Original subtitles

The film was made with the support of

The Cultural Endowment of Estonia

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia

You may go.

Signature!

Here!

Come in!

Don't forget that the island is in a restricted area.

This island is in a restricted area...

And there is an air force testing range in the north-east.

There's an air force testing range...

Down below is a reserve airfield object 205 -

with the only communication point.

Down there is a reserve airfield -

and the only communication point on the island...

And the only person who is allowed to be there -

is Jakub Karlovich.

And the only person allowed to be there is Jakub...

He is to take the responsibility for the boy's movements.

Jakub is responsible for you.

He is responsible with his life.

His life! Do you understand?

You can give me a ring.

Jakub will make you well.

He will look after you -

and then you will want to talk again.

And when you come back in autumn -

you will tell me everything in detail -

what did you do on the island, how was it there...

Then we do nothing all winter but talk, you and me...

Everybody must manage somehow.

I must... You must...

Together we must...

Sometimes separately, too...

Vergil.

Look, over there.

They have the souls of drowned men inside them.

Sometimes they fly into the air, scream and shit the boat white.

Hold this, I'll have a look around.

Look... it's got stuck.

Yes... Don't worry.

Come, come...

You try...

Steady does it... well...

Keep on trying...

Missionary, get a move on!

Stone fields are fleeing Stone islands come to an end

My little field flees nowhere Does not come to an end...

Whoa... Missionary... slow down.

First Song

What makes the grain flourish, Maecenas?

Under which stars is it good to plough the land -

and to tie up the vines with sticks of elm?

How to tend the oxen and grow cattle?

What knowledge Is needed to keep bees?

This is what I sing about.

You, the brightest lights, the Sun and the moon -

who rule the seasons in heaven;

You, Bacchus and fostering Ceres -

whose gift has changed Chaonian acorns -

into heavy ears of corn -

and first mixed water and wine of Achelous; and you...

Bukara Manga Gava-Gai Bajan...

Mother...

Now we must drink.

Friends, let's trample the ground in a brisk dance...

Let's have some hot tea.

The chill'll go away, won't stay.

The first go ahead and the others follow.

Soon it will all be just one big fire under the kettle.

Hey, what's this mean, eh?

You're scared of gutting fish, or something?

By God, you are, aren't you!

Jakub Karlovich... yes...

I repeat...

About seven square... three...

Eleven square... three...

Twenty square...

Wait down there.

Missionary, take it easy, they can't keep it up long.

Let them make their racket, we don't care a bit.

The seventh square...

Three flashes...

The tenth...

Tenth square... three flashes...

The thirteenth square...

Not three, one came to nothing.

The twelfth...

Hold tight!

Wait...

Can you hear anything...

Hold tight!

Have you gone barmy? Crazy or what?

I told you to wait...

Why did you let go of the rungs, you fool.

Show me!

Lucky your eye's OK!

Salli...

But you hold that boy

who's born by whom the iron tribe will end

and golden people will rise and populate the whole world...

Happy is he who knows the cause of things...

You give him this, I'll give this.

Missionary.

Give him it and take what's given you.

No time to waste, there's work waiting.

Jupiter himself did not want the tilling of the land to be easy -

and he cleverly made the fields move so -

that worries would sharpen the wits of mortals...

Come on now...

See... Good, good ...like this... You first...

Hold tight... Yes, that's right...

Here, have a look...

This motley little arse's full of eggs...

Keeps dropping them into the honeycomb cells.

His mother... his ancestor was brought from Africa...

I brought her myself...

She was even bigger and prettier... that queen bee.

But you'd better not go too close to bees.

The bee, he won't wait.

Flies straight at you -

stings right away too, if he gets caught -

in your hair or elsewhere.

And then there's one bee less in the world...

It can't get its sting out of you any more.

It's nothing to you.

Does you good, doesn't it?

But it's the only one the bee's got. And it dies.

In Africa, bees were real big and fierce.

When they attacked a man or a beast...

They could sting him to death too...

One man got so swollen -

he couldn't even make a sound.

Went completely dumb, he did.

But they gathered more honey than ours...

And they could not stand the smell of alcohol...

If you'd taken a swig -

better not go out at all.

Yes.

Are you a Christian, or a pagan, eh?

Well, I can't make you out. What you are...

Perhaps you don't know yourself.

In Leipzig, when I went to school -

we were taught...

To hold our mouths open wide.

Your mouth must open properly!

Are you a Christian or a pagan?

Well?

If you're a Christian, say aaa...

If you're a pagan, say aa-aa.

Open your mouth.

Open it... Like this...

Now watch me do it...

Keep going, like this.

Nice and steady.

Damn...

This ain't no place for you...

Go on...

May God bestow on us his grace

with blessings rich provide us...

Damn it! They're coming!

Pull your shirt over your head.

Keep your head in your shirt. Keep it inside...

Careful... Careful but quick...

Careful...

Slowly... Slowly...

Quickly...

Wherever you keep them, in a tin flask or glass jar -

time will do its work...

Lie down on your tummy on the fur coat.

This medicine had such sweet smell to it...

Cleared your head, it did -

and eyes saw more somehow than usual...

I understood that it were magic...

Zauber, as we called it over there -

we missionaries...

Turn over now...

I myself was a missionary in Africa.

Built a church and proclaimed the word of God.

See where it's stung you... Right on the end of your willy...

Swollen up and red all over...

The Wakambas caught bees theirselves -

and stuck them into their groins...

Several stings at one go...

So that the tip turned purple...

Women thought it was dead good -

positively shrieked with delight...

This was magic without any potions.

Six years I built the church and I never quite got it ready...

Whether I'd made God angry -

or whether the Wakamba witches were against me -

I have no idea...

Come here...

Warm up the potion on the coals, it helps.

Now you've been christened...

The bees christened you... I shall give you a name.

GutenTag. Missionary Jakub speaking...

Today we are christening a young Wakamba Maecenas -

and then we'll dance round the fire -

like bees around their queen.

Guten Tag...

Come here and listen.

Turn here, just. Like me.

That is how it was...

Some were dancing, round the fire -

others stood around me and I christened them.

It was one enormous church service...

It was ecumenical...

Really ecumenical.

Jakub Karlovich...

Yes... I got that...

I repeat... Square four...

Two and two.

Do you hear...

This is my God... him I serve...

Pacta servanda sunt.

Agreements must be kept.

Bajan-Hongor Farafangana

Maromokotro Masai-Mara

Tenko-Dogo Ulujuja

Bukara Manga Gava-Gai

Bajan-Hongor Farafangana

Maromokotro Masai-Mara

Tenko-Dogo Ulujuja

Bajan-Hongor

Maromokotro

Tenko-Dogo

Farafangana

Second Song

This much of tillage and of heavenly signs;

Now I sing of you, Bacchus, and of the shoots of trees -

and of the shoots of a slowly growing olive tree.

You, oh Father Winepress -

everything is full of your gifts here.

For you the field blossoms heavy with vinegrapes -

wine foams and sparkles in brimming vats.

Come here, Father Winepress, cast off your cothurni -

and come dip your toes into fresh wine.

Hello... is that Jakub?

Hello... Can't hear you... Hello...

Is that you? Are you any better?

Maecenas, come and play the organ..

Gods of fathers we clear the land -

you keep the evil from our borders.

Today's June the twenty second...

The same day the island was emptied...

Was emptied...

There was the island and people on the island...

And boats on the shore and at the sea...

And a church and the Sunday sermon...

And there were animals...

And houses... and homes...

And people lived there and came home in the evening.

There were voices...

People's voices...

And the sounds of animals...

Look...

This is square seventeen...

There I was born...

This is fifth square...

There... Over there beyond the maple tree lived Salli...

She was the prettiest girl in the village...

And a pretty name she had too... Salli...

Come on, turn...

There, further off, was another village...

Nothing's left of that any more...

No ruins, no trees...

No hay either...

Where are you off to..wait...

One Wakamba come for the mission...

Hold on to the mane now... We have a long way to go...

Missionary... let's go...

Slow and steady...

You take these now...

Do you know what a bride is? Do you or don't you?

She was my bride.

I bought this tea for her in Mombasa...

To bring here -

so that we could drink it together...

I could not... or Salli could not wait...

And I came with one eye...

Salli did not like that...

And there was another man who wanted her...

He had two eyes...

Both of them...

That other man had not been to Africa...

Salli liked him better...

I was quite sick then...

Did not speak for one year...

Kept quite silent...

Like you now...

Now you know what a bride is...

Still has a smell to it...

Which square...

I don't understand...

Which...

Square twenty seven... Five flashes...

Square twenty three... Look here, Maecenas... Look...

Have a look...

Mother...

Do you know the Latin for a bee...

A bee is apis...

And what is a horse... equus...

Horse is equus, cow is vacca and sheep is ovis...

That book on my table it speaks of these animals.

It's a farmer's book... In Latin...

And I'm translating it into Swahili...

Then the Wakambas can read it -

and will want to till the land as it says...

And then there'll be joy... and peace... and wealth too...

This is what Vergil wrote...

This saves...

And makes the Wakambas blessed in their own land...

There in Africa...

Before they face their gods in heaven...

Amen...

Who's that? Hello...

Where is Jakub...

I want to talk to him. Call Jakub...

I am ringing because of you...

Are you any better?

I was worried about you... honest...

Hello...

Bajan-Hongor Farafangana...

Maromokotro Masai-Mara...

Tenko-Dogo Ulujuja...

Put the beeswax into this mug.

We shall squeeze it into a ball and make new honeycombs...

Hello... Speaking...

What...

No... No ill...

Gets better... better every day...

Yes...

He will call you himself and tell you...

Surely he'll want to...

Why shouldn't he...

No...

No need for anything...

Good bye.

She called...

If you want to live and survive.. then wait...

Wait... and do what you've got to do.

And then.. wait again...

This is the best thin you can do in this world...

I have seen it and I can tell you...

You may push but only slightly...

And then wait again...

And you'll live your life -

and eat bread and honey...

I eat honey -

and translate this old Vergil into Swahili...

And I make silage for the animals on the continent...

And you too will start talking when the right time has come...

Will move your mouth... Move it easily...

No idea whether you are yawning -

or simply swallowing...

Or adding in a word or two...

Or not...

Perhaps tomorrow if you don't feel like it today...

I was that missionary...

This end of the wax cylinder, it's still quite empty...

This is for you...

Then later you can hear what your voice was like -

when you were on the island -

with an old man, a horse and some bees...

Turn now...

Turn-turn...

Stands here and waits... Who knows for what...

Waiting for us...

Let me welcome all the people who have come home again...

The island has been taken from you -

a ship given in return...

May the sea be blessed for that...

And blessed be all good souls -

who believe that there must come a day -

when you will get your island back...

That's why I'll be there waiting...

With my Jew's harp...

Stone fields are fleeing... Stone islands come to an end...

My little field flees nowhere...

And when you come, I'll show you that it's yours...

And you come here, come here...

This is your field... and the corn...

And it grows...

Turned yellow already -

and you come and start reaping...

I'll see to everything...

Pull fish from the sea... and grind them into fish meal...

And the factory chimney keeps smoking...

Smoking day and night...

And all pigs and sheep eat fish meal -

and will grow scales...

Then they can be caught again in the sea -

and ground into flour again...

And I'll make silage too...

All your towers full of silage...

And chimneys full of silage...

I'll make smoked silage...

Third Song

We sing also of you, great Pales -

and of you, Amphrysian shepherd.

Of you, Arcadian woods and rivers.

All else that could attract languid -

thoughts in a song, is worn with use.

Who doesn't know merciless Euristheus -

or Busiris' detestable altar?

Who hasn't heard of the boy Hylas -

and Latona of Delos -

and Hippodame -

and the famous fearless charioteer Pelops of ivory shoulder?

New ways I must attempt in order to raise aloft -

and fly as victor on people's lips.

Maecenas...

Maecenas...

Maecenas...

Mother...

Shut up...

Where are you going now...

Where did you get to...

Where the devil are you aiming at...

It's all over...

Have a look...

Look how they're going.

...Missionary...

Come on... come on...

Come on...

They're going away... Hark!

They're off... You can hear...

Well...

Soon the tower will be full of silage.

Then we'll go down...

Down to the meadow to have a stroll...

And run... and trot around... and...

Roll in the grass and the sun will shine on us down there...

And it'll be good...

There we will go...

Then we'll have freedom...

No work any more...

Pleasure and song...

God will give us repose...

What's that now...

Where are you?

Lost their mind...

Down... climb down... Maecenas...

Maecenas climb...

Where... where are you off to...

Missionary...

Stop...

Where d'you want to go...

Come... step forward... again...

Damn, get a move on... You want to fall down or what...

Do you hear... want to go down or what...

The beast has lost its wits...

Missionary...

Maecenas... Maecenas...

Maecenas... It's sinking.

You can't come here...

It's sinking...

Jakub...

Jakub...

Jakub... Jakub... Jakub... Jakub...

Save...

What is it, Jakub?

Save the bees...

Get a doctor, please...

Jakub fell from the tower and the horse...

Get a doctor please...

Jakub fell down... Doctor please...

Mother...

Mother...

I cannot call you.

This phone is connected with another place...

Jakub fell down and...

The horse fell down and...

I did not fall and I started to talk...

I'm going away...

| cannot say where I'll go...

Nobody must know...

Only that Jakub...

Only that I can now talk and...

Jakub is dead and...

The horse is dead and...

And I am going away...

Bajan-Hongor Farafangana

Maromokotro Masai-Mara