That's where your father hides his money.
Remember, Eben, it belongs to you.
- Now, say it. - It belongs to me.
This farm would have been nothing
without the land I brought with me when I married him.
Only reason he married me was for the land.
And he needed a woman to look after his home and your stepbrothers
when his other wife died.
Killed her the same way he's killing me.
He worked her darn to death.
Ma, don't say that.
You're not gonna die.
Oh. Sh, sh.
When I'm gone, and when you're old enough,
I want you to take your rights.
He'll never die, that old man.
He'll live longer than the mountains.
You'll have to fight for what is yours.
Don't depend on your two stepbrothers.
They'll never help.
Remember where the stone is.
And when you need money, take it, it's yours.
Everything here is yours.
You promise?
You promise to remember, Eben?
I promise.
Say it.
"Everything here is mine, and someday I'll take it."
Say it.
Everything here is mine, and someday I'll take it.
We must go back.
You mark the place.
Come.
Eben.
You're gonna stand there mooning all day?
She's been dead for years now.
How much time you gonna waste?
You and your brothers have gotta get home to dinner.
Mm, weaklings.
In the prime of your youth and I can work you into the ground.
Spring.
The snow's off the mountains and the buds are out.
Spring.
Spring, and I'm feeling damned.
Damned like an old, bare hickory branch fit only for burning.
I'm gonna ride out and learn God's message to me in the spring,
like the prophets done.
Now, you get back to work, all of you.
Crazy. Crazy as a loon.
God's message in the spring.
I know what he feels, I know the trouble he feels in his blood.
You aiming to leave us too?
No, I'm never gonna leave here.
I don't wanna wander.
I wanna walk in my own fields,
I wanna smell the blossoms coming out on my fruit trees.
I wanna bring a woman here and show her and say,
"Well, look, this is the work I've done
"with my own two bare hands."
You move stones, brother. Move stones.
Let Pa hear the crazy calls.
One's enough for one family.
Well, get to work.
There's plenty of stones to clear.
Whoa.
Well, I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll be back.
No matter how long I'm gone,
why, don't get any fool ideas that I'm dead.
I've sworn to live to a hundred years, and I'll do it.
If only to spite you.
And you.
All of you, now, get back to work.
Let's go, boy.
There he goes. You reckon he's drunk?
He ain't drunk.
Just smart.
Gone riding off, leaving us here,
piling stone on stone, year in, year out.
Making stone walls so as he can fence us in.
Yeah, maybe it ain't a bad idea going off, getting away from here.
- Where would you go? - California.
There's gold in California, fields of gold.
There's a fortune laying just on top of the ground,
waiting to be picked.
Solomon's mines I say.
Oh, you talk and talk, but you'll never get to the goldfields.
Don't be so sure.
Well, where would you get the money?
We could walk.
Yeah, walking ain't anything new to us.
You put all the steps that we walked on this farm
end to end, we'd be on the moon.
Oh, you won't ever go, Peter.
You neither, Sim.
You just wait around here for your share of the farm,
thinking always he's gonna die soon.
- Two-thirds belongs to us. - We got a right.
Well, you haven't any right.
She wasn't your mother.
It was her farm, wasn't it?
The deed was in her name and he stole it.
Why, he'd just have a little rump of land here without her.
She's dead now and it's my farm.
Heh. You tell that to Pa when he comes back.
I bet you a dollar he laughs.
For the first time in his life.
What have you got against us, Eben? There's something.
Year after year, I've seen it in your eyes.
Why didn't you two ever stand
between him and my mother all those years
when he was slaving her to the grave?
To pay her back for the kindness that she done you
even though you weren't her own blood.
There was always work to be done.
We never had time to meddle.
California.
Boats leave out of Boston every week,
sailing out for the Golden Gate.
Ah, when Pa comes back, you ask him for the passage money.
I'll bet he laughs for the second time in his life.
Six weeks already.
No word from the old mule.
Real peaceful, ain't it?
Maybe he's dead.
Oh, it ain't that peaceful.
Hey.
Going for a walk?
Yeah, maybe.
Nice night for a walk.
Gonna be a full moon.
Sim, what direction you figure
young fella like Eben might go for a walk on a night of full moon?
I can't hardly guess.
Unless you of course he was to find himself on the road
to the widow's house.
Eben? Our Eben? Don't seem possible.
Well, he's all dressed up.
You gotta take that into account.
Yeah, he's all dressed up all right,
ain't no doubt about that. Whoo-hoo.
Won't be the first time a young fella found himself
just by accident all dressed up
in front of Min's door on the night of full moon.
It wouldn't even be the last time either, would it be?
Why don't you be quiet? I'll go where I wanna go.
Why, sure, Eben. Ain't no need to feel touchy.
You got plenty of company. Good company for you.
Right in the family, eh, Pete?
Right in the family, all the generations.
You're animals.
You're a pair of laughing hyenas.
I want anything to do with you.
♪ My Bonnie lies Over the ocean ♪
♪ My Bonnie lies Over the sea ♪
♪ My Bonnie lies Over the ocean ♪
♪ Please bring back My Bonnie to me ♪
Eben?
Yeah.
Where have you been?
I waited.
- Celebrating in town. - Celebrating what?
It's a private celebration.
Some news I heard.
It's been a big night for news.
Why, you're drunk.
Don't you wanna come in?
You're soft and warm and pretty.
Eben, don't let's stand here talking like this.
Come on in.
That's what I came to tell you. I...
I'm, I'm never coming here anymore.
You've been good to me, Min, but...
Well, I'm through.
I'm, I'm through taking what's left over.
Eben, what are you talking about?
What's come over you?
Goodbye.
Eben.
♪ My Bonnie lies Over the ocean ♪
♪ My Bonnie lies Over the sea ♪
♪ My Bonnie lies Over the ocean ♪
♪ Please bring back My Bonnie... ♪
Oh. Hey!
It's just me. Get up.
What'd you do that for?
I got news for you. I'm the...
I'm the bearer of glad tidings.
Can't you hold it till we get our sleep?
It's sunup.
Don't you wanna hear it?
He's gone and married again.
- Pa? - He's got himself hitched.
What?
To an Italian woman from Italy, 25 years old.
And pretty, they say.
- Who said so? - It's a lie.
You were drunk. They were making fun of you.
I didn't get drunk until after I heard it.
The whole village knows.
She was a waitress in the railroad hotel in New Dover.
Married.
He done it just to spite us, the old mule.
Everything'll go to her now.
Twenty-five-year-old greenhorn.
I hope she's a she-devil.
I hope she makes Pa wish he was dead,
living in the pit of hell for comfort.
Amen.
"I'm riding out to learn God's message to me in the spring,
"like the prophets done," he says.
"Go thou and chase yourself a woman."
Some message, the stinking old hypocrite.
Well, it's done.
- It's done us. - It's done us.
There's gold in California, Sim.
- If we stay here now... - Just what I was thinking.
Might as well do it first as last.
First light out and get this in the morning.
Suits me.
You must like walking.
You lend us your wings, we'll fly there.
But you'd like riding on a boat better, wouldn't you?
Well, if you sign this paper, you can ride on a boat.
What are you talking about?
This is just something I got written out in writing
in case you wanna go.
What's it say, Peter?
It says that for $300 to each of you,
you agree that your shares of the farm are sold over to me.
Six hundred dollars.
Where would you get that kind of money, anyway?
I found out a long time ago where the old man hid it.
Ma showed me. It's her money.
Where's it hid?
Where you'd never find it.
What do you know about that?
If you've got so much money, why don't you go yourself?
I'm never gonna leave here.
I'm gonna stay right on this land
and get what's rightfully mine, if it takes forever.
Well, is it a deal?
I don't know.
Me neither.
If he's got hitched again, we'd be selling Eben
something we'd never get anyhow.
Yeah.
Well, you gonna sign or ain't you?
Pa and his new bride will be arriving any time now.
Let's see the color of the old skinflint's money.
Twenty-dollar gold pieces.
Thirty of them.
Six hundred dollars.
Now, sign.
- Thanks. - Thank you for the ride.
We'll send you a lump of gold for Christmas.
And maybe we ought to stay and see the bride,
just to make sure Eben ain't lying.
Yeah.
Until he comes, let's you and me not do a lick of work.
Let's you and me just eat and sleep and drink liquor,
and let the whole miserable farm go to blazes.
Ha-ha-ha. We earned a rest.
We're aiming to start being lilies of the field.
We toil not and neither do we spin.
Ha-ha-ha. Sole owner till he comes.
That's what you wanted, ain't it?
Well, you gotta be sole hand too.
Yeah, the cows are bellowing.
You'd better hustle to the milking.
Yep, you'd better get to work.
It's Ma's farm again and it's mine now.
I'd work my hands off for a farm that's mine.
Idiot.
He's like his Pa. Hard and crazy.
Yeah. Dead spitting image.
Well, let dog eat dog.
Yeah. This is Southern comfort for once.
Yeah. Reach down and get the jug.
- Let's have a drink. - That's a good idea.
To the she-devil. Ha-ha-ha.
Whoa.
Well, here we are, Anna. Home.
Beautiful.
It's hard to believe it's really mine.
Yours?
It's mine.
Well, ours.
It's been lonesome too long.
A home's got to have a woman.
A woman's got to have a home.
Yes.
Now, where is everyone?
Nobody out, working or nothing?
Simeon?
Peter?
Eben?
Where are you?
Why ain't you working?
We was waiting to welcome you home.
You and the bride.
Waiting to give you our parting curse
and see what our new Ma looks like.
Well, this is her, boys.
I see her.
Howdy... Ma.
I go look at my house.
Her house? Ha-ha-ha.
You'll find Eben inside.
You better not tell him it's your house.
Eben? I will tell Eben what must be told.
You needn't pay any heed to Eben.
He's a fool.
Soft and simple like his ma was.
Ha. What do you know?
He's a chip of you, spitting image.
Hard and bitter as a hickory tree.
Dog'll eat dog.
He'll eat you yet, old man.
You get to work.
So that's our new ma, is it?
Where in thunder did you dig her up?
Better put her in the pen with the other sows.
What's come over you? Are you drunk?
We're free, old man.
Free of you and this whole damned farm.
We're setting up for the goldfields in California.
You can take this place and burn it.
And bury it, for all we care.
We're free, old man.
We're free as Indians.
You're lucky we don't scalp you.
And burn the barn and kill all the stock!
Dragging your woman off by the hair into the woods.
Lust! Lust for gold!
The sinful, easy gold of California.
It's drove you mad.
Wouldn't you like us to send you some of that simple gold,
- you old sinner? - We'll be voyaging on the sea.
Living free.
I'll have you both chained up in the asylum.
Goodbye, you old skinflint.
You old bloodsucker, goodbye.
Go before I have you horsewhipped over the place.
Whoo! Let's let some air in the parlor.
Yeah.
One, two, three.
If I can get my hands on you,
I'll break your bones.
What are you doing with that gate?
We hereby abolish closed gates, open gates and all gates.
We'll take it with us for luck
and set it sailing free down some river.
Ephraim, are they gone now? For good?
- We see them no more? - Mm.
This is nice.
This bedroom, Ephraim, the pretty bed.
It's my room?
Ours.
Sì.
Yes, Ephraim.
They must have been up to something.
Poisoned the stock or something.
Blankets.
They are musty. Gray.
They need sun.
You Eben?
I'm Anna.
I wanted so much to meet you.
Maybe you help me, huh?
Your father told me a lot about you.
Oh, don't mind him. He's an old man.
It's nature.
The old man leaning down hard on the young one.
In Naples, where I come from,
I've seen fathers draw knives against their sons
when the sons grow old enough to stand against them.
There will be no knives here, Eben.
I don't like to play act mother to you.
You... You're too big and strong for that.
Possible I want to be friends with you.
Maybe with me for a friend, you'll find you like living here better.
I know how to make it easy for you with him.
He's ready to do pretty near anything to please the young wife.
You better get one thing straight.
I'm not making any bargains with anybody.
Not with you, not with him, not with anybody.
All right.
I prepare myself to have you against me in the beginning, Eben.
I don't blame you. I would feel the same.
A strange young girl came, took my mother's place...
You're not taking my mother's place.
Understand, please, Eben.
I've come a long way.
I've had a hard life.
Some other time, when you're ready to listen,
I'll tell you.
I needed a home.
Is that a crime, a woman needs a home?
What else would I marry an old man like him for?
I'll tell him you said that.
And I will say you're lying.
And he will drive you off this place.
Understand one thing, boy.
The lady of the house arrived today, for good.
This is my farm, this is my home.
Inside is my kitchen.
I put out these blankets and I sleep on them by myself in the night.
And upstairs is my bedroom.
And my bed.
I am not bad, Eben.
Except against an enemy.
I have to fight in my life or else I'll get nothing.
You and me, Eben, let us be friends.
We are going to be a long time together.
We could never be friends.
I'll go wash my dishes now.
Stop that!
- Ephraim. - Stop it, I said.
I was just trying to make it nice.
Put everything back the way it was and close the shutters.
But it's...
You do what you want with the rest of the house,
but this room stays the way it was
and door stays closed. Do you understand that?
But it's so cold and dusty.
And it stays that way. Do you hear me?
This was her room, Eben's mother's.
She was weak and she was no good for me.
This is where she hid from me, She taught him how to read here,
sang him songs here.
Taught him everlasting rebellion here.
This is a woman's room and I never was welcome in it.
And when she died, I closed it for good.
And it's not gonna be open now.
Is that plain enough for you?
There are plenty other rooms, now stay in 'em.
Mew, mew, mew, mew, mew, mew.
What are you cackling about?
- You. - What about me?
You're all shiny for Sunday like a prize bull
being led to the fair.
Maybe I put flowers in your hair.
Well, you're not so beautiful yourself.
You do not mean that, Eben.
Ever since the day I came here, you've been fighting nature.
Trying to tell yourself I'm not pretty to you.
Mm.
Isn't the sun strong and hot?
Burning.
Burning into the earth.
Making things to grow.
Burning inside of you.
I'm from a country that knows about the sun.
I have the sun inside me.
You are from here, from these stony hills.
But you know about the sun too.
The people who live with the sun
know that they cannot win against it.
Nature will beat you, Eben.
You might as well confess to it now than later.
If Pa heard you talking like that, he'd beat you.
You've made such a dreamy idiot out of the old devil.
Well, isn't it easier for you with him changed and soft?
No.
I'll still fight him and you too.
I'm on to you. You're aiming to take everything here
and make it your own.
You're gonna find out that you can't own me.
- Eben. - What do you want?
Where are you going?
Just down the road a spell.
- To the village? - Maybe.
To see that woman, I suppose. What's her name?
What woman?
The village is full of women.
You know the one I mean. The widow.
Oh, Min.
Yeah, I might drop in on her.
Sunday afternoon's a good time for visiting.
Why do you want to waste your time on her for?
Well, you said it, didn't you?
You can't beat nature.
She's ugly and old.
Oh, I don't know. Lots of folks think she's prettier than you.
Every no-good drunk in the county.
Maybe. But she's better than you are.
At least she owns up fair and square to what she does.
Do not compare me with her.
She don't go sneaking and stealing what's mine.
Yours?
- You mean my farm. - I mean my farm.
The farm you sold yourself for.
Here, take a look at this.
Simeon and Peter signed over their shares in writing to me,
all legal and regular.
You'll never live to see the day,
not even a stone on it belong to you. Never.
Go on to the village.
Go on to your fat, ugly, old... Hm...
Well, go on, say it.
You know the word, don't you?
Get out of here! I will get your father
to drive you off this place if I want.
You're only living here because I let you.
Go. Go!
I hate the sight of you.
And I hate the sight of you.
Disgraziato!
You and Eben been quarrelling again?
No.
You were talking mighty loud.
If you heard us, there's no need to ask questions.
I didn't hear what you said.
It was nothing.
And that Eben's a strange one.
He's exactly like you.
You think so, Anna?
Eben and me, we've always fought and fought.
You know, I could never bury him.
He was so thundering soft like his ma.
He's about as soft as you are.
Yeah, maybe I've been too hard on him.
Well, you are getting soft now.
That is what he was saying.
Eben was saying?
Well, he'd better not do anything to try me,
or he'll soon discover how soft I am.
Pretty, ain't it?
I do not see anything pretty.
The sky.
It feels like a warm meadow up there.
Are you planning to buy up over the farm too?
I'd like to own my place up there.
I'm getting old, Anna.
Ripe on the bough.
It's always lonesome cold in the house,
even when it's boiling hot outside, haven't you noticed?
Better down in the barn, the smell from the hay
and the warmth from the animals.
That's the only place I don't seem to feel the cold.
I suppose it's old age creeping up on my bones.
You're not dead yet.
No, I'm not. Not by a long sight.
I'm sound and as tough as hickory.
But after three score and ten, the Lord warns us to prepare.
That's why Eben keeps coming into my head.
Now that his cursed sinful brothers have gone on the path to hell,
there's nobody left but Eben.
And me?
Am I not left?
Why so sudden you like Eben so much?
Why you say nothing about me?
Am I your wife or not?
Your lawful wife?
Yes, you are.
So you plan to leave the farm to Eben, do you?
Leave?
I'm not giving it to anyone.
When you go, what do you plan to do?
Bury it with you?
I guess not.
But if I could, I would.
If I could in my dying hour, I'd set it afire and watch it burn.
This house, every ear of corn, every tree,
down to the last blade of hay.
I'd sit and know that it was all dying with me.
No one else would ever own what was mine.
Except my animals, I'd turn them free.
And me?
You'd be turned free too.
Ah.
This is the thanks that I get for marrying you?
To have you turn kind to Eben who hates you,
and talk of turning me out on the road
Now, Anna, you know I...
Let me tell you one thing or two about your son Eben.
Where has he gone? To see that woman in the village.
I tried to stop him from disgracing you and me.
He's a sinner, natural born.
It's lust eating his heart.
And his lust for me?
Can you find excuses for that?
- Lust for you? - Yeah. What do you think
he was talking about when you heard us quarreling, huh?
I'll kill him.
I'll get the shotgun and blow his soft brains
- to the top of them elm trees. - Stop it!
- By heaven I will! - Stop!
Listen, Ephraim, it was not anything bad.
It was just a boy fooling.
He did not mean anything serious.
Just joking and teasing.
Well, then why did you say "lust"?
Well, it sounded worse than I meant.
Sometimes the American words get confused in my head.
I was angry
because I thought that you are going to leave him the farm.
Then I'll horsewhip him off the place
- if that'll please you. - Oh, no.
You wouldn't drive him off.
Where would be the sense?
Who would you get to help you on the farm?
Well, there's something in what you say.
You got a head on your shoulders.
We'll let him stay.
I oughtn't get so angry at that young calf.
But what son of mine will keep on here on the farm after me?
Simeon and Peter have gone to hell and Eben's following them.
All these three sons and not one of them's worth nothing.
Who'll keep on here after me?
There is me.
You're a woman.
I'm your wife.
That's not me.
A son is me, mine, my blood.
Mine ought to get mine.
Then it's still mine.
Even though I'm 6 feet under the ground, you see?
I see.
Maybe the Lord will give us a son.
A son, Anna, to you and to me?
Yes.
You are a strong man yet.
It's not impossible, is it?
Why do you stare like that?
Have you never thought of it before?
Oh, I've been thinking of it all the time.
Ever since the first day I came here.
Yes.
And I've been praying it would happen too.
You've been praying, Anna, for a son for us?
I want a son.
It would be the blessing of God.
There wouldn't be anything that I wouldn't do for you then, Anna.
You'd only have to ask and anything you'd mind to.
Will you leave the farm to me then?
To me and to your son?
I'd do anything you ask.
I tell you I swear it.
May I be everlastingly damned if I don't.
Listen, Anna.
When I first came here 50-odd years ago, I was just 20.
But the strongest and the hardest 20
anybody ever saw.
Ten times as strong and 50 times as hard as Eben.
This place was nothing but fields of stones.
Folks laughed when I took it, but they didn't know what I knowed.
When you can make corn sprout out of stones, God's living in you.
And they weren't strong enough for that.
They reckoned God was easy.
But they were wrong, God's hard.
God's in the stones.
"Build my church on a rock, out of stones,
"and I'll be in them."
That's what he meant to Peter.
Stones.
I picked them up and picked them up and piled them into walls.
You can read the years of my life out there in them walls.
There were lonesome years.
I took two wives and they both died without knowing me.
They left me three sons and I was lonelier than ever.
I lived with the boys, but they hated me because I was hard.
And I hated them because they were soft.
They were the sons of my body,
but they were never the sons of my spirit.
In the spring, the call came.
The voice of God crying in my wilderness and in my lonesomeness,
and I sought you and I found you.
Are you any the wiser for all I've told you?
Maybe.
You don't know nothing.
And you never will.
If you don't have a son to redeem you.
You will have a son, I promise you.
A son of your body.
A son of your spirit too.
How can you promise?
Maybe I have second sight.
Maybe I can foretell the future.
I believe maybe you can.
It's cold in this house.
It's uneasy.
There's something poking about in the dark, in the corners.
Where are you going?
I'm going out to tend to my animals.
I won't be back till late, till I've finished.
Mm.
You shouldn't, Eben.
I can make you happy.
I don't wanna be happy with you.
You do, Eben. Why do you lie?
I hate the sight of you.
Well, I kissed you anyway.
And you kissed back.
And your lips were burning.
If you hate me, why did you kiss me back?
Why were your lips burning?
It's like poison on them.
You're no good, Eben. You're not a man.
You're everything your father says you are.
You are nothing.
What did you come in here for
if you thought I was so good for nothing, huh?
Did you think I was in love with you?
A weak thing like you.
Oh, do not be proud.
You are here, you are young.
I'm tired of old men.
It is as simple as that.
Get out of my room.
This is my room and you're only hired help.
Get out of here before I kill you.
I'm not afraid.
You want me, don't you?
Yes, you do.
And you are like your father.
He will never kill what he wants.
Look at your eyes, they are burning up.
And look at your lips now.
They're trembling and longing to kiss me.
I'm going to make all of this house my own.
There is one room that is not mine yet.
But it's going to be mine now.
Will you come courting me in the parlor, Mr. Cabot?
I will expect you before long, Eben.
Eben, I sit here so frightened you will not come.
I'm a bad woman, I lie to you.
I tell you this only because you're here,
because you're young, because I...
Because I'm tired of old men.
It isn't true, Eben, It isn't true.
I love you. I love you.
For so long I've wanted to say that.
Now I can it say to you.
I love you. I love you.
And I love you, Anna.
Now I can say it.
I've been dying for want of you every moment since you came.
This is the first time in my whole life I have ever been happy.
Whoa.
Are you finished there so they won't fall out?
Don't worry you won't lose them.
I'll be back before dark.
What's the matter, old boy?
A couple of nails will put that right.
Ever since my mother died, I've had to hide what I am,
what I'm like, from everybody, to protect myself.
Now you are here to protect me.
I will, Anna.
You loved your mother molto.
Very much, didn't you?
Yes.
My mother died when I was small, far away from here.
Poor.
In a village where men walked slow with awareness
and the animals cried with hunger.
I've had a hard life.
Now you will help me forget it, won't you?
I'll help you.
Years of trouble.
A servant in the homes of others.
Then in the port of Naples, I met a seaman of an American ship.
He said he loved me, and he said he was the captain of a ship.
We were married and I...
I thought that finally I was free.
Only it happened he was not the captain of any ship.
And he did not love me.
My baby died, one day while I was serving dinner
in a hotel for railroad men.
My husband left me and went West.
And after a while, I got a letter that he'd died too.
I was glad, thinking, "Now I'm free for once."
Then I found that I was free, yes.
To work once again in the homes of others.
And do the work of others.
Almost I gave up hope of ever doing the work of myself,
in my own home and...
And having my own land.
Such beautiful land.
And my own home.
One day, this'll be our home.
We'll have nothing to hide.
We'll be able to come in and out
of the front door openly at all times.
We are going to be lucky, you and me, Eben.
For the rest of our lives.
He's back.
I'll get a hammer and nails,
we'll be back on the road in five minutes.
Let's see, where did I put that nail box?
Maybe I...
Ugh.
There it is.
I must be getting old and forgetful.
There we are, boy, good as new.
See? I told you.
We are going to be lucky for the rest of our lives.
What are you smiling at?
What's funny so early in the morning?
Nothing, I just feel light of heart.
Well, don't waste all morning feeling light of heart.
There's work to be done.
More coffee?
Thank you.
So you feel light of heart.
Yes, and you know why.
My heart too is light.
I miss you so all day.
And I miss you too.
- Do not forget me. - I won't.
Stargazing in daylight?
Yeah. It's pretty, ain't it?
It's a pretty farm.
I mean the sky.
How do you know? Those eyes of yours can't see that far.
You're feeling pretty chipper this morning, ain't you?
Where did you steal the liquor?
No, it ain't liquor, it's just life.
Look, you and me are quits. Let's shake hands.
What's come over you?
Don't then. Probably just as well.
Let's get to work.
Are you bossing me now, you calf?
Yeah, I'm bossing you. See how you like it.
That's a born fool.
Sh. Sh.
Well, you promised me a son and you gave me a son.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Well, pray, Anna. Pray and give thanks.
Leave me alone, Ephraim.
♪ I jumped aboard The Liza ship ♪
♪ And traveled on the sea ♪
♪ And every time I thought of home ♪
♪ I wished it wasn't me ♪
♪ Oh, California That's the land for me ♪
♪ I'm back from California With my washbowl on my knee ♪
Oh, how much longer do we have to go?
Ah, don't be impatient.
It ain't much further. We'll be there right after dark.
I still don't see why we had to come traipsing
- all the way up here? - Oh, Pete.
Why couldn't we just stay in New York, like you promised?
Oh, we'll have plenty of time in New York.
Pete and me we had to come back and show the old mule
how good we done since we left him.
It'll cut 20 years off his life.
Ah, I can't wait to see his face
when he gets a look at us. Ha-ha-ha.
Anyway, a dutiful son's gotta introduce his wife
- to his father, ain't he? - He sure does.
After all, he introduced his wife to us.
He sure did. Ha-ha-ha.
Hey, you think he'll like us?
Like you? Well, he'll love you.
He's the lovingest old man this side of hell, ain't he Pete?
Oh, the lovingest.
Whoo!
Whoa.
What are you stopping here for, Sim?
I wanna say "hello" to an old friend,
pick up some of the local news.
Might be a good idea to see what's been happening
before we show our faces. I'll be right back.
Who is it?
Min, it's an old, old friend.
Sim.
Well, look at you.
Come on in.
That was a woman opened that door.
I wouldn't be a mite surprised if it was.
Well, I'm not so sure I like this.
Me neither.
Now, girls, don't you worry.
Since Sim and me discovered gold in California,
our taste in ladies has changed.
Oh, Pete.
It's been real nice to see you again, Min, and thanks for the news.
What you grinning about, Sim?
We're just in time, Peter. Just in time for the party.
What party?
There's been a christening at our house.
A christening? Who of?
Of our brother.
We got a new brother, Peter.
They're singing and dancing and drinking and celebrating on the farm.
First time in his life Pa ever offered anyone a free drink.
I'm sure glad we ain't gonna miss it.
Hey, how old you say your father was?
Seventy something, old as the hills.
And he just had himself a new baby?
Yep, a son. Ha-ha-ha.
Well, I gotta meet that man.
Whoo-hoo.
I ain't gonna be home.
What's going on in that house
is plain as the nose on your face.
What do you mean?
The boy is the father.
Do you know where Eben is?
No, I don't, Mrs. Cabot. I haven't seen Eben in ages.
Well, since you've come,
it seems like he spends most of his time at home.
Oh, how are you?
That's the way I hear it.
What do you say we go wet our whistle?
- Good idea. - Suits me.
Do you know where Eben is?
Well, I bet I can tell you, Anna.
I bet he's down at the church, offering them prayers of thanksgiving.
What for?
Because unto him... a brother is born.
Oh, how are you?
Why don't you dance?
I asked you here to dance, eat, drink and be merry.
There you all sit, cackling like a bunch of wet hens with a pip.
Swilled my liquor and guzzled my food like hogs, haven't you?
Well, then dance for me, can't you?
That's fair and square, ain't it?
We're waiting for Eben.
To hell with Eben.
Eben is done for now. I got me a new son.
And you needn't laugh at Eben, none of you.
He's my blood, even if he's a dumb fool.
He's better than any of you.
He can do almost as good a day's work as I can.
Yup, he sure can.
Ah, laugh, you idiots.
But you're right just the same.
He can work day and night like I can if need be.
There ain't many can touch you, Ephraim.
A son at 76.
That's a real man for you.
I'm only 68 and I couldn't do it.
Well, I'm sorry for you.
I never expect such weakness from a boy like you.
And I never reckon you had it in you neither.
Well, I got a lot in me.
A lot that folks don't know about.
Well, I'll be a...
Simeon and Peter.
Hi, folks.
Hiya, Pa.
Howdy, Pa.
Hm. Where'd you get them clothes?
Look like you dressed up to play in a circus.
Oh, these are the latest things in San Francisco.
Well, ain't you gonna shake our hands?
Why not?
Today I'd shake any man's hand, even my own son's.
Where did you pick them critters up?
Are they the latest thing in San Francisco too?
Oh, let me make the introductions nice and proper.
This is my wife, Florence, Pa.
Well, I'll be...
And this one's mine, Lucinda.
Marrying critters like that in San Francisco these days?
Must be some town.
Very pleased to meet you, Mr. Cabot.
Yes, especially on this happy day.
It is a happy day, ain't it?
And we heard the news, Pa.
Congratulations. Have a cigar.
Yep, I finally got me a son
that's gonna be worth something when he grows up to be a man.
And he won't be wearing yellow shoes like them neither.
And I guarantee that he won't be leaving the land,
chasing after sinful, easy gold in the West and sinful, easy...
Oh, no, Pa.
We're only gonna be here a little while.
We got a date in New York, to look at a mansion.
- Yeah. - Save the sermons for Eben.
Yeah. Where is he?
Ain't he included in this celebration?
Anna, go get Eben.
Tell him his worthless brothers are here with two worthless women.
Tell him to come down and say "hello."
And bring the boy.
I want to introduce him to his no account brothers
while they're still rich and wearing yellow shoes.
Because the next time he sees them,
it's a hundred percent certain they won't have a penny to their names.
They'll be hanging around whining and groveling
for their meals and a place to lay their heads.
Now, Pa, Don't you worry about us.
Ain't he a funny man?
Yeah.
I don't hold with ladies drinking,
but I guess you're not ladies, so it's all right.
To our brother.
I'll drink to that.
Well, what are you standing around for?
Fiddle up. Give them something to dance to.
What are you, an ornament?
Ain't this a celebration?
Then grease your elbow and get to it.
Here goes.
Come on. Get in there and dance.
What's the matter with you? Dance.
Well, come on, dance. What are you here for?
Dance! Come on!
Hold hands and center, join hands and circle to the right.
- Anna... - Sh.
He looks like you.
Does he? I can't tell.
Mm, exactly.
I don't like this.
I don't like pretending that what's mine is his.
I've been doing it all my life.
Eben, we are doing the best we can.
We've got to wait.
They want you to come down. Your brothers are here.
I saw them, dressed up like monkeys with their fancy women.
Aren't you going to say "hello" to them?
They're only staying little a while.
I don't wanna see them.
I don't wanna have nothing to do with them
I've bought them out. Let them stay away from here.
What will I tell them? I have to go back.
Tell them you couldn't find me.
I can't stand it, the fiddle playing and the laughing.
Don't be afraid. I love you.
I won't let any harm come to you.
You walk like bride down the aisle.
Good boys. Good girls.
Face your partners.
Good!
Out of my way. You're a bunch of cowards.
I'll show you dancing.
Go on, Ephraim, do it.
Yippee!
Look at me, 76 if I'm a day. Ha-ha-ha.
I'd invite you to dance at my 100th birthday,
only you'll all be dead by then.
I'm the only man in the party.
Whee, whoo! Yippee!
Whee! Whee!
Whee!
Yee-hoo!
Yippee! Whee! Whee!
Ha-ha-ha. I'm an Indian!
I'm an Indian, and I killed Indians in the west before you were born.
I scalped them too.
An eye for an eye, that's my motto.
I took vengeance on them!
Look at me. I can kick the branches off the tree.
Whee!
Aah!
Whoo-hoo!
Well, I beat you.
I beat you all.
I told you he was a loving old man.
Yeah.
- You all right? - Yeah. I am now.
- Put your hat on. - Wow. Oh.
The father, the new father.
Mm. What a family.
Keep your hands off of me.
Hey, the old boy sure can dance, can't he?
He sure can dance.
- Yeah. - But know what I heard?
What?
Where's Anna? Where's the child?
She came down with him and she watched you dance for a while,
then she went in again.
Then maybe I shouldn't have danced.
Well, what are you guffawing about?
It's your fault.
She remembers the way you behaved to her the day she came.
What are you doing here? You and your two fancy women?
- Get off of my land. - Now, Pa...
Don't "Pa" me. I don't recognize you.
You're buzzards at a feast. Get out of here.
Well, I certainly don't intend to stay anyplace
where I'm not welcome.
Come on, Lucinda.
Fancy women. Our wives?
Why, for 2 cents, I'd tell you...
Keep quiet, Sim.
We got revenge enough. We don't need anymore.
Come on. Ha-ha-ha.
If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee.
If thy right hand offend thee, cut if off and cast it from thee.
Well, why are you all so quiet? Go ahead, fiddle up.
Even the music can't drive it out.
There's something dark in the corners of this house prowling.
There's no peace and no rest.
Where you going, Ephraim?
I'll be back.
I'm going down to the barn to rest a spell.
Well, the party's young yet
and there's plenty of liquor left in the keg.
No sense in spoiling it all
just because the old fool's out of breath.
- Well, here you are. - Yeah.
- Your brothers were here. - Yeah, I saw them.
Why didn't you come and say "hello"
to the prodigal sons?
Coming back with their yellow shoes.
Maybe they'd have given you a nugget of gold
and let you look at their wives.
I don't want anything from them.
- I'm quits with them. - Me too.
I drove them off.
That might be a good thing to put on your tombstone when you die.
"Here lies Ephraim Cabot. He drove everybody off."
You can put worse things than that on tombstones.
You should come up to the dance.
They're all asking for you.
Yeah? Well, let 'em ask.
There's a parcel of pretty girls up there.
I don't care.
You ought to be marrying one of them soon.
Look, I'm not marrying anybody.
You might earn a share of a farm that way.
The way you did you mean? No, I'm not that kind.
Be careful now. It was your mother's folks
that aimed to steal my farm from me.
Yeah? That's not what I heard.
It don't matter. I got me a farm anyway.
- Where? - Here.
Oh, you have, have you?
Ha, ha. That's a good one.
You'll see.
Yeah, I'll see. So will you.
- What are you laughing about? - You.
Heaven almighty, you're dumb, you're a farmer.
If you weren't a barn donkey,
you'd know you'll never own a stick or a stone on it.
Especially now that he's born. It's his when I die.
And I'll live to be a hundred years and fool you all.
He'll be grown by then. Your age, almost.
You think you can get around that some way?
It'll be hers too. Anna's. You can't get around her.
She's not like the others. She's hard. Hard like me.
She knows your tricks. She'll be too much for you.
She wants the farm for her own.
She was afraid of you.
She told me you were sneaking around,
trying to make love to her to win her over to your side.
- You idiot. - You're lying.
Anna never said any such thing.
She did. She did. You know what I said?
I said, "I'll blow his brains out."
She said, "No, no, no. Don't do that.
"That don't make sense.
"Who will you get to help you farm in his place?"
It was then that she said that we ought to have a son.
And I said, "If we do,
"you can have anything that I own
"that you have a mind to." And you know what she said?
She said, "I want Eben cut off
"so this farm will be mine when you die."
And that's what happened, ain't it?
The farm's hers. You know what's yours?
The dust in the road, that's yours now.
- Ha-ha-ha. You gonna laugh now? - I'll kill her.
Oh, you...
Why, you...
Eben!
Let go, you're killing him.
Eben. Eben.
Eben.
Don't worry, Anna, I wasn't aiming to kill him.
He's not worth hanging for.
Seventy-six, and him 25, and look where he ended up
by thinking his father was easy.
Well, by God's will, I ain't easy.
And him upstairs, I'll raise to be like me.
I'm going back to sing and dance and celebrate.
Don't think there's anymore mischief in him, Anna.
But if he gets pesky, you just sing out,
and I'll come a-running and turn him across my knee and spank him.
Get away from me.
It's me, Anna. Don't you know me?
I know you now.
Eben, what's happened to you?
Why do you look at me as if you hated me?
You're black and rotten.
You don't know what you're saying.
Nothing but a stinking bunch of lies.
Every word you ever told me. Day and night, lies.
Telling me you loved me.
I do. It wasn't a lie.
You made a fool out of me.
You wanted a son so he'd give you my farm.
Well, now you got your son. And like Pa says,
I got the dust in the road.
There must be a devil in you.
It's not human to be bad as that.
- He told you. - Yes, he told me.
And it's true, ain't it?
There's no sense lying anymore.
Eben, listen. You have to listen.
It was long ago, before we touched each other.
You hated me.
And I said it to get revenge on you.
And I wish you were dead.
I wish I was dead too along with you before this happened.
But I'll get my revenge now.
Don't, Eben.
I did not mean to hurt you. Forgive me.
I'll get square with him and you too.
I'll tell him the truth about the son he's so proud of,
and then I'll leave you here to poison each other.
You won't leave me. You can't, Eben.
Oh, can't I? Can't I?
I'll go West like Simeon and Peter,
and I'll ten times as rich as they did, and I'll come back
and I'll fight him for the farm he stole.
I'll kick you both out on the road to beg
and sleep in the woods and your son along with you
- to starve and die. - He's your son too, Eben.
I wish he'd never been born. I wish he'd die this minute.
I wish I'd never set eyes on him.
It's him that's changed everything.
Oh.
Eben, answer me a question.
Did you believe I loved you before he came?
Yeah, like a dumb ox.
And you don't believe me anymore?
No.
And did you really love me before?
Yes.
And I thought you loved me.
And you don't love me now?
I hate you.
You're truly going West, going to leave me
on account of his being born?
I'm going in the morning.
Well, if that's what his coming has done to me,
killing your love, taking you away,
the only good thing I ever had in my whole life, then I hate him too.
Even if I am his mother.
Lies.
You love him.
He'll steal the farm for you.
That farm doesn't mean anything to me anymore.
No, it's you.
Lying to me, getting me to love you, telling me you love me.
Just to have a son to steal 60 acres of dirt for you.
I do love you. I'll prove it to you.
No matter how much I love him.
Don't lie anymore.
I'm deaf to you.
I'm not seeing you again. Goodbye.
Eben, wait. Wait.
I want to tell you, if I could make it up,
like he'd never come between us, if I could prove to you
that I wasn't scheming to steal anything from you,
so everything would be the same between us, if I could do it,
you'd love me again, wouldn't you?
You'd kiss me.
You'd never leave me, would you?
I guess not.
But you're not God, are you?
You can't change what's happened.
Remember you've promised.
Maybe I can take back one thing that God has done.
I'm gonna dance now.
Pa says there's a lot of pretty girls out there.
I'll prove to you.
I'll prove I love you better.
I love you better than anything else in the world.
Eben. Eben.
I did it, Eben.
I've proved I love you better than anything.
You can't ever doubt me anymore.
Whatever you've done, it's no good now.
Oh, no, don't say that. Kiss me, Eben.
I need you to kiss me after what I've done.
I need you to say that you love me.
I've been thinking, I'm not gonna tell Pa anything.
If I did, he'd just be mean and have to take it out on the baby.
I don't want anything happen to him.
He's not to blame for us. And he looks like me and he's mine.
And someday I'll back to claim him.
Oh, you don't have to go now. There's no reason for it.
There's nothing to come between us now after what I've done.
Why? What have you done?
I killed him.
You, you killed him?
Yes.
Serves him right.
Well, I've gotta do something quick
to make it look like he killed himself by accident.
When he was drunk.
I-I-I can prove it by everybody. He was here yesterday,
- how drunk he was. - Oh.
Not him.
That's what I should have done, isn't it?
I should have killed him instead.
Why didn't you tell me?
"Instead"? What do you mean?
Not him.
The...? The...? The baby?
Yes.
Oh, God.
I put a pillow over his face.
Oh.
- I didn't want to do it. - No, he was mine.
I loved him, but I loved you more.
You were going away far off, I'd never see you again,
I'd never kiss you again.
You said you hated me for having him.
You said you hated him and you wished that he was dead.
You said that if it wasn't for him,
everything would be the same between us.
I never said that.
I never dreamed you'd...
I'd-I'd-I'd kill myself before I hurt one finger of his hand.
Oh, don't look at me like that.
Not after what I've done.
For you, for us, so we can be happy again.
I see your game.
Oh, the same old sneaking trick.
Wanting to blame me for the murder you did.
Don't, Eben. Don't.
Don't touch me, you're poison.
How could you? Murdering a little baby?
You must have given your soul to hell.
I see why you did it.
You wanted to steal the last thing he'd left me.
You knew he was mine and you couldn't stand it.
You killed him for being mine.
Well, I'm going for the sheriff and I'm gonna tell him everything.
And then have you taken away and locked up.
And then I'll sing
"I'm off to California, fields of gold in the West."
I'm going for the sheriff to come and get you.
I want you taken away and locked up.
I never wanna see you again.
I love you, Eben. I love you!
I don't care what you do, if you will only love me again.
Thunder and lightning, I haven't slept so late in 50 years.
Sun must be up an hour.
It must have been the dancing and the liquor.
Must be getting old.
Well, I hope Eben's out working.
You might have taken the trouble to wake me up, Anna.
Got breakfast cooked?
Feeling weak?
Maybe you ought to lie down as well.
Your son's gonna be needing you soon.
He's gonna wake up with a gnashing appetite, the way he's sleeping.
He's never going to wake up.
He takes it after me this morning.
I haven't slept so late in 50 years.
He's dead.
What?
I killed him.
- Are you drunk? Crazy? - I killed him!
Go up and see if you don't believe me.
Why did you do it?
Why?
I asked you, "Why did you do it?"
Why did you kill my son?
Don't touch me! He wasn't your son.
You think I'd have a son by you?
I hated the sight of you and I always have.
It's you I should have murdered if I had any sense in my head.
I hate you, I love Eben.
I did from the beginning.
And it was Eben's son.
Mine and Eben's, not yours.
So that was it.
That's what I felt in this house,
skulking around the corners while you lied.
And now he's dead.
I felt his heart.
Don't cry. Don't.
You've got to be like stone.
Like the rock of judgment.
If he was Eben's, I'm glad he's gone.
Maybe I suspected something all along.
I felt there was something unnatural somewheres.
You keeping me away from you like I was a stranger.
And the house got lonesome cold.
Driving me down to the barn, to the beasts of the field.
I must have suspected something.
You didn't fool me. Not altogether, anyway.
I'm too old a bird.
So you wished that you'd murdered me instead of him, do you?
Well, I'll live to be a hundred.
I'll live to see you hung.
I'll deliver you up to the judgment of God and the law.
I'm gonna get the sheriff now.
You don't have to.
Eben's gone for him.
Eben's gone for the sheriff?
Yes.
To tell against you?
Well, I'm thankful for him saving me the trouble.
He, he should have been my son, Anna.
You should have loved me.
I'm a man.
If you'd loved me, I'd have never told any sheriff on you,
no matter what you did. You could boil me alive.
There is more to it than you could ever understand.
For your sake, I hope there is.
God.
God almighty.
Anna. Anna.
Forgive me.
Eben.
I love you, forgive me.
I forgive you all the sins in hell for saying that.
I was waiting, I got to thinking of you, Yes.
I got to thinking of how much I loved you.
And then I knew then that I still loved you and that I always would.
- Yes, yes. - I ran back.
I cut across the fields and through the woods.
We still might have time to run away.
No, I can't, Eben.
I have to take my punishment, I have to pay for my sin.
Then I wanna share it with you.
No.
I gave you the idea, I wished he was dead.
No, it was me alone.
I'm as guilty as you are.
We both did wrong from the start, but now it's my murder too.
I'll tell the sheriff that.
And if you deny it, I'll say we planned it together, and he'll believe me.
It'll all seem true to them anyway.
And it is true way down, I did help you somehow.
I don't want you to suffer.
I've got to pay for my part of this, Anna.
Whatever happens, I wanna share it with you.
Prison, death, hell. Anything.
I won't let you. I can't, Eben.
You can't help yourself.
For once, I've got you beat.
I'm not beat as long as I've got you.
So here you are in this room.
You make a slick pair of murderers.
You both ought to be hung on the same limb
and left there to swing in the breeze and rot.
A warning to old fools like me to bear their lonesomeness alone.
And the young fools like you to hobble their lust.
It's gonna be lonesomer now than ever it was before.
I'm getting old and bitter, Lord.
They've come for you.
This way, Jim.
Here they are.
I lied to you this morning, Jim.
I helped her to do it, you can take me too.
Take 'em both.
Well,
that's pretty good for you.
You're harder than I thought you knew how to be.
Well, I've got to round up the stock.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Well, we'd better start.
Yeah, it's a dandy farm, there's no denying that.
Wished it was mine.
Come on, Seth.