The Sacrifice

THE SACRIFICE:

Come here and give me a hand, my boy!

Once upon a time, long ago...

an old monk lived

in an orthodox monastery.

His name was Pamve.

And once he planted a barren tree

on a mountainside

just like this.

Then he told his young pupil,

a monk named Ioann Kolov,

that he should water the tree

each day until it came to life.

Put a few stones there, will you?

Anyway, early every morning

Ioann filled a bucket

with water and went out.

He climbed up the mountain

and watered the withered tree

and in the evening

when darkness had fallen

he returned to the monastery.

He did this for three years.

And one fine day, he climbed

up the mountain and saw

that the whole tree

was covered with blossoms!

Say what you will, but a method,

a system, has its virtues.

You know, sometimes I say to myself,

if every single day,

at exactly the same

stroke of the clock,

one were to perform

the same single act,

like a ritual,

unchanging, systematic,

every day at the same time,

the world would be changed.

Yes, something would change.

It would have to.

One could wake up

in the morning, let's say,

get up at exactly seven,

go to the bathroom,

pour a glass of water from the tap,

and flush it down the toilet.

Only that!

You can't keep me away today!

Beautiful, eh?

Like Japanese Ikebana.

I will come to your house

to wish you well

on your birthday.

I am very honoured by the invitation!

Here's the last of it.

The post office is closed.

Anyone who turns up now will just

have to wait until tomorrow. Here!

I don't have my glasses.

Please read it.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY

DEAR FRIEND STOP

MIGHTY RICHARD GREETS

GOOD PRINCE MYSCHKIN STOP

GOD GRANT YOU JOY

HEALTH AND PEACE STOP

FROM YOUR LOYAL AND LOVING

RICHARDIANS AND IDIOTISTS STOP"

Oh, how touching!

A joke.

Friends and their jokes!

"Idiotists..." That's not half bad.

"God grant you joy..."

Say, how are your relations with God?

Non-existent, I'm afraid.

What do you mean?

It could be worse.

Here you are...

a famous journalist,

a theatrical and literary critic,

who lectures on aesthetics

for students at the university.

Hey, your lasso! Run and fetch it!

And essays...

you write them, too.

But you're so gloomy!

What's that supposed

to mean, "gloomy"?

Well, you shouldn't grieve so much.

You shouldn't yearn so for something.

You shouldn't be waiting like that.

That's important.

One shouldn't be waiting

for something.

"Shouldn't be waiting"?

Who says I'm waiting for anything?

We all are... waiting for something!

Take me, for example.

All my life, I've been going

around waiting for something.

All my life, in fact,

I've felt as if...

as if I were waiting

in a railway station.

And I've always felt as if...

as if the living I've done so far

hasn't actually been real life

but a long wait for it...

a long wait for something real,

something important!

What about you?

Yes, if that's what you mean.

I just never knew you were

interested in that kind of problem.

But I am! I most certainly am!

Unfortunately.

Sometimes I get

the most peculiar notions.

Yes, I mean it.

Like that dwarf, for example.

That notorious dwarf!

What dwarf?

Look here, you've managed

to confuse me completely!

Oh, you know who I mean!

That hunchback!

Eh? The one Nietzsche mentioned.

The one who made Zarathustra faint.

Faint? What are you talking about?

I say, do you know Nietzsche?

No, not personally.

I haven't really studied him

all that carefully.

However...

he interests me, I can't deny it.

So?

Sometimes I get silly things

in my head, things like...

like this "eternal rotation".

We live, we have our ups and downs.

We hope.

We wait for something.

We hope, we lose hope,

we move closer to death.

Finally, we die

and are born again.

But we remember nothing.

And everything begins again,

from scratch.

Not literally the same way,

just a wee, wee bit different.

But it's still so hopeless...

and we don't know why.

Yes...

No, I mean...

Really, it's quite the same,

literally, the same.

Just the next performance,

so to speak.

If I'd made it all, I guess

I'd have done things the same way.

Funny, eh?

I've heard that, it's nothing new.

You didn't invent it!

Do you really think that mankind

could devise a universal concept,

a model, so to speak,

of Absolute Law, of Absolute Truth?

Why, it'd be like trying

to create a new universe!

To be a demiurge!

And you actually believe in your

dwarf, do you? In your "rotation"?

Yes...

Sometimes I do.

You understand?

If I truly believe,

it will be so.

"Believe that it hath been given

and it shall be given unto you."

But now I think I'll head home.

It's late, I must think of a gift.

You needn't do that.

This is a very important day!

You'll be buried in telegrams!

Au revoir!

What?

What are you mumbling about?

"In the beginning was the Word."

But you are mute, mute as a fish.

A little roach!

Look here, my boy,

we've lost our way.

Humanity is also on the wrong road,

a dangerous road.

So, up you go!

Dear, how heavy you are.

The first impression that Man had...

How has he been lately? All right?

Yes.

In what way? He works a lot.

I don't like his monologues.

Alexander!

Doctor! Wait, we'll come to you!

You're not equipped

for a jaunt through Africa!

It's quite a job, you know!

- Hello.

- Hello! Welcome!

- Many happy returns!

- Thanks, thanks!

And you, young man, how are you?

Isn't it hard to keep silent?

I can well imagine.

But it's good for you.

Sociability is a burden.

Not all of us can bear it.

- My brave boy!

- Why "my"? He's "ours", after all.

He gargles

and goes to bed by himself.

Gargles? That's nothing!

Think how well he behaved

during the operation!

He's got the makings of a real man!

Open wide, now!

It looks fine. Keep that up

and you'll be talking in a week.

By the way, did you know

that Gandhi had one day in the week

when he spoke to no one?

- It was his system.

- Why?

He was probably tired of people.

Shall we walk here?

You've deserted your patients.

And what elegance!

On a day like this,

one has to live up to expectations!

Your present's in the boot.

Still more presents!

- It's time we went home.

- Yes, all of us.

But why don't you two take the car?

We'll follow on foot.

We must finish our chat.

Right, my boy?

Please don't be too late.

All right, Little Man?

Everything's almost ready.

Have I told you how your mother

and I found this place?

We came here on a trip, once.

You weren't even thought of then.

It was the first time we were here.

We had no map with us,

we forgot to bring one.

Besides, we'd run out of petrol.

We stopped somewhere near here,

then we kept going on foot.

Frankly, we were lost.

Then it started raining,

a cold, ugly drizzle.

We came to that bend over there,

by that dry, old pine tree

and just then, the sun came out.

It stopped raining.

The light was dazzling!

Then we saw the house.

Suddenly I was sad that I didn't...

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