Original subtitles

THE VIRGIN SPRING

Scenario by Ulla Isaksson based on a medieval legend

Directed by Ingmar Bergman

God Odin, come!

I seek your service

God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, with Your angel host

Protect us this day from the devil's snares

Save us from sin and shame and harm

It is Friday, the day of Our Lord's Passion

Lord, I almost trod on them in the gloom

Poor mite, live out your miserable life...

...as surely as God allows us all to live

Where have you been all night?

You could help with the milking, but you don't care if my legs ache

Jesus-Maria! What a look! What is it?

Nothing but the old story: bastards beget bastards

Serves you right, Ingeri, the way you behave

You spit like a wildcat

You should thank God for His mercy in allowing you to live here...

...even though you act like an animal

The milk is still on the porch

You must ride to church with the Virgin's candles

Isn't Karin going to take them?

She is unwell

She'll be better when it's too late for early Mass

I think she has a fever

Last night she danced feverishly enough

You're no more like your stepsister than a thorn is like a rose!

You still act like a wildcat...

...even now, when we ought to turn you out

Lord, bless our daily bread

Isn't Karin taking the Virgin's candles to Mass?

Karin is unwell

She's a lazybones. She was well enough to dance

Today she is unwell

Too ill to ride to church?

Frida will take the candles

But a maiden must take the Virgin's candles

You are always so strict with Karin

You are always so easygoing with her

She is the only child I have left

So she should be brought up well

I had evil dreams last night

You mortify your flesh too much

Send Ingeri to wake Karen

I'll go myself

Go and rouse the sluggard

Ingeri, prepare Karin's food for the journey: bread, cheese and meat

-Are you ill? -No, only sleepy

May I have breakfast in bed?

Father says you must take the Virgin's candles to church

-lf you are ill, Frida will go -I'm not ill

Then you must go

-lf I can wear my silk shift -On a week day?

Then I won't go

You're behaving childishly

If I had answered my parents in that tone...

...I'd have been birched and made to fast

Birch me and starve me, then. Give me berries instead of bread

You know I can't be strict with you, though I should be

You're laughing now, but I warn you: father is angry

Get my yellow shift, my Sunday skirts and my blue cloak

Then I'll be happy, you'll be happy and father will be happy

How demurely I'll ride to church

And Tawny's hooves will trot as though on a pilgrimage...

...and I shall look neither left nor right, but straight ahead...

...and think of the candles and the Holy Virgin

White stockings...

...and the blue shoes with pearls

This is no ordinary shift

Fifteen maidens stitched it

Fifteen all at once?

Sit down so that I can comb you

No, I want it loose, to go with my fine clothes

If you always get your way, you'll please the devil so much...

...the saints will punish you with toothache

Why do you talk so much of the devil? Father never does

Because the devil is the seducer of the innocent

He strives to destroy all goodness

But I always say my prayers

Who did you dance with last night?

I danced with him... and him... and him

-Why do you ask? -I had such evil dreams

What did you dream?

How I'd love to dream big, wonderful dreams

But I never do

Now the skirts: the blue and the red with golden threads

Tighter, or it won't puff out as it should

What about the clasp?

Save that for Sunday, you've gone far enough

You're in my light

"It's father; he's angry"

Didn't mother say you were ill?

Do you think I look pale and wasted?

Is it right to sleep after sunrise?

I'll ask Father Erik's forgiveness for not attending early Mass

I'll tell him that all of you are ill and no one woke me...

...the candles were not ready and Tawny was not shod

I'll ride to the mountains with this wicked maid...

...and say I don't want such a daughter

Imprison her in the mountain for seven years

When she is chastened, I'll take her back

"Let Ingeri come with me; she never leaves the farm now"

It's a pity the church is so far away

The likes of you need a confessional closer to hand

You can't talk! You fled your town in fear for your life

"I know all about you, "learned man"

"A bird on the wing finds food; a bird on the roost dies"

I have seen women and churches

How were the churches?

As high as heaven - and built of stone, not wood

With windows the colours of the rainbow

You may come, too, Ingeri

Hurry, or you won't get to church before nightfall

Hurry, Ingeri

Drink some mulled ale

It's a long journey

Give it to Ingeri, she's coming, too

-Who said so? -Father

Won't you kiss me good-bye?

The Lord Christ bless your young life

Take this cheese and these candles to the priest for me

Don't forget to give Father Erik my message... you know it

He's to say five paternosters and fifteen Hail Marys

I know an orchard sweet and fair

A maiden with virtues so true

Shining like spun gold her hair

Her eyes like the heavens blue

Happily the streams meander

Through valleys green they wander

In the springtime

The little bird soars up so high

Glides softly on the breeze

How sweet it would be to fly

Floating o'er mountains and trees

Happily the streams meander

Through valleys green they wander

In the springtime

-Is the child paining you? -One day you'll know how it is

I'll be mistress of a house and married with honour

We'll see how your honour is, when a man starts fumbling you

No man will bed me without marriage

And if one tumbles you behind a bush at night?

I'll struggle free

But he is stronger

It's better to brighten the road than languish in church

I'm taking the candles

So you've put your best on in honour of the Virgin

Not for you

Don't think I wear them to please you

-Thank you for last night, Karin -Why Thank me?

You've nothing to thank me for

-What is it, Ingeri? -I saw you with him last night

I wanted him to find a way out for you and the child

And he said he'd help, if you lay in the hay with him

You danced with him and took his hand

I danced with all who gave me their hand

Forgive me

Don't ask my forgiveness

-Let's turn back -But we're going to church

I can take the candles

Father and mother wouldn't like that

"The forest is so black; I can't go on"

Don't cry so, you might harm the child

Afraid of the forest?

Not I. I'm riding to church

May she rest here until I return?

This is enough for you both

Did you think I'd slap you again?

In labour?

Worse than that

Come, I can help

Sit down. It's long since anyone sat here with me

-What Is your name? -These days I have no name

This is a forlorn place. Have you no neighbours?

I hear what I will and I see what I will

I hear what mankind whispers in secret...

...and I see what it believes no one can see

You can hear for yourself, if you do as I do

What thunders outside?

Three dead men ride north

It's long since a woman made my seat narrow

Here is a cure for your suffering

Here is a cure for your woe

Blood, cease to flow

Fish, high and dry

Eagle, fall from the sky

Here is the power

You have made a human sacrifice - a sacrifice to Odin

I recognized you at once

I recognized you by your eyes, your mouth, your hands

"But you are afraid; you must not be"

I shall give you strength

That's a funny thing

My father's - who got it from his father's father

Who are you?

Three brothers, orphaned all too soon

Who cares for you?

We're goatherds, we live on roots in the forest

Mother gave me food for the journey

-Is he dumb? -Wicked men cut out his tongue

He says we can only accept the food if you share it with us

I must take the Holy Mother's candles to church

Early Mass?

No, I overslept

If Mass is past, there's no hurry

And your mother meant you to eat the food

My brother says we can go to a sunny glade, if you will honour us

Blessed Jesus, God the Father's Son

You are the living bread from heaven come

Make me worthy to receive this bodily bread

And save my soul when I am dead

My brother wonders where my lady lives

East of the mountains, west of the forests...

...the battlements of my father's castle reach to the sky

Is my lady a king's daughter?

Father's robes are of silk, his helm is of gold...

...and his lance flashes like gold in the sun

Mother has so many keys she cannot wear them at her belt...

...so a maid carries them on a cushion

And perhaps you three are princes under a witch's spell...

...and the goats are really bears and wolves

My brother says my lady has such white hands

Princesses do not launder or make fires

My brother says my lady has such a white neck

So that gold necklaces will gleam brighter

My brother says my lady has such a slender waist

You can cut this for us

But perhaps you have no knife

This is Simon of Snollsta's mark

I am on my way to church with the Virgin's candles

Mind the goats until we get back, or you know what to expect

What do you want?

The night is cold and the road is long

Where are you from?

The north, from Vasternol

How was the winter?

Hard, with much sickness

People are starving and the cattle are too weak to stand

Yes, I heard you had a cruel winter

Where are you going?

We'll look for work in the south

You can sleep inside. There'll be a frost tonight

The master said we could come in

Sit there till he comes

Those shoes have seen some wear

If a day begins well, it will end in woe

Seldom, if ever, was a morn as promising as today

The bright sun dispelled all the misery of winter

Legs felt like dancing

But by dusk she lay dead

The May Queen rode off on the sun, but never returned

Blessed Jesus, God the Father's Son

You are the living bread from heaven come

Make me worthy to receive this bodily bread

And save my soul when I am dead

Did you finish?

All manured and ploughed

Manure clay thick, manure sand thin

Forgive my poor brother

Is he often like this?

Only if we've starved

Rub his temples with salt and vinegar, put a hot wooden lid on his stomach

Our humble thanks...

...but the less attention the better

I may be able to give you work; we can talk of it tomorrow

Keep the fire going, the night will be cold

I hope you say your prayers, even if no one reminds you

Yes, you poor thing

The Lord is more merciful than you think

Say your prayers, tonight and every night

See the smoke trembling under the roof?

As if it were terrified

Yet when it gets outside...

...it has the heavens to swirl about in

But it doesn't know that

So it crouches beneath the roof and trembles

It's the same with people

They quiver like a leaf in a storm...

...afraid of what they know and what they don't know

You are about to walk a narrow plank

So narrow, you don't know where to place your foot

A river runs below you

Its blackness wants to engulf you

But you cross unharmed

A chasm lies before you

So deep, you can't see its depths

Hands stretch out for you, but they cannot reach you

Finally, you stand before a fearful mountain

It belches flame, an abyss opens at its foot

All colours blaze there: copper and iron...

...blue vitriol and yellow suphur

Flames dazzle and flash and devour the rocks

People leap and writhe, people tiny as ants

This furnace...

...devours murderers and violators

When you think you are lost, a hand will grasp you

An arm will embrace you and you will be borne away...

...to where evil can no longer harm you

If Karin is not home tonight, she is sure to be home tomorrow

Rest, Mareta

How can you speak of rest? That's all you have ever said

What would have happened to us if I had been like you...

...never worried, never anxious, never crying out to God?

Open your hands

I know you are worried about Karin

I have no one but her

She has stayed in the village without permission before

I have no one but her

She is all I have

They hit the boy

I thought the boy screamed

It was probably an owl; we've heard it several times

This silken shift...

These other things, too, belonged to our sister who died at Candlemas

It is dear to us...

...but we have no choice than to offer it for sale

We can see that you appreciate beautiful things...

...and this was our sister's most treasured possession

It is a bit worn and stained...

...but the embroidery is surely the work of nine maidens

A deft hand like yours can surely make it good

I must ask my husband...

...what would be a just price for such a costly garment

Now you must take your rest

The herdsmen offered this for sale

It is Karin's

It is bloodstained

What will you do?

-First, bar the door -it Is done

You'll call our men?

Be careful

-Tell me what you know -Kill me, rather

My guilt is greater than theirs. I wanted it

Since I've been with child I've hated her

The day I prayed for it, God Odin did it

It was him and me, not the herdsmen

They were possessed by him, they flung themselves on her like devils

They took her

You saw it?

I stood in the forest, I saw it and I wanted it

I had a stone to throw at them, but I let it drop

When it was over, they killed her with a cudgel

I saw that, too

Heat the bath-house. I'll fetch birch twigs

Bring me the slaughtering knife

God have mercy on me

We must search for Karin

I loved her more than God Himself

Then she turned to you and I began to hate you. The guilt is mine

Not yours alone, Mareta. Only God can judge

You saw it. God, You saw it

The innocent child's death and my vengeance

You permitted it

I don't understand You

I don't understand You

Yet now I beg Your forgiveness

I know no other way to reconcile myself with my own hands

I know no other way to live

I promise You, God...

...beside the body of my child I promise You...

...in penance for my sin I shall build a church

Here I shall build it,a church of stone

With these my hands