The Turin Horse
In Turin on January 3rd 1889,
Friedrich Nietzsche steps out of the door of number 6, Via Carlo Alberto,
perhaps to take a stroll, perhaps to go by the post office...
to collect his mail.
Not far from him, or indeed very far removed from him,
a cabman is having trouble with his stubborn horse.
Despite all his urging, the horse refuses to move,
whereupon the cabman - Giuseppe? Carlo? Ettore? -
loses his patience and takes his whip to it.
Nietzsche comes up to the throng...
and that puts an end to the brutal scene of the cabman,
who by this time is foaming with rage.
The solidly built and full-mustached Nietzsche suddenly jumps up to the cab...
and throws his arms around the horse’s neck...
sobbing.
His neighbor takes him home,
where he lies for two days, still and silent, on a divan...
until ay last he mutters...
the obligatory last words:
"Mutter, ich bin dumm." ("Mother, I'm foolish.")
He lives for another 10 years, gentle and demented,
in the care of his mother and sisters.
Of the horse... we know nothing.
THE FIRST DAY
It's ready.
Go to bed.
Hey, you!
What is it?
Can't you hear them either?
What?
The woodworm: they're not making any noise.
I've heard them for 58 years...
but I don't hear them now.
They really have stopped.
What's it all about, papa?
I don’t know.
Let's sleep.
She lies back and pulls the blanket over herself.
Ohlsdorfer turns on his side,
and fixes his gaze on the window.
The girl stares at the ceiling, her father at the window.
At times tiles can be heard falling down from the roof,
and shattering noisily.
The gale roars relentlessly around the house.
THE SECOND DAY
Come here!
Can't you see she won't move?
Stop it!
Come here!
It's ready.
I've run out of pálinka. Would you give me a bottle?
Give him some...
- Why didn't you go into town? - The wind's blown it away.
How come?
It's gone to ruin.
Why would it go to ruin?
Because everything's in ruins.
Everything's been degraded,
but I could say that they've ruined...
and degraded everything.
Because this is not some kind of cataclysm,
brought about with so-called innocent human aid.
On the contrary...
It's about man's own judgement,
his own judgement over his own self,
which of course God has a hand in,
or, dare I say it, takes part in.
And whatever he takes part in...
is the most ghastly creation that you can imagine.
Because, you see, the world has been debased.
So it doesn't matter what I say,
because everything has been debased that they've acquired.
And, since they've acquired everything in a sneaky, underhand fight,
they've debased everything.
Because whatever they touch -
and they touch everything - they've debased.
This is the way it was until the final victory. Until the triumphant end.
Acquire, debase,
debase, acquire.
Or I can put it differently if you like:
to touch, debase and thereby acquire,
or touching, acquiring and thereby debasing.
It's been going on like this for centuries...
on and on and on.
This, and only this, sometimes on the sly, sometimes rudely,
sometimes gently, sometimes brutally,
but it has been going on and on.
Yet, only in one way,
like rats attacking in an ambush.
Because for this perfect victory,
it was also essential that the other side...
thinking everything that's excellent, great in some way, and noble,
should not engage in any kind of fight.
There shouldn't be any kind of struggle,
just the sudden disappearance of one side,
meaning the disappearance of the excellent, the great, the noble.
So that by now these winning champions, who attack from ambush, rule the Earth,
and there isn't a single tiny nook
where one can hide something from them,
because everything they can lay their hands on is theirs.
Even things we think they can't reach - but they do reach -
are also theirs.
Because the sky is already theirs, and all our dreams.
Theirs is the moment, nature,
infinite silence.
Even immortality is theirs, you understand?
Everything, everything is lost forever!
And those many noble,
great and excellent people just stood by, if I can put it that way.
They stopped at this point,
and had to understand, and had to accept,
that there is neither god nor gods.
And the excellent, the great and the noble...
had to understand and accept this, right from the beginning.
But of course, they were quite incapable of understanding it.
They believed it and accepted it, but they didn't understand it.
They just stood there, bewildered, but not resigned,
until something – that spark from the brain -
finally enlightened them.
And all at once they realized, that there is neither god nor gods.
All at once they saw that there is neither good nor bad.
Then they saw and understood that...
if this was so, then they themselves do not exist either!
You see, I reckon this may have been...
the moment when we can say that...
they were extinguished, they burnt out.
Extinguished and burnt out,
like the fire left to smoulder in the meadow.
One was a constant loser,
another was a constant winner.
Defeat, victory,
defeat, victory,
and one day - here in the neighbourhood -
I had to realize,
and I did realize, that I was mistaken,
I was truly mistaken, when I thought...
that there has never been,
and could never be, any kind of change here on Earth.
Because, believe me, I know now...
that this change has indeed taken place.
Come off it! That's rubbish!
THE THIRD DAY
Coat!
She's not eating.
She will.
Do eat!
You have to eat!
What's that?
What's happening?
A cart's approaching.
Who are they?
Gypsies, I think.
What the fuck do they want here?
I don't know, but they're coming this way!
The stinking rotten bastards!
What shall we do?
Go and chase them away!
What are you waiting for?
Get moving!
...There's water here...
...Come and help...!
...Come and help, papa...!
...Come on, hey...! ...Come and drink...!
...Hold the horse...
...Look...
...Here comes the girl... Here's the girl...
...Her eyes are like the devil's...
Get away from here! Go away!
What are you doing here?
Get away from here!
...Come with us...!
I won't!
I'm not going anywhere!
...Come with us to America...!
Are you deaf? Let me go!
I'm not going with you!
God forbid!
...You'll like it there...!
I don't care!
Let go!
Fuck you, sons of bitches! Get the hell out of here!
I'll rip your guts out, for fuck's sake!
Dirty rotten gypsies!
...This is for the water...
He'll kill me! Papa!
Papa! Faster!
...Just come over here, you worm...!
...We'll be back...!
The water is ours!
The earth is ours!
You're weak! You're weak!
Drop dead! Drop dead! Drop dead!
One.
Since ho-ly pla-ces...
only al-low the prac-tice...
of things that serve...
the ven-er-a-tion of the Lord,
and every-thing is for-bid-den...
that is not fit for...
the ho-li-ness of the place,
and since...
ho-ly pla-ces are vi-o-lated...
by the great in-jus-tice of ac-tions...
that have ta-ken place within them...
that scan-dal-ize the con-gre-gation,
for this rea-son...
no ser-vice can be held there,
un-til,
through a ce-re-mony of pen-i-tence,
the in-jus-ti-ces...
have been put right.
The ce-le-brant...
tells the con-gre-gation:
The Lord is with you!
Mor-ning will turn to night.
Night will end...
The storm continues to rage outside.
The wind still sweeps relentlessly across the land from the same direction.
But now there is nothing in its path to obstruct it.
Only a great cloud of dust whipped up by the wind...
rushes recklessly forward.
Bone-dry dust and ravaging nothingness...
which the wind rolls before it as it rages unbridled...
over the barren land.
THE FOURTH DAY
- Come with me! - What's up?
- Come, quick! - What's wrong?
The well!
Phew! Fuck it!
Cover it!
And the pálinka?
Why don't you eat?
You're not going anywhere...
Drink!
At least drink a little water!
For my sake!
Pack up clothes, dishes, needle and thread, things like that!
What for?
We're not staying here. Pack!
Blankets, pálinka...
Pálinka!
Potatoes, too.
Get the handcart!
Come on!
THE FIFTH DAY
What's this darkness, papa?
Light the lamps!
Fuck it!
Why didn't you fill it up?
It's full.
Bring some embers!
What is all this?
I don't know.
Let's go to bed.
Even the embers went out.
Tomorrow, we'll try again.
We can hear them groping their way to the beds.
We can hear them lying down,
and pulling the blankets over themselves.
We can hear them breathing...
only their breathing.
Dead silence outside; the storm is over.
Dead silence falls on the house too.
THE SIXTH DAY
Eat...
We have to eat.