Aferim! Page #2

for fear of outlaws.

As for us,

first business, then pleasure:

we'll search

'til the Seven Sisters rise...

- Isn't there a holiday coming, Father?

- So it is.

Forgive me, Lord!

I hanged You with thread,

and not with a gold chain,

like the bishops.

But isn't it faith that matters most?

Faith, but also deeds!

Another question, if we may?

Sure.

- You're more enlightened, you have praxis...

- Sure.

Gypsies, is they people

or Satan's spawn?

Some say they ain't human.

Human like us.

Aren't they Christians?

I myself baptised two slave cubs

recently.

- Monastery slaves?

- Right, two chickies.

Crows are descendants of Ham,

son of Noah,

cursed by his father to be black.

They came here from Egypt.

They are Egyptians.

- Is that so?

- Yes.

- What do we call crows to mock them?

- Black crows.

There are no white crows.

How else?

Maggots.

- What else?

- Darkies.

- Pharaohs.

- Good, aferim! Pharaohs.

'Cause they came here from Egypt,

where they were also slaves,

building palaces for the kings.

When a wise man opens his mouth,

open your ears!

Gypsies is humans.

Jews ain't. They's beasts.

If you say so...

Now you tell me,

why is Jews not human?

'Cause Jews drinks the blood

of Christian children.

The priest told us so in church.

- And why do they?

- We don't know.

- Have you heard of the Giant Jews?

- No.

Shame on you...

Before making mankind,

God created the Giant Jews.

Mean, ugly giants.

He saw His mistake

and turned them into dust.

He left just a few,

then made Adam and Eve.

The Giant Jews multiplied,

but grew ever smaller.

- They's our Jews nowadays.

- We didn't know that.

That's why Jews can't stand us Christians,

that's why they killed Christ.

And that's why I can't stand them.

- Do you know what I do with pork-haters?

- We don't.

I cut off their beards and sidelocks.

Better a Jew without a beard

than a beard without a Jew!

- Do you know what they do in Moldova?

- I don't know...

Jews walk around

in their carriages.

And instead of horses,

they use good Christians.

I don't believe it, father.

That's what the Russians did to us.

In the war of 1828,

General Zaltukhin harnessed our peasants...

The Christians in my cousin's village

can't bleed themselves,

the Jews left no leeches in the lake.

But some Jews are baptised

into our Christian faith.

Who would believe those outlaws?

"Who makes up the Devil's flocks?

All the Jews with their sidelocks."

Each nation has its purpose.

The Jews, to cheat,

the Turks, to do harm,

us Romanians to love, honour,

and suffer like good Christians.

And each has their habits.

Hebrews reads a lot,

Greeks talks a lot,

Turks has many wives,

Arabs has many teeth,

Germans smokes a lot,

Hungarians eats a lot,

Russians drinks a lot,

English thinks a lot,

French like fashion a lot,

Armenians are lazy,

Circasians wears many a lace,

Italians lies a lot,

Serbians cheats a lot

and Gypsies get many a beating.

Gypsies must be slaves.

When Ham spread horse sh*t on Noah,

Noah cursed them to be slaves

and as dark as sh*t.

That's right.

They must be kept on a tight leash.

'Tis a holy commandment.

But with kindness.

That is my habit.

Though I'm as harsh as a hot pepper

born of father Garlic

and mother Onion.

I treat people kindly.

The Gospel says

to be as gentle as doves, Father...

If the beasts weren't vanquished,

they would tear man apart.

Even among people,

most are beasts

who must be tamed

to make them work.

- Particularly the crows.

- Lovely thoughts, Father.

We'll head this way.

- We wish you good health.

- Good health to bear good grief.

Go with God, we may meet again.

The mountains themselves

sometimes meet...

True words.

Even a fallen tree rests...

It's not true, Ionita.

You could walk until you die

and still not touch the end of the Earth.

That's what the priest told us:

that the Earth has an edge,

it ain't endless.

Those are just a fool's teachings.

Father Duhu told us everything

has an end but for God,

who has neither beginning, nor end.

Doesn't the Earth have an end?

Where it ends, ain't it like a precipice?

I don't know.

'Tain't any of my concern.

I have other worries.

We're nothing, Ionita.

Look at the size of this world...

...we're like a spark from these embers.

Do you know the seven planets?

The Moon, the Sun...

Bottle, Flask, Pitcher,

Mug, Carafe, Jar, and Stein.

Here I lay and die,

No help by my side.

Far as I may seek,

My fate remains bleak.

Life of grief and sorrow,

No hope for tomorrow.

Some have luck, fortune and fame,

Some burn like the candle's flame!

What's gotten into you?

Do you like Aspra?

She's a hard-working girl...

How could I like that slob?

- You know, as a girl.

- Nah, I don't like her.

- You're not a Sodomite, are you?

- What's that?

Liking men, not women...

- No such thing.

- 'Cause if you are,

I'll drown you with my own hands.

What's that?

The haidouks!

Or the savage Gypsies.

There's also bullet wounds.

It was the haidouks.

Let's make way.

- Father...

- Keep that mouth shut!

- One was breathing.

- Sure he was.

- He moved just now.

- What are we, surgeons?

May he rest in peace.

We're safe.

Fear is shameful, but healthy.

It's God's gift.

You whore's son,

watch where you're going!

Is this your own path?

Stay the hell in a row!

- F*** your mother!

- Find a dog to f*** you, moron!

The rich man is like a hare,

he leaps wherever he wants to.

Maybe a big landowner

or a Greek boyar.

Still, he should watch where he's going.

That's our fate as Romanians!

Whoever rises earliest

can drag you by your hair.

May he live three more days,

counting yesterday!

So pretty!

F*** your prettiness!

- Peace to you, good fellow.

- Good day.

We're looking for a runaway crow,

a Gypsy slave.

I'm a peasant here,

but I ain' seen nobody.

You ain't gonna find him.

Like they didn't find the runaways

from our monastery.

Would you sell us some fish?

Why not?

Maybe he's in the forest,

with the gold panners.

- He ain't.

- Then I don't know, constable.

But the monks would have seen him here.

I think so too.

Is there a way across through the reeds?

- They's too thick.

- What if we go around?

- Two days.

- Too long.

Look at this!

Constable, the money?

That's very little, constable.

It ain't worth more.

Come on... constable...

We can cross,

the water is shallow.

Curse this wretched craft!

Crawling along,

mocked by everyone.

This is a dog's life.

We sweat like beasts

for a piece of bread.

If I had had the luck of joining

this new army...

- Won't they take you in now?

- No, curse them...

But if you learn all the tricks

of the constable job from me,

I'll get you into the army.

Let's go back, we can't pass.

By thirty you'll be a colonel.

You're full of fire and fierce.

- But you're also lazy...

- No, I ain't.

You have to be quick like gunpowder.

Who are you?

I'm lawkeeper Costandin sin Gheorghe.

He's my boy, he helps me.

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