"THE FOREST WOMAN" "I ain't got cholera why you put me in here?" "Hey!" "The loft's full of books." "Take as many as you please." "Quiet, darling!" "Iorgovan!" "Iorgovan!" "What's the matter, you're so pale?" "You fell asleep and started to fret." "Perhaps..." "You dreamt something." "With this scourge, everybody's having bad dreams." "Drink this, it will do you good." "Let's play!" "Here's the king!" "I'll never play with you again." "I'm crossed." "Wake up!" ""Last night... "" ""There was a such full moon!" "Darling, couldn't wait to see you soon"" ""But your mother made me sad When I heard her scold you bad! "" ""My pretty darling, my love! "" ""I left lonely like a dove! "" ""I left lonely like a dove! "" "Boys, let's drink this to..." "in fact, what's left to drink to?" "To this meaningless life." "Or to His Highness, the Emperor." "God preserve and protect him for I'm fed up!" "To the cholera!" "Perhaps it will be more merciful with us!" "I'm going home." "To hell with this school, I'm going home." "You're running from the cholera?" "You're scared of it" "No, brother." "I don't know any more what I'm scared of." "Truth is I can't stand it any more." "Cholera, cholera!" "Can't you talk about something else?" "If you don't die of cholera, then you die 'cos you didn't want to die of cholera." "His Majesty will see to it!" "Or you can die of fear." "And us?" "How about us?" "How about this life one can't live anymore?" "Now it's the cholera, now the army, the war, or the emperor's decree..." "I didn't know what fear meant until..." " You're afraid?" " Yes, I'm afraid!" " Yes, I'm afraid!" " Then I congratulate you." "This means you're a loyal citizen of the empire." "Right, let's drink to fear." "Or better to what we are not able to be." "Sing, man!" "Bravo, brother Iorgovan, bravo!" "Hop, hop..." "Don't let up, play it hard, it's how the Enlightened Emperor likes it." "Well, I think you can't trample this Romanian nation under foot for ever" "It can't be, historically, it's not logical," "Not all real men in this land can be dead." "Look, he drinks, stomps his feet, and is afraid." "That's a real man, Bargaut." "He cries like a lunatic..." "Beats his drum and cries out..." "Good day, father." "Welcome." "What's the matter?" "Why so much hurry?" "Pa, I reckoned I'd better become a ploughman I'd have gone insane otherwise." "My humble respects, father." "For 5 years I kept you in 'em big schools of Arad, so you become a gentleman." "As if it was so simple!" "And now I wake up with you wanting to become a ploughman..." "How is that?" "What did I and your mother command you?" "Father, I can't take it any more!" "I'm fed up with being shut up in a room, confined to reading books." "Arad teems with disease." "A colleague of mine died of cholera." " Cholera?" " Yes." "Can't be!" "Now with the harvesting coming, no way!" "There's cholera in the country and Busuioc doesn't want to hear about it!" "Cholera at harvest time, that can't be!" "I have 40 acres of wheat, and if I don't reap it in 3 days it sheds." "It's sheer madness!" "The authorities stop people from coming to work." "They drummed up the news in the villages, they even said it in church." "Nobody is allowed to leave the bounds of the village, or to receive people from other parts to harvest." "Where do they get the power to stop me from doing what I want in my own backyard?" "Sofron is hitching the horses to the cart, to go pick up the people in the forests." "Between hunger and cholera, they know what to heed more." "Well, perhaps I should go, too..." "OK." "Better a foremost ploughman, than an ordinary squire." "We'll see about school." "Now I have other things on my mind." "I put so much money in you for nothing?" "You think we can erase it all?" "I've had enough, pa!" "Part dedicated to the Emperor, part to God, part to disease." "It's coming now." "What is left for me?" "My fortune, if you're man enough!" "Our family must stay where it has always been, at the top!" "Leave the boy alone, don't you see the long journey's tired him?" "Come with me, Iorgovan." "When the scourge goes away, we'll see." "Hey, not so fast." "Horses are God's creatures, too!" "The prices we ask are so steep..." "Since with this cholera!" "Who are you looking for, master?" "Nobody, nobody." "You happen to be from Zimbru?" "Exactly." "Don't you need harvesters?" "Master, master..." "Ouch, he left the horses all foamy in the dead of the night." "Come." "What about the people?" "They're here or not?" "So and so!" "Speak properly, man." "Did you or didn't you find them?" "I did and I didn't." "They're afraid of cholera, they play hard to get." "You ask for too much!" "They won't stare death in the face." "I fear we can't get as many men as shepherd Busuioc says we need." "Then let's take the horses and start off." "Didn't you hear what I said?" "!" " Iorgovan is here?" " He is." "Call the boy to water the horses." " Stop!" "Who's there?" " Come on, it's me." " Where do you want to go?" " Look for harvesters." "Where?" "What am I doing here?" "Don't you see the horse's dead- beat?" "Come!" "Come!" "Surprised?" "I don't know." "Yes, I know I'm glad." "I've come to see how you are." "You're in good health?" " Yes, yes, why are you asking?" " Just like that." "And you, Iorgovan?" "I mind my business..." "Come to the harvest?" "I don't know..." "Pa didn't think of going." "How about you?" "Me neither!" "At last I saw you..." "No use looking, Iorgovan, pa's not at home." "Then why are you laughing?" "Why are you laughing?" "I wanted to ask you last summer and I don't know what I didn't..." "What do you want from me?" " Good day." " Good day." "Pa, Iorgovan's come to call us to the harvest." "You covered all that road." "We had to to it, couldn't be helped." "Then I'll get going, I'll wait for you at Curtici." "Look at it!" "The poor horse!" "Look at it, it can barely stand up!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Oh, the poor beast!" " Welcome, folks!" " Good day." "Welcome, Toader, how are you?" "You seem taller, and you're more beautiful." "Go up, the old woman'll be glad." "Vico, come down see who's here." "Well, lon, how's things?" "Sofron, where's the horse?" "Loss doesn't come out of the blue." "Think I don't get it?" "For the sake of a girl, spur the horse until you see it drop dead?" "Listen, Iorgovan, now there's too many folks here and I don't have time, but my heart can't stand such a thing." "Be as merry as you can!" "Come on, be merry!" "Mirth and work, that's my philosophy." "Work and mirth!" "Hey, Birdie, why don't you dance?" "Iorgovan, you don't feel like dancing?" "I don't." "Please do, that's how it's done." "What punishment you sent on me, God!" " You can't, Ispir!" " The deuce I can't!" "What joke is that?" "See for yourself..." "It's not that heavy..." "What do I care if it's heavy or not?" "I bet you can lift it too." "Hear, hear, he says he doesn't care..." "Better said he can't!" "You're wrong, Sofron!" "Fine piece of a girl!" "I'm too old for this, uncle Neacsu, don't you think?" "Maybe." "Fall in!" "At ease!" "Fall in At ease!" "Iorgovan." "Come, it's late." "Right." "Right." "You'd better help them turn it up." "I'll do it with you and all." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Halt!" "Sop!" "Sofron!" "I said stop!" " Simina." " Let me be." " Simina." " Leave me alone, Sofron." "You know I want to kiss you?" "You're stronger than me but kissing by force is no fun, I tell you." " Let me be, Sofron, I'm embarrassed." " I won't if you don't kiss me back." " I want it ready by tomorrow!" " We'll try." "Come on, brothers, put more snap into it!" "Uncle Vasile, a little too much grain left behind." "Uncle Toader, have you eaten today?" "Iorgovan, go ahead, you know the place, come on." "You didn't tie the bale good." "You didn't do it right!" "Bind that better!" "You're mad?" "!" "Sofron is a fool!" "Who dares gets the pie!" "I don't understand, Simina, you want me to do what he does?" "Oh, no, I'll do it." "You heat up fast, Iorgovan." "I gather you're ashamed of me." "Don't say such things, Simina." "Let's better be quiet." "Having you close is good enough for me." "Catch it, man!" "I'd like to see you run to catch a flying bird." "He's crazy." "I'd have been after it to catch it on the nest before I lifted the bale." "Once it took off..." "I say one thing and you understand another!" "I'd like to see you merry, like he is." "He must have reasons to be merry." "He doesn't." "He just thinks he does." "It's enough to think you have, not to actually have!" "Why don't you?" "Look at them!" "They're fleeing from the city, driven out by cholera." "Nothing serious, he's sick with the journey." "Perhaps tomorrow it will be our turn." "I don't get it." "I didn't say anything, I was thinking of this life." "Take the shovel and cover it up." "Sing, so that people take courage!" "Come, brothers, come!" "I'll never again hire these softies!" "Come on, we're wasting time!" "My men, put more snap into it or Christmas will find us still here!" "Hey, money don't come easy!" "Simina, have you ever thought that we..." "You'd had the courage?" "Why you think I've come now for all this disease?" "I'm not afraid to die, Iorgovan." "Cowards die before an early death." " Hey!" " What's up, Birdie?" "Get out of here!" "What's up?" "What's the matter, why are you laughing?" " What?" " Why are you laughing?" "You smell so good!" "You put perfume on?" " For me?" " What's so funny about it?" "You want to take off?" "Let me be..." "I'll accept it, you know, but not now!" "Why do you force yourself on me?" "Forgive me!" "It's that I have this foreboding." "What foreboding?" "We'll all die, that's for sure." "Don't joke with that!" "Death no longer is something that far away you might think." "You don't know what's downtown!" " Have no idea what cholera means!" " You're really afraid to die?" "Call it zest for life, Simina, it's the same!" "When you feel like me, pain... as if someone pushes you from behind to do everything in one day." "Iorgovan, please wait..." "Iorgovan!" "Let's not behave like animals, and do what they do." "We're people!" "Where the deuce I put it?" "Whenever I look for it, it just isn't there!" " What's the matter?" "Where you going?" " To Curtici." "Brother- in- law Busuioc called me." "He has some trouble with Iorgovan." "I'll be back in no time, and I'll bring reapers, too." "All right!" " Good day." " My respects, Father." " Good work!" " My respects, Father." " How many more days here?" " Two." "Then I'll wait for you at Socodor, as settled." " As settled." " Hope you haven't forgotten." " No, no." " My respects, Father." " Who're you?" " Lenuta of Mihut from Osasel." "Very good." "Fine work!" " What's this?" " Reaping, father." " Where do you come from?" " She's ours, father." " Your daughter?" " Yes." " Where are you from?" " From Zimbru." " We're church sextons." " From Zimbru, very good." " How's father, Toader?" " Fine." " I'll be waiting for you at Socodor." " We'll be there." "In the company of a beautiful girl people work more briskly." "And what else do you say?" "Well, Father, I say you should wear a hat unless you want to get burnt." " Those are quails, Iorgovan?" " Yes, indeed." "Then take your gun and come with me." "Why didn't you fire?" "You thinking elsewhere?" "!" "Iorgovan, mind you don't tempt Providence!" "Don't you dare hit on the girl." "If you want girls, your dad, Busuioc has enough wealth to get your married, and enough relatives to find you a suitable wife." "I don't want to hear bad things about you!" " What?" " What the heck can I say!" "?" "I don't want her as my daughter- in- law." "But old as I am if I were a widower," "I'd do anything to marry her." "She's smart like a whip, well- stacked, and beautiful to kill." "Brother- in- law, be good!" "You fear even your own shadow." "In time, he'll get fed up with her." "Why don't you mind your own business?" "Let them deal with it." "Let her knock her head against the wall." " It's rather him who'll do that!" " Your health." " Hark, folks!" " Let everybody know this!" "His Highness the Emperor, says his land is infested with cholera!" "And he has decided thus:" "Nobody is allowed to eat unripe fruit!" "Prunes, apples, pears, cucumbers... "" " Come over here" " Who, me?" "I have reapers, the wheat's gonna shed, if there's fear." "Better go to the pub, say I sent you." "Drink and eat as you please I'm buying!" "Let cholera be." "If you have to go, God will take you anyhow." "What's the matter?" "I'm tired, I've grown old." "Don't work if you feel poorly." "I'd better not come." "Isn't it, my girl?" "Death won't get me so easily!" "Don't talk about death." "You think Iorgovan will marry you?" " Don't think so." " You're good, my girl." "Simina!" " What is it with this girl?" " How about you and her?" " I want to marry her." " I don't..." " Then leave her alone!" " She won't leave me!" " You're lying!" "You're lying!" " He's not, Sofron!" "He ain't lying!" "We'll talk about it, there'll be things between us!" "Wait!" "What's up?" "Let's elope!" "I can't take it any more!" "Be brave, at least once!" "Where can we escape the worries we have with mom and dad, their fury, their money?" "Tell me about a spotless place on this earth!" "Cheer up!" "We must do something!" "Got to!" "Right, Simina, right, we'll leave." "Tomorrow at dawn." "Put it straight!" "Turn it." " Ispir, man!" " Go away!" " It's no good." " Ispir, my man!" " Go away!" " Ispir!" " Ispir, my man!" " Leave, you fool!" "Mind your own business!" "Come on, pull!" "Now!" "Fix the belt right or it'll fall again!" "Fool, don't..." "Stop!" "Stop!" "Cursed be the hour when I brought you here!" "A candle!" "A candle!" "Everybody feared cholera, and now it's sudden death." "God forgive him!" "For things like this, you can't use people like Birdie." "The blood..." "Busuioc hasn't lost face." "They say he was his son, that's why he put so much trust in him." "Stupid but from a mighty family!" " Can't be helped!" " There's nothing you can do!" "Sofron!" "If pa looks for me, tell him I'll be back soon." " Where you wanna go?" " You know." "Then why ask?" "Why do you make me say it?" "OK, leave it..." "I'll go." "Shouldn't have brought it indoors." "A dead man should stay, as the custom is, where he expired." "That's none of your business, and then you know Birdie had nobody." "I know very well who he had." "May God rest him in peace!" " He won't come." " Where is he?" " Not too far." " Where?" " You can't go there." " Sofron, where's he?" "At the pub." "Petre!" "He has this habit?" "Come on, I won't go alone!" "My Goodness, what a frightful journey." "Terrifying, see?" "Many villages don't even allow strangers in." "In other parts you can go as you please in the streets, the households are deserted..." " How many died?" " Who can tell?" "Some left like us, others locked themselves up in their homes..." "Hey, folks, who knows whether there's pubs in kingdom come!" "?" "Horatio or VirgiI said this, or perhaps both." "Right?" "Come on, rejoice while there's still time!" "Come on!" "I have no time!" "Marcu thought he'd got it too, and all night long he kept his hands and head over the fire." " Come on!" " What?" "How's that?" "Live just to keep death at bay as best we can?" "But this is death!" " Old men think like this..." " Let's just pretend we live." "Old men think this is a cure." "Nonsense, leave me be!" "If you got it, nothing will help you pull through." "It's fate!" "Anyway, I've had enough of this farce." "Only for us is cholera a disease." "For His Highness the Emperor it's a godsend." "Don't kill my joy or I'll send everything to hell!" "Just a word, and then you stay as long as you please." "I've come with Simina!" "She's outside!" "Yeah?" "Very good." "I'll bring her in, to make merry with us!" " Our first night together." " Who?" "You'll see!" "Come, girl!" "It's now or never!" "Let the girl be!" "Pity for two people like us!" " She's not in your league!" " Not in my league?" "!" "What are you talking about?" "Why do you stick to her?" "You forget who I am?" "You know who I am?" "You're no good!" "Scum!" "Busuioc's son who can do whatever he pleases as long as the old man's alive, then..." " Sofron!" " How dare you?" " I am scum?" " You're a laughing stock, better let's get in." " So you go with him?" "!" " Sofron, mind your own business." "I'll come too!" "Ratiu, Father Lucaciu..." "They're shut up in the Empire's jails while we..." "What're gonna do, brother?" "You like to make merry..." "As if you'd nothing to do with it." "It's not with memorandums but with Horea's lance that we should fight!" "France and Britain staged solidarity demonstrations with the Memorandists..." "And we're doing nothing At least this A protest demonstration." "Don't heed him." "That's how city boys are." "They're either lost in endless talks, or always reading some book." "By the way..." "You like to read, right?" " I used to, in school." " Yes?" "How many years?" " I did four." " Four!" "Was the teacher in your village handsome?" " You're related to Iorgovan?" " You're a cousin?" " No." " How did you meet?" " At the harvest." " Must have been beautiful." "Harvesting..." "When you are alone what do you talk, you kiss?" " What do you do?" " Marta, you're upsetting me!" "Why?" "When I was little I liked harvesting very much." "And I liked best how girls used to sing at feasts." " By the way..." "Why don't you sing something?" " Marta, leave her alone!" "Why?" "I think she has a beautiful voice." "Let's hear her!" "Simina, if you want to..." ""High in the mount, three shepherds climb"" ""Two are brothers One's a stranger. "" "" If you kill me take my little flute"" ""Give it to my mother. "" "Perhaps I'm the bastard Sofron thinks I am." "You've got to understand me, I'm afraid!" "I'm afraid to live, to die, I'm afraid of us." "This fear gives you a terrific balance, brother Iorgovan!" "Half of you is afraid to die, while the other half in afraid to live." "See how man can become immortal?" "Only accidentally." "Can you still forgive me?" " Leave me, I can walk by myself." " If you're uncomfortable, go ahead!" " Of course I'm uncomfortable!" " Here!" "Simina, I wouldn't like you to think I'm..." "I don't know why, but I'm terribly happy you're with me now." "Simina, I know you since summer, but when I saw you now at the inn or with uncle Neacsu at the harvest, I could've not recognized you." " I felt..." " What did you feel?" " I thought that..." " As I say!" "I should hide you away, so that nobody else sees you..." "Look, from spring I'll no longer be a hired hand." "I saved 900 silver pieces." "Shepherd Busuioc loaned the money to folks at an interest." "Simina, I'll wait for you." "I have all the patience." "I can see you won't love this man very long!" "Attention!" "Attention!" "Come!" "Come on in!" "Iorgovan, tonight we sleep together." "You know I didn't mean to cross you, but we shouldn't get involved with them." " Let's go." " No, pa." "Don't ask me why, I don't know what to say." "I can't." "Just can't." "It's like a curse..." " Welcome, father, come on in." " Cholera is now here." "Two old folks and a man died tonight." "I spoke to him yesterday." "He could load a cart full of hay, he was strong, still the disease got him overnight and by morning he had spilled all his guts." "Let's hitch the horses to the cart and take them back from where we took them." "It's easy for you to talk, you finished your work." "How about me?" "!" "If I don't hurry my grains will remain unharvested." "Whatever you think fit, whatever God wills." "They can't leave home for the roads are closed." "At least at Socodor, folks'd work." " Here they do nothing." " When do the roads close?" "Beats me!" "They're talking about a sanitary cordon, with checkpoints here and there." "I'd hurry then, to take the wheat to Arad." "Now?" "!" "That would be madness!" "Don't panic, Father." "Only those who haven't got enough strength to stay healthy die of cholera." "I'm going, my girl." "Don't forget we've always lived an honest, God fearing life." "I'll come too, tomorrow at the latest." "Don't tempt fate, man!" "Don't go!" "Everybody's terrified of this epidemic only you won't see reason!" "Leave me alone, don't you see I'm up to my ears in work!" " At least, let Iorgovan stay." " Ma, please!" " I didn't call him!" " Ma, please!" "Iorgovan, where you want to go?" "At least you stay home." " Mr. Busuioc, wait." " You can't go!" " I have to!" " The roads are closed, you can't go anywhere." " To Arad, you see!" " It's cholera." "Mister!" "A peasant died on the road, one who worked for you." "Pull the cart in the yard!" "Simina." "What relatives have you got?" "An uncle at Zimbru and an aunt with three kids at Socodor." "Why you ask?" "Your father died!" "Pap!" " Why did he die?" " Of cholera." "You know how he died?" "I only know he had a candle with him." "What should I do now?" "Go and unbridle your hair." "I'm leaving for your uncle from Zimbru, and by dawn I'll bring the man here." "To wash and put him in state for the wake!" "Wake!" "Sofron, don't go!" "Let some one else go." "You can't leave me alone." "You see..." "No one else will go." "But I'm not afraid." "Where do I lay father, where shall the wake be?" "Simina, it's been arranged to bury him here, at Socodor." "For a while you'll live with us, to be closer to him." "I left father all by himself." "Had I been with him..." "Or Iorgovan'd stayed at his schools..." "Iorgovan!" "Iorgovan, your pa is calling." "Sit." "Iorgovan, it's not that you want or because I decided so" "but because it's God's will and also what your poor mother wants." "Especially now that the cholera's gone, we think you should marry Simina." " Agreed?" " No." "Why not?" "Now I want it and your mother, Vica, wants it too." "Why don't you want?" "This woman is not for me." "And I'm not for her." "Iorgovan, my boy, you don't really believe it." "I've been watching you long." "Since this girl went away you had no peace." "You didn't sleep, you lost weight." "You're pining." "The girl's beautiful and good." "She's suffered a lot and it's not proper that you turn your back on her." "You love her, Iorgovan, there's nothing to be ashamed of." "You tell me that?" "You of all people?" "!" " Wait here." " Welcome." " My regards, sister-in-law." " Welcome." "The Father asks you to excuse him, he had to leave in a hurry." "The time's come to go a-wooing Simina." "Tell me, shouldn't you talk to her kin, as the custom goes?" "Tell her to come here." "A derelict girl to hesitate when I go pay court to her?" "God forgive me!" "Simina..." "How about you?" "You stay here, you go to your aunt, or you come for good to my house where you are so much desired?" "For the time being I'll stay with my aunt at Socodor." "OK." "I just wanted to know." "For now you want this." "You'll let me know when you change your mind." "Yes." " How is it?" " Alright." "From where I stand you look very down in the mouth." "It's all right." "Couldn't be better!" "It's you that fed me all this nonsense!" "It's your fault!" "How's that?" "Am I one to pick someone in the street?" "Sorry!" "But Simina has her kin!" "She must confer with her relatives." "Phew!" "Let the entire village know that I, Busuioc, have to woo her." "Ask her down-at-heels folks for her hand." "Because of you and of this wretch!" "Who is never sure what he wants!" "Just you wait, Simina, just you wait for me to come courting you!" "What's the matter, Sofron, what happened?" "You forget something?" "Nope." "I just came." "Busuioc didn't send me." "I want to talk to Simina, if that's possible." "Alright, come in, Sofron." "Sit down, Sofron." "Look..." "It's nothing, it will pass." "It took me by surprise." "I wanted to say..." "It's good that you marry Iorgovan." "You'll never forget me for what I did to you." "Who, I?" "Sofron, I won't marry Iorgovan." "He separated me from father the day he died." "He separated me from you." "He lied to me exactly when..." "He's weak, doesn't know his own mind." "Look, not for me, who am unworthy..." "But because you cared for the departed and he for you..." "You won't stay with Busuioc, anyways." "So move here, to Socodor so that dad be not alone." "Sure thing." "How could I not come?" "!" "What?" "I've come to settle our accounts." "Time I went." "Fine." "Gladly!" "But you know I don't have money on me." "I lent it to other folks." "Call Toader and Oancea to me." " Hello!" " Good day." "Allow for one or two months." "I lost an ox this spring, then..." "Gadly, but you know, the money's not mine." "Talk to Sofron." "Sofron, give me one or two months." "I don't have money with you!" "All my money is with Busuioc." "He has it and I don't know what he did with it." "I have nothing to say to you!" "Help catch the pig." "I've come for the money." "I tell you, Sofron!" "I don't need your money." "I just looked for folks who wanted to borrow." "Oh, no, I gave you the money." "When we made the deal it was included in the wage." "I worked my guts out to put it by and I didn't want to entrust it to anybody." "And I looked for a rich, honest person, who could give it back to me at any time." "Here, I said, take this money and keep it for me." " Wasn't that the deal?" " That's it, Sofron." "Only that I didn't take your money for myself." "I gave it with interest to folks." "Sue the debtors for your money." "But I gave the money to you." "That was the deal." "He shouldn't have done that!" "It stinks!" "Iorgovan, don't forget he's your father and you have no right to judge him!" " I've had enough!" " Iorgovan!" "I'm sick and tired of living in this house!" "Sick and tired!" "Calm down!" "I'm a foolish man and don't know much." "Don't make me do something bad..." "Anyway, my life isn't worth a thing." "But you have a pretty fortune and a child." "I'm afraid of myself so you too should fear yourself." "Listen, Sofron, go find something to do in the yard!" "Sprinkle the dust with some water!" "Then we'll see." "But quick!" "Let me enjoy my food!" "Well, now do enjoy your food!" "The animal!" "Don't laugh, jackass!" "It's because of you!" ""The priest's wife's grown old! "" "Iorgovan!" "We're celebrating!" "It's the evenings of all feasts, right?" "Come, I see you're free of cholera." "How are you?" "Sad or cheery?" " I don't know." " That's it!" "We celebrate and take comfort that what's impossible can't be possible!" "And you, how are you?" "Do you love, hate, suffer, what?" "I just drink." "I don't even take the trouble to look for reasons." "Yeah, we're neither live nor die." "We neither love nor hate." "We just make believe that..." "Forget it, have a glass." "At lest when it comes to drinking we don't pretend but actually drink!" "Men's affairs, right?" "To hell with your all!" "You, father, mother, the Emperor..." "This entire foolish world that gets to you," "Doesn't let you..." "Everybody is so knowledgeable, gives you advice, tells you how to be or not to be!" "What to say, how to pray!" "But not a single soul to really understand you!" "That no!" " Speak less loud!" " What?" "You think I'm afraid?" "!" " Franz, may the cholera get you!" " What have I done?" " What do you want?" " What have I done?" "I was talking about the Emperor." "God save and protect him, for I've had enough!" "Of course you can call names even to God above." "You've this edge." "Your dad coughs the money and the authorities don't hear a thing." "But evil is in us." "We're cowards, Iorgovan." "Cowardly and slothful." "Why bother, better lay the blame on others." "Why am I to blame for being Busuioc'son?" "You want me to scold him?" "What do you want me to do?" "What can I do?" "What can we do now that there's no more cholera." "You really don't know?" "It's simple, we wait for the pest or for leprosy." " I left you here I find you here." " What calamity is left for us?" "They stole our schools, our land, and faith, even our thoughts." " Words, man, words!" " Words, you say?" "Gone is the time of words." "Come with us?" " We're staging a protest demonstration." " All right!" "If we want to destroy everything we have, then fine." "We can wait and wait for there'll come no salvation." "I can't believe all the men born in the land of lancu and Horea have vanished." " You don't get it, at all!" " Get what, man?" "You want to move mountains?" "Others will come and put them back." "I'm content to be alive, understand?" "That's all I want." "I don't offend anybody by this." "I lodged a complaint to have him arrested if he threatens to kill me." " I want only my money." " I won't give it because I just won't!" "Let him sue me!" "Atrial lasts long!" "I'll teach him never to threaten me with a knife!" "I tell you now, I want no law suit." "But I either stab you, or set fire to your house." "Sometime, I'll come out of jail." "You'll get out today, and let me worry about the money." "Go with them." "I'll come and get you out." " We'll see!" " You'll see!" " You found him?" " Not yet." " Why are you so late?" " I found him only Thursday." "He told me to wait and I haven't seen him since." "Iorgovan didn't come." "Awife'd keep him at home more..." " He's become so mean." " He'll be back." " Better he stayed there." " He'll be back for sure." "Iorgovan is never equal to himself." "You'll see he'll come back even more ashamed." "He's cheated on me with the mill lately." "Could've asked me for money instead of doctoring the figures." "And leave my inheritance to him to drink it up?" "And run the household when I'm gone?" "This way, in a few years he'll drink it all!" "There'll be nothing left!" "Sofron, here is your money. 900." "Count it." "Busuioc withdrew his complaint." "I talked to him." "Come on in!" "Listen here well, got to take care of these papers!" "Sign here." "This is a deed of property." "You won't get other." "Understood?" "Now, work and merriment." "I invite you to take off this city garb." "If you want to be a ploughman, then dress like one!" "And don't let me catch you at the pub." "Got enough wine in the cellar." "Drink as much as you please, but at home, Iorgovan!" "Don't put me to shame in public!" "Think a little about your future." "Why, papa?" "You already planned my future, right?" "You're right here." "I'm always right!" "Don't cry, ma, from now on you'll really have reasons to." "I don't know what I'll do, if I meet him again." "Hear, man?" "Come on!" "Mr. Busuioc ordered me not to give you any more." "So Busuioc, a rich man from Curtici, but you see, I'm more than Busuioc, I'm his son!" "It's not Busuioc who gives the orders around here but I!" "And I don't fool around." "Bring the wine!" "Well..." ""These are papers! "" "But he was thinking of this woman whom he wants to bring home..." "Iorgovan, do you remember the Forest Woman?" "I do." "Pretty well..." "Hell of a beautiful woman!" "You know she's with Sofron now?" "Hell of a forest man!" "What did you say?" "She's with him?" "Simina is with him?" "What?" "Stop, stop!" "What have you become, Iorgovan?" "And my family?" "What have you done?" "I did nothing." "You did everything." " Look what he did to me." " Mr. Busuioc, the hell with..." "Look!" "If there's anything else tell me and I'll pay." "You know me, but forgive him..." "Come drink." "This is your home, not the pub." "What is it?" "What?" "Come on!" "Leave him, he doesn't make any sense." "Come on!" "That's it, brother!" "Come on!" "Stop, fool!" "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "I'll go to Simina, pa!" "Iorgovan, wait Iorgovan!" "Wait!" "boil some water and fetch some strips of cloth." "Quiet now." "Quiet." "It's pretty bad, but the boy's young and he could still make it." "We'll do everything we can." "I'll give you all my fortune, just that he lives and goes again to the pub." "No, pa, you'll see there'll be no more drinking for me." "Simina, don't go!" "Or you love him as much as I love you." "Don't go!" "I can't!" "See?" "I can't help it!" "Go." "Now go!" "Go now!" "Sofron..." "How's he?" "Fine, in good health." "You thought..." "A candle!" "Iorgovan!" "Iorgovan!" "My baby!" "My baby!" "Iorgovan!" "Cholera!" "Iorgovan died of cholera." "I know it!" "This is cholera!" "Brother-in-law, don't panic." "He was good, honest, decent..." "Cholera doesn't pick." "Cholera doesn't choose!" "Why do you die of cholera?" "Why are you looking at me?" "Don't you hear?" "Why don't they take masures?" "We have cholera in the village!" "Take the drum and don't lose any time." "Cholera I said, cholera you cry!" "Come!" "My goodness, when are we going to get rid of this epidemic?" "Oyez, Oyez!" "Oyez!" "Let everyone hear and note!" "His Highness the Emperor said cholera's struck again." "Nobody is to eat any apples, pears, anything." "Don't eat anything, folks!" "Why are you standing still?" "Why are you giving me these stupid looks?" "Don't you understand, cholera's back!" "Iorgovan died of cholera!" "He was good, clean and read in high schools." "This disease takes pity on no one!" "Do something." "Must take measures." "Don't you understand?" "It's cholera!" "Cholera's got to the village!"