." "I can move it." "The blood is pulsing in my veins." "The sun is still at the zenith... and I, Antonius Block... am playing chess with Death!" "My master and I have been abroad." "The Crusades?" "Ten years in the Holy Land... bitten by snakes and flies... slaughtered by savages, poisoned by bad wine... made lousy by women, rotting with fever... all for the glory of God." "The glory of God." "Our crusade was so stupid... that only an idealist could have thought it out." "That was horrid about the plague." "It's worse than that." "Whichever way we turn, our backside's behind us." "Backside behind, how true, how true." "Here's squire Jöns." "He grins at Death... chuckles at the Lord, laughs at himself... and smiles at the girls." "His world exists only for himself." "Absurd to all, even to himself." "Meaningless in heaven, indifferent in hell." "What's that stinking soup good for?" "She has had carnal knowledge of the Evil One." "And now she's in the stocks." "She's to be burnt tomorrow." "But we must keep the Devil away." "With the aid of that stinking muck?" "Blood and gall of a black dog." "The Evil One can't stand the smell." "Nor can I." "Have you seen the Devil?" "You must not talk to her." "Is that so dangerous?" "She is thought to be the cause of the plague." "Fate is a villain" "And you're a poor wretch" "Now bounding with glee" "Now crawling with worms" "Must you sing?" "What?" "Surprised that I steal from the dead?" "A profitable trade nowadays." "It's no use telling tales." "It's everyone for himself." "Don't scream." "No one will hear you." "Isn't that surprising?" "I know you." "You're Raval, the seminarist." "You're Doctor Mirabilis, Coelestis et Diabilis." "Aren't I right?" "Ten years ago you persuaded my master... to set off for the Holy Land." "Did I scare you?" "Have you a pain in your belly?" "Now I understand these ten wasted years." "We were too well-off, too satisfied." "The Lord wanted to chasten our pride." "So He sent you to poison my master's mind." "I was in good faith." "Now you know better." "You've become a thief." "A more suitable occupation for knaves." "Oh, I am not bloodthirsty." "But next time we meet, I will brand your face as you deserve." "I came to get my water bottle filled." "Jöns is the name." "An amiable young man... full of noble thoughts and deeds." "Farewell, my sweet." "I could have raped you... but I don't believe in that kind of love." "It's a little dull in the end." "Come to think of it, I need a housekeeper." "Can you cook?" "I hope my wife is dead by now." "So I need a housekeeper." "Well, don't stand there gaping!" "I've saved your life, you know!" "Damn actors." "They're making fools of themselves." "I'm not in the first part so I'll go behind the curtain." "Don't stand there gaping, ugly!" "The horse is up the tree, crowing" "The road is wide but the gate narrow" "The Black One dances on the shore" "The hen mews in a lake so dark" "The day is red but the fish is dead" "The Black One squats on the shore" "The snake flaps high in the sky" "The Virgin is pale but the mouse's content" "The Black One runs on the shore" "The goat hisses" "With his two teeth" "The blast is heavy" "The waves break" "The Black One makes dung on the shore" "The sow lays eggs and the cat grunts" "The night is soot and the dark remains" "The Black One stays, stays on the shore" "God is punishing us." "We shall all perish by the Black Death." "You there, gaping like cattle... and you, bloated with complacency... this might be your last hour." "Death is behind your back." "His scythe flashes above your heads." "Which of you will he strike first?" "You there, with the stare of a goat... will tonight see your last twisted smile?" "You, woman, full of the lust of life... will you wither before the dawn?" "You, with the swollen nose... will you pollute the earth for another year?" "Do you know, idiots, that you are to die?" "You are all doomed, do you hear?" "Doomed!" "Doomed!" "Doomed!" "Lord, have mercy on us sinners." "Turn not away Thy face." "For the sake of Thy son, Jesus Christ!" "Do they really expect modern people... to take that drivel seriously?" "You laugh at me, milord." "I've read and heard all the fairy tales." "Even the ghost stories about God the Father..." "Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost." "Why are you shouting?" "I'm Plog, the smith, and you're Jöns, the squire." "That's possible." "Have you seen my wife?" "No." "But if I had seen her and she was like you..." "I would hasten to forget her." "So you haven't seen her?" "Maybe she's run off." "Do you know something?" "Quite a lot." "But nothing about your wife." "Go inside, they'll tell you." "The plague is raging everywhere." "People are dying like flies." "I can't sell anything." "It's Judgement Day." "And the awful omens..." "A woman has given birth to a calf's head." "People are mad." "They flee and take the plague with them." "Eat, drink and be merry!" "Many have purged themselves with fire and died." "But better that than hell, the priests say." "No one dares say it aloud, but this is the End." "People are crazy with fear." "You're scared yourself!" "I'll warrant I am." "Judgement Day." "The angels descend and the graves will open." "It will be horrible." "Want this?" "You can have it cheap." "It's real silver." "Too dear for me." "Excuse me, have you seen my wife?" "Is she missing?" "They say she's run off." "Run away?" "With an actor." "If she has such bad taste, let her go." "You are right." "I thought of killing her." "Oh." "Murder?" "That's different!" "And the actor with her." "The actor?" "The one she has run off with." "Dense, aren't you?" "Oh, the actor!" "Yes, there are far too many of them... so you might as well kill him." "You're lying to the smith." "Me!" "Lying?" "You're an actor too, and it's your friend who has taken his wife." "Are you an actor too?" "Hardly." "It's logical to kill you, too." "Funny, aren't you?" "Pale, aren't you?" "Got a bad conscience?" "You are funny." "Don't you think he's funny?" "Oh, you don't?" "Suppose we brand you." "What have you done with my wife?" "You're not going to hurt me?" "If I've offended anyone, I'll go away." "Stand up and speak louder." "Stand on your head, actor!"