The Inheritors

THE INHERITORS One time the farmer was drunk. He said: Today is a joyous day, the servants are to sing me songs. And then he started crying... and afterwards he gave each of us a whole gulden. Even though he was a mean and stingy man. That was the only really strange thing... that I ever experienced here, on the farm, and I had already been there a couple of months. Until the night... the strange woman came and sat on Lukas' bed. I think... I knew right then... that there was something odd about that, and that it was just the first of more odd things to come... Sometimes it's like that: You can tell it's not about to stop... and that even more is about to happen. Likewise, when someone dies, a lot of times in the end there's another death. You are aware... that you're committing a terrible sin... if you conceal anything, right, Reverend? Didn't see or hear anything? Who's the foreman here? Was there a fight, yesterday? A visitor perhaps? We... - What? Speak up! We were in the cowshed until late, then we went to bed. Without any supper because the farmer said we did a bad job. It's as if he was looking for something, the murderer... "Last will and testament. To be read aloud in front of everyone when I'm dead." Keep working until all is settled, is that clear, foreman? Nobody spoke a word that day. But that's the way it was anyway. If you said more than five words, they said... you were a good-for-nothing blabber mouth. I never got used to that. That's why I kept going back to the city. With the police... keep your mouth shut unless you're asked. Don't take everything that bastard dishes out. Sometimes... when I was in the cowshed, I would start talking to a cow. I know it's dumb. But it just shows... that for me it was really a problem... that nobody talked to anybody. Let me through. Jesus Christ! Somebody stumbled across Rosalind. She was just sitting there. That her name was Rosalind and that she was indeed involved... only old Nane knew any of this at the time, but, of course, she didn't say a word. Were you always a peasant? I've done other work occasionally. You could say I was born here on the farm. Old Nane found me, out back, by the cowshed door. What's it like somewhere else, in the city? A poor wretch... has a hard life everywhere. That's why... if I don't get work, I'm going to America. You can get land there real easy. You want to come too? To America? That's a long way. We'll have to get an early morning start! Listen: That's how they say it in America. What does that mean? Severin! Tell me! Not that he was dumb, but I don't think... Lukas ever really thought about anything in his life. He simply did things. That's why he could be so happy-go-lucky all the time. You'd like that, wouldn't you? And he made love to the peasant girls, especially to Emmy, but actually, he chased after all the girls in the village. "If it gets hard on me, there's got to be a reason for it," he would say. Somebody just died and you want to... A dead man can't give orders anymore. Just because he's dead doesn't mean we have to go hungry. I say when we eat now. Now. Foreman, I... No talking when we're eating. Lukas, Severin! Afterwards, you fix the gate. Emmy, you wash my clothes! Good riddance to him. At least say who you are! But she didn't say anything, not a word, and it made the policeman furious. Because he'd never had a mysterious murder before. The girl in the front, she likes me, I think. Look, Reverend, the farm is worth 40,000 maximum! We'll give the church 30,000 and you can have the Steingrund orchard. The farmers had already divvied up the inheritance... because they figured, without a descendant... it would all go to the church. Hey, foundling! Hurry up! Silence! I want silence! "Now that I'm dead... and our Lord has spared me children and relatives, I hereby bequeath to the... following persons that which they deserve: Firstly, the reverend, for he is as good a Christian... as good a Christian as my ass is divine: A wagonload of cow dung..." "Is what he inherits" should be added. "Secondly, farmer Danninger, a kick in the ass for..." I'm only reading what it says, "...for nobody would dare kill him, even if it was my dying wish. Thirdly, foreman, for he is a mean bastard who can't find a woman, Lukas, for he is a smart ass and a lazybones, Severin, the outsider who talks to the cows, old Nane, for her breath is as malodorous as a pile of manure, Gertrude, the scolding harpy... and the stable boy who's not quite right upstairs, Sepp whose head is full of straw, Lisbeth and Liesl not much brighter, ...and Emmy who gave everyone a piece but me..." Silence! "They get the farm, the land, the livestock and everything in the house... to manage jointly, and I hope they beat each other to death... when they fight over it." Silence! Silence, for heaven's sake! "Fourthly, my neighbors, noble sirs, you can all kiss my ass. And now I'm going to hell, good-day and amen." The farm belongs to us now! Foreman, Come here! A crazy old bastard, wasn't he... Yeah... - C'mon, Have some schnapps with me... and let's have a little talk. And everyone thought it would be annulled, on account of the likes of that had never happened before, and wouldn't now either. That's how people think in the country. WHO KNOWS THIS WOMAN? And Emmy went and got her bastard son, he lived with foster parents... because a peasant girl can't have a child... that will keep her from doing her work. Danninger will pay 10,000 schillings, that's 1,000 in cash for each of us, and he promises work on his farm to able bodies. That's a good deal and I already shook on it. Tomorrow we go and sign. If Danninger says 10, he'll pay 20, too, 'cause it's worth 30,000. It's settled, I said. Ten thousand is a good price, Danninger said so. The mother of a bastard doesn't know any better. The farmer's dead, but the peasants can keep working. I'm buying a walking stick with a silver knob, and a hat, round and tall... A top hat? Nane! What are you buying with your money? Emmy, did you hear? I'm buying a top hat! I never had anything, so I don't need anything now. Or maybe I do, an umbrella, so I don't get wet when it rains. We have to be careful now... and we can't make any mistakes. Settled, settled, settled... and a house and a woman... for the peasant... No, enough. Should I buy you something with my money, too? Fine silk stockings... or... I'm not selling. How come? A life of working for someone else, letting men hump you, then just dying somewhere: It doesn't make sense! Don't you understand?! Lukas! We can be farmers, now! But... a peasant can't be... What? You can work for someone else, but not for yourself? Yeah, but... Afraid to try? Wait! I don't want to sell. No talking I said. But we... Listen foreman, we're all hard workers. Why shouldn't we work for oursel... We're selling to Danninger, and that's that. Why work a lifetime for someone else, someone who doesn't pay enough? Then you get chased off like a dog... when you're old and can't work anymore! Don't you understand? The farm belongs to us now! We don't have to sell! Didn't you hear what I said, Danninger gets it, it's already settled. Lukas is right. When a peasant tries to become a farmer... disaster becomes of it! - Says the farmer. Kiss my ass. - Look, foreman... I'm the farmer, and I own one tenth of every animal and every pasture. It's already settled! I'm the farmer and I own one tenth of every animal and every pasture. It's settled! Stop it! Tell them who's boss! Stop it!! It's a sin for us to want to be farmers. I'm staying with my foundling. I have to. It will end in disaster. Foreman! Get off of our farm! A curse on you, foundling! And the rest of you, a curse on you, too! No one can beat me up anymore, right? From now on, nobody can beat me up?! What... It's mine now! What... I don't think I really understood until now... that I'm a real farmer who owns something! And if anyone in the whole world, tries to tell me what to do, I'll just say: Yeah, but... From now on this is my house! My house! Our house. And we thought... no one could ever take that away from us. Idiot! I did everything, but... things worked out differently. He wants to be a farmer, the foundling and his womenfolk... They'll probably have to sell anyway... since they don't have 3,000 schillings to pay out our shares. Pay... Listen you idiot, listen real good. Naturally they won't be able to pay. You understand? What if we choose to claim it... Can you do it with no one giving orders? Yes, we'll manage. We need your signatures in the land record. Come down to the local recording office. All 7? - I guess you're... one-seventh farmers. Hey, foundling, how you going to sign your name? What, I... - Thumbprint? You do know which one's the thumb? Index finger... middle finger... But I know how to... He knows how all right, with four women... And you, foreman? Forgotten how? Don't get cocky, woman. It takes more than sleeping around or not having a home to be a farmer. What's so special about a farmer? A farmer is a farmer, that's all. Just like women aren't men and jackasses aren't horses. He who goes against the will of God... shall meet with disaster. And God told you what he wants, Danninger? God wants things the way they are and always have been. Maybe God is getting a little bored just now... Let's forgive and forget. Beware lest you sin. Whore. The farmers got angry... and they didn't forgive us, and they probably thought to themselves: We'll get them back for that, the foundling and that shameless hussy. Forgive me God! Index finger. You are like a tower, No foe has ever taken, No storm can make me cower, Beside you I'm unshaken. In heaven I am safe, Forever near my King, Who shelters this poor waif, Beneath His beating wing. A farmer from Viechtwang stated for record that... the doctor had told Rosalind... she would die soon on account of her heart. Then she left without saying goodbye, and that same night she killed Hillinger. Don't be so chicken... Yeah, all right... What a mess! It was the murderess. So many things! A trousseau... Like what elegant ladies with hats have. Nane! We're going into his room! Come on! I'm not going in there, never again, not in there. Why, did he... I never had anything... of my own, my whole life long. Except for when I found the boy. Lukas? At first... Hillinger didn't want to let me keep him. I had to pay for it. Twice a week he made me go up to his room. Then I started eating garlic so he'd get disgusted. Now Hillinger is dead and the boy is the farmer. Liesl! Come here now! It's so soft... This is a nice room! I wouldn't mind... and Severin, too, if he wants... Nobody's sleeping in here ever again. Today is Sunday. The day of rest for a farmer, all he does is smoke his pipe and drink coffee. Make your own coffee. I'm a farmer myself. Now what? Nothing. This is free time. Nane, what are you doing...? Leave it! You're not allowed to work! It's free time now. Oh, shush. Lisbeth? You think we'll always have to do free time? I don't know. Maybe next week we can go for a walk instead. I found it upstairs in Hillinger's room, it's a... Gramophone. - It's a Gramophone! What's he singing? - American. When the old elephant died, the circus people went to the city for a new one. And then evening came... and they just happened to ask us... if they could spend the night. We never even thought... that it was an unusually unusual thing: For example, if you have a dream, you don't think anything of it... when an elephant appears. And Lisbeth got herself pregnant... because she figured she'd never get herself another elephant keeper. But Lisbeth really was foolish. My name is Rosalind. I was one of Hillinger's peasants. That was twenty years ago. And soon it had made the rounds, and everyone remembered... what happened back then. Rosalind was the most beautiful girl in the whole valley. Everyone was after her, and especially Hillinger. Nobody was good enough for her. She was proud and she used to laugh... and not let anyone have her. Then one night, Hillinger took her by force. I heard her screaming... and I plugged my ears... because she was my dearest friend and there was nothing I could do. The next day she went to the police and reported him. Herr Hillinger, Franz, address 362 Kirchham, forced me to have intercourse with him and used violence... Said she didn't want it... and that the farmer was rough with her... Imagine: Just like that! A peasant girl reporting the farmer! Before it was brought before court, Hillinger hid a brooch in Rosalind's trunk... and said... that she had stolen it. She did steal it, the whore. Otherwise she wouldn't have run away. She was gone for half a year, or maybe more. She fled in the face of injustice. Then they finally caught her. And put her in prison. It didn't take a long trial after that! It was a grave injustice. Fifteen years... at Garsten Prison, sentence effective immediately. An injustice. A grave injustice. And when the doctor said I was going to die, I went and killed him. She killed him and that was just. And she took the brooch... because she'd paid dearly for it back then. Now they're going to hang her, but at least it won't be for nothing, this time. What old Nane told us then still wasn't the whole truth, and Rosalind told even less. There was unrest in the valley back then: When the farmers testified for Hillinger, the peasants were angry, they got uppity. They're getting uppity again. Those one-seventh farmers are trouble. A peasant can't be a farmer. Something has to be done. Something shall be done... "A" is for apple. "B" is for... dang, how did "B" go again? Breasts! Why didn't you go to school? No, without the dots... The farmer didn't let me go too much. Because of work and all. I'm dumb, aren't I? You're dumb... that you were born poor. Will you make me smart? Now that I am a farmer: Why do I have to go to market myself and on foot? Stop talking nonsense. In the name of... blah, blah... too long... I hereby decree: The court-appointed commission has assessed... the Hillinger farmstead, 362 Kirchham, including land and property, all livestock and items therein to be worth... What?! Forty thousand? The value of one inheritance share is 4,000 schillings... Payable in four months time, September 22. Failure shall result in execution sale. Period. I know who's behind this... You lousy swindlers! They looked at us as if... But we sold more. Have you counted it? And it all belongs to us alone? We won't throw it into Hillinger's grave for him. Are you crazy? We've got to save every coin, and you... But I'm a farmer now... and... this is my money now! Is not! - Is so! Is not! - Is so! Don't you ever do that again! Do you understand! Never! Is it right for them... It's all just as much Lisbeth's as it is yours. Do you think I'm doing all this to have a young farmer instead of an old one? But someone has to... What? Give orders? And who says that someone is you? I talked it over with Severin, and... And you voted on it, the two of you?! Do you want to vote on who's boss? Do you? Florian, come here. Lisbeth! Liesl! Forgive me. And now put the stupid hat away. She... cried... with desire. She... took... his... gigantic... pe... nis. What was that again? Penis. That's what you've got for a brain. I'm educating myself. Reading... geography, that kind of thing... We have to pay 12,000 in four months' time. We found 5,460 in Hillinger's things, we girls have 837 all together. How much do you have? - 17. But I wanted to... - And you? That makes... We need another 5,500. More or less. We're not selling any land. And if we sell a few cows... Five cows, that's all we can spare. That makes... if we bargain well, That still leaves 3,500. We'll never come up with that. - Just have to work hard. The work was always hard, but during those months we all worked twice as hard, even though that wasn't actually possible. During the day, we men went to Deutenham... and worked in the foundry. And the women did the field chores alone. Lukas and I earned fifteen schillings between the two of us... because we were the hardest workers there. What were you telling them? What it's like to be a one-seventh farmer. It's not easy. It's funny: Used to be nobody would listen to me when I talked. You didn't have anything to say before. Lisbeth! You come here right now when I say so! And then in the evening there was all the work... around the farmyard. Please, please, please come here right now! "C" is for clover, cow, ca-ca. He said I could join the circus if I wanted... I never said... - Oh, stop it... I never said anyone... Stop it... Why can't you do what I want, just once?! Because I'd rather do what I want! But then again: There were plenty of fights, that's something one can't forget. I want more soup. And the stable boy spoke, where everyone had always thought he was mute or... an idiot. I don't know, no one was there anymore when we found the cow lying there dead. But it can only be that Danninger over there. No one ever arrests that Danninger. None of you has the guts. A lot of mean things happened. Once two grown men beat up the stable boy. That's what kind of scoundrels they were. Meanwhile, Emmy rearranged the cows in the shed... put them the way they liked one another, as opposed to the way they used to be, in alphabetical order. The cows started producing more milk after that. That was interesting, actually. And other good things happened, too: Sometimes the peasants from other farms came over and helped. For no reason. And they did it secretly because the farmers didn't want them to. It's raining, it's pouring... I hope it does the harvest good. Don't, leave me alone... What's wrong? I don't want to. Not now. You never want to anymore. Don't you like me anymore? Are you something better now? Yes, I'm something better. Before nothing mattered... I don't want to. Either you like someone, or you don't. What's wrong? Y'know, as a peasant you were told what to do, work, eat, sleep. But now everything is so complicated. Maybe it's that... before, we had nothing, and nothing to lose either. And besides, nobody likes me anymore... Nobody wants you bossing them around is all. And what if I'm right! Today with the yoke and the oxen... You still don't have the right to call Liesl a "toad girl." Scoot over! If nobody likes me anymore, I can't handle that. I like all of you. And especially Emmy. This is Frau Hedwig Grabner from the Brandner Farm. She went up to her farmer... and asked for the money he owed her. Louis and Sophie. They got married, even though Farmer Obermeier refused to let them. When Farmer Pucher wouldn't pay Herta and Sigrid higher wages, they left to go work in the factory. So the farmers decided... that the one-seventh farmers were responsible for the unrest, and that all this had to stop. And the reverend said... that we were living in sin and corruption. Wonder where he got that idea! So we just stopped going to church, except for old Nane because she was afraid of going to hell. And one time it snowed, even though it wasn't even October. Everyone thought: That's a sign from the Almighty. I can guess who's... Look what I found in my things. You found it? I don't know either... It's so pretty... The brooch... THE brooch? The one Rosalind...? - The murderess' brooch... But why...? - That night, I saw Rosalind sitting on your bed... What?! ...and she was singing a lullaby, like you sing to your children... It's gold. If we sell it, maybe we can keep the cows. And that's how we were able to pay with one week to spare. And we were all mighty proud. Seven? Can't do that. What if we just write one name and then an "et" dot "al" dot? "And others"? No, attach a piece of paper with enough room on it. Filgrater, Emilie. Go ahead and write it! Candlemas, Lukas. - Slow down. Candlemas? What? You know, they...! - That's when they found you?! That's fine; sounds better than Ascension. Do women have to be silly even at the recording office?! Foreman and the other two got their money, and we had a photograph taken. You'll see, a one-seventh farmer will never find a husband. You going to buy another round, now that you're rich? A beer! This instant! Here you go, a beer! This instant! And when's the execution? Next week they're transferring her to Salzburg... after that sometime. Strange woman, that one. At the trial she said, "Marital status: Single, one child," and then, "a big and handsome one, a farmer." What's that supposed to mean? That's all she said. Except: "Guilty? Yes." Foundling, Come over here! Why are you dancing with your peasants? I thought you were the farmer!? All of us are the farmer now. You... and Severin... and the womenfolk... and the pigs, too? And who's the boss? When you work, and just in general? What the majority decides, we do... - You vote?! You have to let the womenfolk tell you what to do... You do a lot of heavy pumping every night! And your womenfolk, do they vote to see... who you get to screw first? He who has a big mouth often has a small cock, right, foreman?! Danninger, we have so much fun and still reap a bigger harvest than you... does your wife have this much fun when she's... working? She's a woman... and a farmer. Murder child... C'mon let's go. Emmy... did you really mean what you said earlier? I said what I said. I mean when you said... that a man with a big mouth has a little cock, and because I... Oh Jesus... what an idiot! Should we... I mean... No peasant attacks me, not me. They're finished. Finished. It was a good year. It was a hot summer with plenty of rain for good soil and a plentiful harvest. And I thought a lot about Rosalind, the murderess... and about Emmy and Lukas. And it got me a little scared... because there was so much fate involved... in such a short time period. What are you going to do without your whores? Murder child? Murder child... If you can't defend your farm, you're no farmer at all! No one's ever beating me up again! No one's ever beating me again. But I just wanted... Why "murder child"? Come, boy, come. We have to go. It was self-defense. Severin said if it's self-defense, they don't punish you... Come boy, it's bedtime. Listen, if all of you testify in court that it was self-defense... Severin will go to the police and everything will be okay... This cave... have you been here before? I didn't even know... Rosalind was the most beautiful of them all, always gay... and kind to everyone. - What? Rosalind? They were mad over her, everyone in the village, but she didn't want to. And then Hillinger took her by force. Here? But I thought... And Rosalind... got a big belly after that. But nobody knew. A child? From Hillinger? She hid up here for seven months... and then she gave birth. And not until then did she let herself be put in prison, even though it was unjust. When did it happen? It was cold, the coldest winter... and it was a boy... How many years ago? It happened on Candlemas. But then... Rosalind is my... and Hillinger is my... Sleep now. Early the next morning... Lisbeth and Liesl went away, forever. Much later I heard... that Lisbeth named her child "Lukas"... because she couldn't remember the elephant keeper's name, but that might have just been a rumor. All right, back to the field. But it's a fact that... in the months to follow so many peasant girls named their sons "Lukas"... that not even Lukas could have sired them all... Get off my property! Danninger put out a 200 gulden reward... for anyone who could catch Lukas. Soon they were coming from all over, day-laborers and rogues... 'cause an honest peasant doesn't do that kind of thing: Hunt a man. Jesus, what an idiot. They'll slaughter him like a pig if they catch him. Everything will be okay. Nobody but us testified that it was in self-defense... was what they told us, and they said that a murderer must be punished. "F" is for free time, flirting... these f***ing flies. Take a walk, you two! Why do you need another farm? You own everything up here... and we... - Go on, get out of here. Is it money you want so you'll let us be... Why come to me, Filgrater, Emilie? If your... goes around beating people to death? Look... Danninger, we don't want any handouts from anyone, we just want what's rightfully ours. And we all worked very hard this year, and we had a good harvest, and everything is much better than when the farmer was still... All I ask of you is that you spare Lukas his life... You are a whore, I knew it all along. She's a whore with no morals. Unfortunately not. I'd find it easier if she was... They don't give a damn what Lukas did. They just want everyone to see that people like us end miserably. They'd love to crush him. And our farm... I'm not kidding. What happened at Danninger's? What did he do? Nothing. Everything's okay, okay, okay. I'm fine. We just have to... Lukas has to get out of here, as soon as possible. Are you completely mad? - Get down! The window! I got kind of bored. You go north, towards Deutenham. Then you head for Passau and you keep going north... until you get to the sea. And then you ask for a ship going to New York. Do you understand? Florian! Stop it! You leave early tomorrow! You promised! Yeah, yeah! Due north all the way. And don't you dare come back... I almost forgot! Because I was always so bored... I couldn't remember the "B" at first, but then... It's so I can find my way back, when they'll let me come back... Do you think the people there are nice, in America? What... Can I stay with you tonight? Here on this bed, this is where I was born. Old Nane told me so. It's like a cycle... where everything comes around... full circle. Do you understand what I'm...? Yes. Now that Rosalind is my mother, I have to see her again before I go to America. What, but you can't possibly... When it gets dark. I have to. He's up there! Pickled pig's feet, forty f***ing flies, flirting... free... a**holes, a**holes... I'm Lukas. Lukas... your son, because old Nane... This is St. Luke. Old Nane gave it to me, for my journey. I'm setting you free and then... Why? But... you're my mother... You're HIS son, too. Hillinger's son. Hurry up... get the others... Well, I have to go now... I'm off to America I guess... Well, then, mother, until we meet again... There he is, over there. Follow him, you idiots! Where is he? We'll never catch him this way. He knows the area, and people will be helping him. Maybe we can... The one-seventh farmers, we'll go there. A farmer returns to his farm when there's danger. A farmer? And that night Rosalind lay down and died. Just like that. Fouuundling! Where are you? B*tch! Dirty whore! Lukas, no! It's a trap! You must not... A farmer can't... It's a crazed animal... that must be destroyed. Not having been able to... at least shake his hand one last time... that was the worst part of all, at the time. No bells tolled, and they wanted to bury him in secret during the week... so no one would be able to attend. But everyone went in spite of that, all the peasants, and nobody fed the animals that day. Emmy and Florian and myself, we left the farm after that. But there were only three cows left anyway, and the stable boy was a hard worker and with old Nane... And I fixed things with Danninger, too. Maybe now the three of us will go to America.

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