Alpine Fire (Höhenfeuer)

I think it's weather for manuring.

Belli!

What have they done to the boy?

Belli! Come over here!

That is not normal.

If it had got in his eyes he could have been blinded.

You idiots! It's true.

You just laugh.

You should bury your face in shame.

Why?

You're spoiling the boy.

You're both the same.

But there's nothing wrong in that.

No one can see up here.

Nobody? What about us?

For him, it's not wrong to be naked.

You couldn't teach him that yet.

You don't know what you're saying.

Me neither. Now you know.

My God! What brats!

You swallow everything.

So he has got no respect at all.

Everything, everything...

The boy works for more than he eats.

What about me?

Do I eat more than I work for?

If you had become a teacher, no doubt.

They all eat more than they work for, down there.

With the wages I get up here, you couldn't feed a rabbit down there.

Don't start on that again.

He would freeze to death.

Will he ever grow up?

You don't want him to.

He's there!

Looks starving. – Let him eat.

He's got school this afternoon.

He must help me a bit on the land.

Then I'll send him.

Mother is in the garden. That's where I'm going too.

...and give it to my little tree.

I will fetch rain water

from the barrel

and give it –

to my little tree.

I hope the electric fence has arrived at last.

Just don't forget the coffee.

I don't mind about the rest.

I'll send the boy to meet you.

Otherwise I can carry it myself.

Give me the post.

Have the books come at last?

Can't wait, as usual?

Another letter with no sender.

I know who it's from.

Behind my back.

You and your "notions".

Lunch time!

"Notions"...

She would do better reading less of those stories.

She'd be more content.

We cherish happy memories of the dear deceased.

And may the Almighty give her Eternal Peace.

Everyone will be going to her funeral.

That'll still depend on the weather.

What does granny write?

If we're coming over for Whitsun. Greetings to everyone.

Nothing else?

If yes, hang out the flag.

Otherwise, everything's as usual.

It's nearly twelve.

Father will be looking out to see

if the bees' wax has arrived.

They're already at the window.

You could go over there alone once.

I'll go some time during the week.

Or else she won't let anyone help.

The grass is growing

and we're hoping for a good summer.

God bless you all

and a kiss for the dear boy.

Your Granny and Grandfather.

Belli?

Have you hung out the flag?

The boy already did it last night.

Damned tie!

Can't we go yet?

I'm just ready.

I think we'd better take some money.

They won't need much. – Can you get it?

And something for the poor clerics.

I say, Belli! Look at that! What's going on here?

Have you packed my prayer book?

I think so. You'll need it over Whitsun.

It's taking so long today.

I think I'll put on the other shoes. – We'll go on ahead.

Hello, Belli, how's everything? – Hello, Gran. Fine and you?

Goodness, how he's grown!

Green gardens already at Whitsun.

In ours, at this time of year, the grass is hardly green.

He replanted the pear tree.

In front of your mother's window. Blocking her whole view.

Your view, not Hanni's.

I'm not saying anything.

Your mother surely felt her heart with the last winds.

Her asthma is also worse again.

Look at the boy.

It's because we're talking too much.

Either he gets raging mad or like this, as just lately.

Recently he threw father's radio in the dung hole.

Grandfather,

do something with him.

We women have our rest day.

I'd have put the tree somewhere else

after the winds had pulled it out.

You don't know the boy.

When he's got something in his head, he's stubborn.

That's what I mean.

He's planted it in front of his window, not mother's.

Yes, Hanni.

It isn't from us that she's got her moodiness.

She used to be so cheerful.

She just hasn't been the same since the boy.

If she worked more and prayed less she'd be better off.

You mean the boy's to blame?

No one's to blame.

For 3 years nobody noticed

that he didn't hear.

I'll never understand that.

When he was small he laughed and screamed like all children.

Some children talk earlier

than others. That can happen.

The doctor also said that.

Yes, even the doctor said that.

But it was like that,

he'd been deaf from birth.

Your mother never got over it.

What about father?

You know what he said to the doctor?

"I'd rather beat him to death

than let him be put away in a home."

He was so hung on him.

We're all hung on him.

But when your father took you out of

school your mother wasn't pleased. She'd have liked you to be a teacher.

It's all right now. – All right...

no proper job, nothing.

"If Belli's so clever, she can teach the boy to write, and maths.

Then she'll also be a teacher."

That's what he said.

He's right. School makes stupid.

So we're two of the clever ones.

No looking at me under the glass. Go to Belli.

I'll let him keep it.

What's the boy doing with the pigs?

The big sow has got another one.

Is that normal?

Gran,

cover your ears.

Me? Yes, cover your ears.

It's normal to hear.

Did you say something?

It's normal to hear, I said.

For us it's normal to hear.

We don't know if the boy finds

it normal not to hear.

I'm too stupid for all that. But you'd have been a good teacher.

Granny, I'm sorry.

I think it's like that.

He's like a man when he works, and he works a lot.

He's like a child when he plays.

He's both at the same time.

What's going on out there?

I can't hear anything.

They should have married earlier.

Your mother 35, your father over 40, that's too late.

Many nights your mother cried

because of Franz's mother.

She ruled the house till the end.

All the children left home quickly.

Franz was the youngest, so he had to stay.

Engaged for 15 years.

She didn't let another woman near as long as she lived.

At the engagement they gave each other binoculars.

Don't talk so much.

When the view was clear

they made signs at the window.

I never guessed what it all meant.

You must make the candles before winter.

When the wax is old it burns slower.

I'll make the lunch.

He's got the wax on the bed-table.

The whole room smells of it.

That's ok.

I'll start the fire or we won't be eating for a long time.

Franz working on a holy day?

Let's have a look.

Jesus! It's really close.

It's hard to find better ones.

But is Whit-Monday also a holy day?

Yes, it is, but the Irascible were