The Well-Digger's Daughter (La Fille du puisatier)

Do you want to cross the stream?

Don't be afraid I'm the one who should be scared

I'm fishing here and it's not allowed

Come here I won't bite.

Me neither. I'm not scared of you.

I only asked if you wanted to cross the stream.

Is it yours?

It crosses my father's fields.

The stones and the sand might belong to you too.

Yet a stream, is just water passing by.

And that water, whose is it?

Mine when it's on my land.

This land isn't yours.

Even if you paid a lot for it.

And why not?

Because you don't cultivate it.

My grandfather worked the land,

but my father is not a farmer.

So he banned everyone from working on it.

He wants to keep it all to himself.

Don't try to untie it. That knot is too tight.

My father is waiting for his meal. I must cross.

It would be easy, If you let me help.

Stand up.

Pick up your basket.

Thank you.

Now, tell me your name.

Hello Patricia.

Stay there. The charges are about to blow.

Hello. Don't go any closer, it's going to go off.

Are there a lot?

Four. It's not too dangerous.

The wells are 12m deep and the charges are at the bottom.

The stones won't be thrown this way.

But sometimes there are a couple that end up going 50m in the air,

and who knows where they'll land.

Oh là là! That was a good one.

That one did some damage.

That one was a waste.

Oh là là!

That one, she was a beauty, a real beauty!

She'll have us filling up six wheelbarrows.

That's finished.

Pascal! What about the third one?

Buggered.

It was my fault.

It was my fault.

I made the hole. Now if there had been stone behind it,

the powder would have pushed on it and the whole lot would have gone up.

But there was mud. So the mine is buggered.

Oh, you used a tablecloth!

And you set a place for me

Yes, because today's my birthday.

- Your eighteenth? - That's right.

And I brought a surprise for my father.

What is it?

Polenta! Oh, holy Mary!

Going down it's ok. But coming back up...

With the winch and pulley, we get the dead back up.

Look at that, beef stew!

It's well worth cutting a toothpick for.

So it's your birthday today?

Yes father, April 21st.

I must have forgotten.

That's not very nice. If I'd only known...

It's easy to forget these things.

Men have other things to worry about.

- Are you eating with us? - I don't have time.

It's your birthday and you're the one giving presents?

If my father hadn't given me life then it wouldn't be my birthday.

I should have brought a bottle of wine.

No, I don't like aged wine.

I only like this one. It's the best.

Yes, it is the best.

Is it going well?

You know, slowly.. We found Belgian granite.

Will there be a lot of water?

There's a spring. Two more metres, and we'd have wet feet.

It's a strong flow of water.

The watch is never wrong.

I think that we should go around the side.

You think what?

That the water is a lot faster than you think.

But we will go around it because it's 2 metres to the left.

Who told you that?

- The divining stick - The stick?

You're as bright as a stick! The stick is like a woman.

Even in experienced hand, it moves and twists,

and dances around like a slut.

It makes me blush.

The watch now that's really something.

Sea captains would be lost without her.

The watch is a person.

The watch tells you the time.

She knows the time and where the water is.

The watch is good and it never lies.

Yes, that's true.

- Goodbye my dear. - Goodbye.

Are you going?

Yes, my sisters are waiting.

Do you have something nice for them too?

I made enough polenta for everybody.

Goodbye, Félipe.

Goodbye, Patricia. And thank you again.

- Happy birthday. - Thanks

- Goodbye, dear - Goodbye.

Pascal, let me tell you something?

You daughter is as brave as she is beautiful.

Yes, you can say that.

And no-one wished her a happy birthday.

I didn't know the date. But you, you knew it.

Yes, but I forgot that it was her eighteenth.

I forgot that April 21st, it was a Sunday,

and a dawn, her mother said:

"Pascal, I think I'm having the baby."

I said " Calm down and and then have it.

"The quicker it's done the quicker it's finished"

And I got up

and got out of bed so she had it to herself.

And then we prayed to the holy Mary

And I went to wake the neighbours.

Then I went to walk in the garden

and I heard my wife screaming.

So I went to see to the rabbits.

There was a mother giving birth to her babies

while my wife gave birth to mine.

And then they called me because the baby was born.

And suddenly the cock, began to crow.

And there you have it, that's why I forgot her birthday,

I forgot that her birthday was today.

It was a trick?

Yes it was a trick.

I hadn't forgotten.

But I wanted it to be a big surprise.

You bought her a present?

A very nice present.

I gave 40 Francs to her sister Amanda

to buy her a hat at Paris-Chapeaux.

But not one of those dusty Id hats

ordered ten years ago.

No, a nice hat, from the shop window.

It has a bird on it.

Amanda told me about it.

I don't know much about hats.

Especially women's hats.

We'll give it to her tonight. It's a surprise.

So that's why I pretended.

It's a lovely present for a young girl.

Especially because tomorrow is Sunday...

and when she was born...

they called me...

and I ran straight in

and they showed me my baby

she was still red

like a prawn ready to be eaten

oh, I was so happy. Then came the misfortune

It didn't have a winkle. So I wasn't happy.

But a daughter, that's good too.

Yes, it's good but...

what name she'll end up with when she marries.

Her mother gave me daughters, daughters and more daughters.

And one day she told me:

"There's a woman from Paris

"who wants to take Patricia

"because she has no children and plenty of money."

So I thought to myself:

"I have so many daughters that I'd never notice it if one was gone."

And I told myself:

"She's a lucky little one. She'll be well looked after."

So Patricia left us, she was only six.

And her mother gave me even more daughters.

And now her mother is with God.

Alas, I was left alone, with my little girls.

Amanda was the oldest. She was barely 14.

Oh Lord! It was a total disaster.

Then one day, Amanda told me

that the postman had brought a letter from Patricia.

The Lady from Paris was dead.

Patricia came back. She was 15 then.

When she arrived I didn't recognise her.

I couldn't understand her accent.

And then she kissed me

She cleaned up all the kids. There you have it, just like her mother.

That is why everybody around here speaks well of her.

She is a treasure that God gave to me.

I love her as much as a son.

It's stupid, what I'm saying to you, Félipe,

I love her as much as a son.

So you'll miss her then, when she gets married.

I know that it will, happen one day.

I prefer not to think about it.

Or when she does marry it should be

with a well-digger like us,

a man who lives close to you.

You won't lose her that way.

I see a woman

who is in need of help crossing again.

I'm looking for the crossing.

It's in the other field.

Thank you.