My father used to say that the
reason for living
was to get ready to stay dead a
long time.
Where Jewel?
I asked you where Jewel at?
Down at the barn, harnessing the
team.
Probably down there fooling with
that damn horse.
Come here, sir.
Come here.
Dinner time.
Come on.
Come on, eat it up.
Get that goddamn stuff out of
sight while you still got a
chance.
Pussel-gutted bastard.
Sweet son of a bitch.
What?
You ready?
Yeah, if you're all hitched up.
You wait. If she don't last till
you get back, she gonna be
disappointed.
I gave her my word we'd keep the
team here and ready, in case she
goes.
Ma ain't that sick.
That's right.
She been acting more herself
today than all week.
Yeah, well, you ought to know.
Been coming around here often
enough looking at her.
You and your folk all neighbor
like--
Shut up, Jewel.
If everybody wasn't burning hell
to get it done already, huh?
With Cash under that window all
day long!
Sawing...
and hammering...
It was her wish.
She wanted to know it were her
own blood sawed the boards and
drove the nails.
Just like she want to go in our
own wagon.
We will be beholden to no man,
me and her.
It means three dollars. You want
us to go or not?
I'm a luckless man.
It fixing up to rain.
Be back by sundown.
Well...
Well, come on!
By sundown, you hear?
I would not keep her waiting!
What do you want, Darl?
She gonna die before we get
back.
Then why you going?
It means three dollars.
Why take Jewel? You know he will
never forgive you.
She'll want to get started right
off.
It's far enough to Jefferson at
best.
Well, the road's good now.
For now. We'll see once the rain
come.
Funny how things work. Addie's
people...
gotta be buried a day's hard
ride from here.
Shame you can't just go to your
folks' ground in New Hope not
but three miles away.
They'll be back in plenty of
time. I wouldn't worry none.
Might be won't be no needs to
rush no ways.
I hope it.
She's going.
Her mind is set on it.
The Lord giveth
The Lord giveth
What you got there, boy, a hog?
Where you find that?
Down at the bridge.
You aim to leave it there?
I aim to show it to Ma.
You clean that fish.
Can't Dewey Dell clean it?
You clean it.
How, Pa?
You clean it.
Go on now!
It's bigger than him.
Jewel!
Jewel!
Takes two people to make it...
one people to die.
You know she's gonna die, don't
you?
That's how the world will end.
Which two made you two?
She's gonna die, Jewel, your
mother.
Our mother.
Addie Bundren's gonna die.
Just... breathe easy.
Why didn't you call me sooner?
Well, it was just one thing and
then another.
That ere corn me and the boys
was hoping to get up with.
Dewey Dell was taking such good
care of her.
Folks was stopping by offering
to help and such.
I just...
Damnit, Anse.
She's a' going, is she?
I knowed it.
I knowed her mind was set on it.
Pa!
You better go quick.
Jewel!
Wheel's stuck in the ditch!
Damn!
It's Jewel she wants.
Why, Addie, him and Darl went to
make one more load.
They thought there was time,
that you would wait for them.
And that's three dollar and
all...
Ma. Ma!
Cash!!
Get it up. Get it up.
You got it? You got it?
A little more. A little more!
Hold on.
You're on?
Yeah, I think so.
All right, hold it.
All right. Get that bolt.
You know she dead, Jewel.
You know that, right? Addie
Bundren's dead?
Just shut up! Shut up!
Just shut your mouth!
She's gone.
She's taken and left us.
How nigh are you done?
I reckon you better get back at
it.
You're gonna have to do the best
you can
with them boys going off that-a-
way.
Go on now, put supper on.
We gotta keep our strength up.
God's will be done.
Now I can get them teeth.
You could do so much for me, if
you just would.
If you just knew.
If you just would then I could
tell you...
and then nobody's have to know
it, except for you and me.
And Darl.
You all right?
Where she gonna go? Do you think
she'll still go as far as town?
She went farther than town.
She's in upside down.
Told you she loved that dress.
Don't want it wrinkled.
I made it on the bevel.
One, there's more gripping
surface for the nails.
Two, there's twice the gripping
surface to each seam.
Three, the water will have to
seep in at a slant.
Water moves easiest up and down
than sideways.
Four, in a house were people are
upright two thirds of the
time...
the seams and joints are built
up and down...
because the stress is up and
down.
Five, in a bed where people lay
down all the time...
the joints and seams go sideways
because the stress is sideways.
Six, except.
Seven...
a human body is not like a
crosstie.
Eight, animal magnetism.
Nine, the animal magnetism of a
human body...
makes the stress come
slanting...
so a coffin is built on the
bevel.
Ten, if you look at an old grave
site...
you'll see where the earth is
sucked towards the bevel.
Eleven, while on a natural
hole...
it sinks toward the middle, the
stress being up and down.
Twelve, so I made it on a bevel.
Thirteen, it makes a neater job.
That river is up and rising.
It's already covered the highest
water mark on that bridge piling
that I've ever seen.
That bridge won't stand a whole
lot of water. Anybody told Anse?
I told him. He said he reckoned
them boys had already heard
and unloaded, and was on the way
back by now.
He better bury her at New Hope.
That bridge is old. I wouldn't
monkey with it.
Yeah, well his mind is set on
taking her to Jefferson.
Well, he had better get at it
soon.
It's been there quite a long
time, that there bridge.
The Lord kept it there, you
mean.
Peabody, you was the first guy
to cross it.
You was on the way over to our
house, see My sweetheart
give birth to our first son,
Jody.
If I would'a crossed it every
time she littered since
it'd be worn out long before
this.
The Lord giveth.
-The Lord giveth.
Where that rail run?
My mother is a fish.
His grace be upon this house!
Anse.
She going to a better place.
Shall we gather at the river
Where bright angels' feet have
trod
Gather with the saints at the
river
That flows by the throne of
God
Yes, we'll gather at the river
The beautiful, the beautiful
river
Gather with the saints at the
river
That flows by the throne of
God
Soon we'll meet by the river
Soon our pilgrimage will cease
Hey, Jewel!
Look at them.
Goddamn you. Goddamn him!
I know your mother was Addie
Bundren, Jewel
same as mine.
But who was your father?
And as long as I can recall who
it isn't...
but who it is.
I still don't know.
It ain't gonna balance.
If you want it to tote and ride
on a balance...
Pick up your goddamn your thick-
nosed soul to hell and pick up!
- Easy, Jewel.
Jewel, I'm telling you!
She will not tote and ride--
Easy!
Come on! Come on!
Pick it up!
Watch the stairs!
No, pick up! Pick up your end!
Watch it!
Come on, Cash!
Watch it!
Let loose, Cash!
Watch it! Watch it!
Pick up! Pick up!
Watch it, Jewel!
She's backwards.
Jewel! You leave that horse
here, you hear me?
We all go in the wagon with your
Ma, like she wanted.
Not with you prancing around
like a darn circus animal on
that horse.
My mother's a fish.
Yeah. Jewel's mother's a horse.
And what's your Ma, Darl?
I ain't got one.
Why you got them tools?
'Cause I aim to stop off at
Tull's on the way home
and get that roof up on that
barn.
It ain't respectful. That's
deliberate flouting of her and
of me.
Where your sister?
What's that?
Mr. Tull's cakes.
Taking them to town, Pa.
It ain't right.
It's flouting of the dead.
And there's little enough for
you do to do for her.
What sprung hell from her own
flesh and blood.
Then go on. Leave him stay if he
wants to.
Pepper!
It's a hard country on man.
Nowhere in this sinful world
can a honest, hard-working man
profit.
It takes them that run the
stores in the towns...
doing no sweating, doing no
sweating...
living off them that sweat.
It ain't the hard-working man,
the farmer.
Sometimes I wonder why I keep at
it.
It's because there's a reward
for us above...
where they can't take their
autos and such.
Everyone will be equal there.
And it will be taken from them
that have...
and give to them that have not
by the Lord.
But it seems like a long ways.
I told them it wasn't balanced.
They should'a let me put it on a
balance.
Yeah, maybe so, but we done
waited long enough.
Especially in this heat.
Hey! Jewel!
I don't expect you to have no
respect for me...
but with your own Ma not cold in
her coffin yet.
I don't know how many times I
have to tell you--
Jewel!
I don't know how many times I
told you...
it's doing such things makes
folks talk about you.
Come on!
Darl knew. He knew this and he
knew before.
He knew the first time me and
Lafe picked on down the row.
We'd picked on down the row, the
woods getting closer and closer
and the secret shade.
Picking on into the secret shade
with my sack and Lafe's sack.
Because I said, will I or won't
I when the sack was full?
'Cause I said, if the sack's
full when we get to the woods,
then it won't be me.
I said, if it don't mean for me
to do it
the sack will not be full and I
will turn up the next row.
But if the sack is full, then I
cannot help it.
And so it was, because I could
not help it.
He was in.
And then I saw Darl, and he
knew.
He said he knew without the
words
like he told me that Ma was
gonna die without words.
And I knew he knew 'cause he
said he knew with the words.
I would not have believed that
he had been there and saw us.
But he said he did know.
And I said, "Are you gonna tell
Pa? Are you gonna kill him?"
Without the words I said it. And
he said, "Why?" without the
words
Why not admit it?
You know it's true.
Even if it's just to yourself.
The relief you feel.
You needed her to die so that
you could
go to town and get it done.
And that's why I can talk to him
with knowing and hating
'cause he knows.
Couple of days now, it'll be
smelling.
You might tell Jewel that, he'd
like to hear it.
It ain't balanced for no long
ride neither.
You can tell him that, too.
We're going to use your bridge!
Bridge is out!
Louder!
The bridge is out!
We'll be all right.
How about use the one across at
Samson's?
Yeah.
That bridge is gone.
Like this?
Worse. It's gone entire.
What now?
I guess we ford here.
If it was just up, we could
drive across.
We could just drive right on
across it.
That's where the ford was.
That don't show nothing.
That could be a bar of quicksand
built up there.
Mr. Wheatfield crossed it.
On horseback. Two days ago.
It's raised five foot since
then.
Mr. Wheatfield crossed it.
If the bridge was just up.
But it's not, is it?
I bet you a careful fella could
walk across on those planks and
those logs.
Yeah, but you ain't gonna tote
nothing.
Likely you put a foot on that
mess, the whole thing go too.
I gave her my promised word in
the presence of the Lord.
I reckon it'll cross fine.
It probably start falling come
the night.
You can lay over a day.
You should get the hell back to
your own damn plowing.
Ain't nobody asked you to follow
us here.
Never meant no harm.
Why don't you shut up, Jewel.
Yeah, shut up, Jewel.
What you wanna do?
If the bridge was just up, we
could drive across it.
What you say, Cash?
Dewey Dell and Vardaman and
Pa...
they all better walk across on
foot.
He's right. Vernon can help
them.
Come on.
You go with them.
We'll go on down the ford, meet
you on the other side.
I don't advise it.
Come on, Vardaman.
I gave her my word!
It is sacred on me.
I know you begrudge it...
but she will bless you in
heaven.
This is fool's work. Y'all
should'a laid over a day.
Water's gonna go down, ain't
gonna rain no more.
Surely ain't gonna get no
higher.
It's the turning back. It ain't
no luck in turning back.
I give her my word. She's a-
counting on it.
The dark current runs.
Talks up to us in a murmur...
become ceaseless and myriad.
Fading swirls move along the
surface for an instant...
silent, impermanent...
profoundly significant...
as though something just beneath
the surface...
huge and alive...
was waked for a moment.
I reckon we're still on the
road.
Tull taken and cut down those
two big white oaks.
I hear tell, at high water in
the old days...
people used to ford by those
trees.
If I'd suspicioned it, I coulda
come out here last week
and taken sight of it.
There's no way we coulda knowed.
What do you want me to do?
All right, I'm gonna go on
ahead...
and y'all just follow where I
am, okay?
I ain't gonna let nothing
happen to you. okay.
It's just you and me. I ain't
gonna let nothing happen to you.
Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on now.
Guys! This way!
Guys, here! The ford is over
here!
This is it, Jewel! Right here!
Wait! Jewel, wait!
It ain't on a balance!
Well, then go back and walk on
the goddamn bridge, both you and
Darl! You let me on that!
Ride back and cross, too! Walk
across the bridge...
and meet us on the other bank
with the rope, and then Vernon
will take your horse!
- There's some loose logs!
- Yeah, you go to hell!
Take the rope around the other
bank!
Three ain't no better than two.
We got one to drive and one to
balance.
I don't care what we do just so
long as we do something!
Sitting here not doing a goddamn
thing!
Take the rope and meet us on the
other side! Can you do that
jewel?
You might as well hop off now
and go across the bridge, too,
if you want.
I'll stay. Might take two of us.
Watch yourself!
I'm on it! Come on!
Come on! Come on then, you can
come to me, all right?
Come on!
Watch it! Log!
Jewel! Let the rope go!
Go! Go!
I used to hear the dark land
talking God's love...
His beauty and His sin.
Hearing the dark voicelessness
in which words are deeds
and the other words that are not
deeds
just the gaps in people's lack
coming down like the cries of
the
geese in the wild darkness in
the old terrible nights.
Anse had a word, too. Love, he
called it.
But I had been used to words for
a long time.
I knew that word was like the
others.
Just a shape to fill a lack.
When I knew that I had Cash...
I knew that life was terrible
and that this was the answer to
it.
That was when I learned that
words are no good.
Words don't ever fit even what
they are trying to say at.
When he was borned, I knew
motherhood was invented by
someone
who had to have a word for it
Because the ones that had the
children...
didn't care if there was a word
for it or not.
Sometimes I would lay by him in
the dark...
hearing the dark land that was
now of my blood and flesh
and I would think, "Anse."
"Why Anse? Why is he Anse?"
And I would think about his name
until, after a while
I could see the word as a
shape...
a vessel.
I would watch him liquefy and
flow into it...
until the jar stood full and
motionless.
I told Cora one day...
that he was my cross, and he
would be my salvation.
He would save me from the water
and the fire.
Even though I had laid down my
life...
he would save me.
She told me it was sinful when
she realized how we were talking
about God.
But sin and love and fear are
just sounds
that people who have never
sinned nor loved nor feared,
have.
But what they never had, and
cannot have...
until they forget the words.
She wanted me to pray, ask for
forgiveness...
because to people to whom sin is
just a matter of words
to them, "salvation" is just
words, too.
I would think of him as dressed
in sin.
I would think of him as thinking
of me...
as dressed also in sin.
Even more beautiful...
because the garment he exchanged
for sin was sanctified.
I would think of the sin as
garments which we would remove.
And then it was over.
He gave me jewel.
and jewel was my salvation.
His grace be upon this house!
He got the saw, Cash!
I got the rule! Found the rule,
Cash!
He got your saw, Cash!
He got your saw!
I'm going to Armstid's.
give cash help.
After school was out and the
last one had left
with his dirty little snuffling
nose
instead of going home, I would
go down the hill
to the spring where I could be
quiet
and hate them.
I would have to look at them day
after day...
each with his and her sacred
selfish thought.
And I would look forward to the
times when they faulted
so I could whip them.
When the switch fell, I could
feel it upon my flesh.
When it welted and ridged it was
my blood that ran...
and I would think with each blow
of the switch:
Now you are aware of me!
Doc Peabody had gone down below
Inverness somewhere...
but Uncle Billy's coming. He's a
horse doctor.
But he's about the closer we
come now.
Well...
what y'all thinking?
In here, Uncle Billy.
What you been into now, boy?
All right, get me a chair and a
big glass of whiskey.
Lucky for him, that were the
same leg he broke last summer.
Me and you might got a different
notion of what's lucky.
I reckon I get your point.
But can you help him?
Well, men ain't so different
from a horse or a mule...
except maybe...
horse or a mule might have a
little more sense.
I want you to drink this.
All of it.
It's okay to holler, boy, if you
feel like you need to.
All right, need some help
holding him down.
Hold him down. Hold him still.
Hold him still. Put a bite on
him.
Bite on it. Put the rag in your
mouth and bite on it.
Bite. All right.
Is he all right?
He's all right.
I'm gonna need some help with
these splints while he's out.
You're welcome to the use of my
team.
I thank you, but she'll want to
go in ourn.
Well...
You might wanna think about
Snopes.
He's got three, four span.
Maybe one of them'd suit you.
He a close man to trade with.
Yeah
But I reckon I can talk him
around.
How does it taste, huh?
Go! Get outta here! Leave! Go!
Go! Go! Get outta here! Shoo!
Get off! Go! Shoo! Shoo!
Get out of here! Just go!
Git! Shoo!
Go! Go! shoo! Shoo!
Go! Leave my Mama alone! Go!
You've got to do something. It's
an outrage. He should be lawed
for treating her so.
He's getting her in the ground
best he can.
Dear Lord! That smell!
You have to do something.
Anse! Anse!
He's gone.
Where's Anse?
Done light out this morning
trade for a new team with
Snopes.
How'd he get there?
Jewel's horse.
I didn't think he'd ever let
nobody else touch that beast.
Never has.
I don't mean no offense, but...
smell, smell's getting pretty
bad.
I know.
Come on eat now.
You, too, Jewel.
Jewel, come on eat!
Pa's home!
Got us a team.
Got a team from Snopes?
I reckon Snopes ain't the only
fella in this town itching to
drive a trade.
A fella that just beat Snopes in
a trade ought to feel pretty
darn good.
What you give him, Anse?
I give him a chattel mortgage on
my seeder and cultivator.
That ain't worth more than $40.
I give other things.
What other things?
Other things.
That's what he was doing in
Cash's clothes last night.
You know he was planning to buy
that talking machine from
Suratt.
That's just $8.
That ain't enough to buy another
team.
Lord knows...
if there were ere a man.
And the horse.
What horse?
We give him the horse right
after we bury your mother.
You mean, you think you swapped
my horse?
My horse?
Five months hard work...
clear near 40 acres of Quick's
field to earn it.
For 15 year I ain't had a tooth
in my head.
Lord knows...
for 15 year He know that I ain't
had the victuals...
that He aimed for man to eat to
keep his strength up.
And me saving a nickel here and
a nickel there...
so my family wouldn't suffer it,
to buy them!
And I thought that if I could do
without eating...
my son could do without riding!
God knows I did!
Hell
Come on. Up!
Where's Jewel? We can't leave
without Jewel.
Jewel disappeared with his
horse.
Be the last time we see Jewel,
sure enough.
Maybe they get a postcard from
him down in Texas, I reckon.
Anse Bundren is an outrage
against decency.
I be darn if he ain't a sight.
How you feeling, Cash?
It don't bother none.
You want me to prop it up some?
You all right?
It's just on a bump...
it kinda grinds together a
little bit on a bump.
But it don't bother nothing.
Is it because Jewel's mother is
a horse, Darl?
Is that why he went away?
That's part of it.
Hey, Cash, you want me to
tighten this?
If you just would.
That hurt?
Maybe just put it back down.
Hurt?
It don't bother none.
You want Pa to slow down?
No. There's no point in slowing
down now.
It don't bother nothing.
I reckon we gotta get him some
medicine.
There ain't no way around it.
Just tell him to go on.
Them cakes is gonna be nice by
the time we get to Jefferson.
You best sell them in Mottson,
if you know what I'm saying.
When will we get to Mottson,
Darl?
Tomorrow. If this team don't
step itself to pieces.
I think Snopes fed them on
sawdust.
Why did he feed them on sawdust,
Darl?
Look.
I couldn't see. I couldn't feel.
I couldn't feel the bed under
me.
And I couldn't think of where I
was.
I couldn't think of my name. I
couldn't even think I am a
girl...
but I knew that something was.
but I couldn't even think of
time
Then, all of a sudden, I knew
that something was.
It was wind blowing over me.
I believe in God. I believe in
God.
I believe in God. I believe in
God.
God, I believe in God.
I believe in God. I believe in
God.
I believe in God.
Gonna hawl a little. Gonna hawl
a little.
Pepper! Pepper!
Dewey, make it quick.
Where you going? Where she
going?
What can I do for you?
You looking for some toilet
things, or is it medicine you
want?
That's it?
I'd rather go back there.
All right.
What's the trouble? Tell me what
it is you want. I'm pretty busy.
It's a female trouble.
Is that all? Where's your Ma?
Haven't you got one?
She's out yonder in the wagon.
Why don't you talk to her about
it before you take any medicine?
I mean, any woman would tell you
about it.
Are you too regular or not
regular enough?
Yes, I reckon so. Yes.
Well, which? Don't you know?
You want something to stop it,
is that it?
No. You see, it's already
stopped.
Oh, well, we--
You're not married, are you?
No.
Well, I don't have anything in
my store for you...
and I'd advise you to go home
and tell your Pa, if you have
one...
and let him make somebody buy
you a wedding license.
But I got the money to pay you.
A thousand dollars wouldn't be
enough in my store.
Ten cents wouldn't be enough.
Howdy.
Can I have a bag of cement?
That'll be 50 cents.
50 cents?
Could I have 10 cents worth?
10 cents--? For what?
My brother broke his leg.
- What?
- You gotta get this wagon outta
here.
It's a public street! I reckon
we can stop to buy something
same as any other man.
We got the money to pay for it,
and there ain't any law--
I just want 10 cents worth.
I don't wanna break a sack.
Don't you know you'll cause that
boy to lose his leg?
You take him to the doctor.
I would like 10 cents worth of
cement.
Fine.
Just get that boy to a doctor.
You get this thing buried as
soon as you can.
Don't you know you're tempting
jail for Endangering the public
health?
We're doing the best we can.
We woulda set out to bury her
today, but had to wait for that
boy to bring the wagon back.
Shut up, Pa!
Sir, I'm sorry. We'll be gone in
a minute.
Get this man to a doctor.
Ain't got to worry about me.
I'm fine.
Hurry up, Dewey Dell! We done
lost too much time.
We ain't gonna discommode you no
more.
Pepper!
(indistinct)
Here a place.
Right here. Hold, mule. Hold,
mule.
We could get some water over
yonder.
Dewey Dell, you better go see
you can borrow a bucket.
Guess you had less luck than you
expected selling them cakes in
Mottson.
We better not try and lift him
down. We fix it here.
When we get to Jefferson,
tomorrow?
I could just last it out.
It'll be easier this way on you.
It won't rub together.
But I can last it out.
And we'll lose time if we stop
now.
We done bought the cement now.
Listen, I can last it out.
It's just one more day.
And it don't bother none. It
sets up so.
We done bought it now.
How's that look?
You don't wanna put too much
water in it...
or it won't work right.
How's that?
You know, maybe if you... y'all
could find some sand.
Vardaman, go on and get some
sand.
I can last it out...
if it's just one more day, you
know?
'Cause it don't bother none.
All right.
Careful with that there.
Bring your leg out.
Just mind it so it don't get on
-
How's that feel?
It feels fine.
It feels cold and good on there.
It feels fine.
If it'll only help...
I ask your forgiveness.
I couldn't have foreseen it more
than you.
I feel fine.
All right?
I think it's gonna rain.
Look, there's Jewel!
Where that horse?
Delivered him to Snopes himself.
You did right.
This here sure got me tired.
Darl, if Snopes didn't feed them
mules on sawdust...
would they be able to make the
hill without us have to get out
and walk?
Maybe.
Dewey Dell, when we stop at
night in the barn, where do them
buzzards stay?
I asked Darl. He doesn't know
neither.
Tonight I'm gonna see where them
buzzards stay while we're in the
barn.
Where you going? Hate to
discommode you.
Well, no, sirs, ain't no
trouble.
But we wonder about that leg,
though.
How's that feeling, son?
It's getting a little bit hot
from being in the sun like that
all day.
You want some water poured on
it? Maybe that'll ease it some.
I'd be obliged.
It's just from being in the sun
all day.
I ought to kept my mind on it to
kept it covered.
How's that feel?
I'm obliged. That feels fine.
Well, you folks...
you have a good night. We'll be
right inside if you need
anything else.
Fine.
Cash, see if you can get some
sleep.
Sure. Yeah, it feels fine.
I miss Ma.
Come here.
Put your head right down there.
Listen.
Can you hear?
Yeah?
I can hear her.
You hear?
What's she saying, Darl? Who's
she talking to?
Talking to God.
She's calling on Him to help
her.
What she wanting to do?
She wants Him to hide her from
the sight of man.
Why does she want to get hid
away, Darl?
So she can lay down her life.
Why does she wanna lay down her
life?
Just listen.
Listen.
You can hear?
She's been calling out.
Ever since the river, she's been
calling out.
What are they doing, Dewey Dell?
They're bringing Ma on the barn.
They don't wanna leave her
outdoors all night.
I can smell her. Can you smell
her, too?
Hush.
I went looking to find where
them buzzards stay at night.
I saw something Dewey Dell told
me not tell nobody.
It's not about Pa and it's not
about Cash...
and it's not about Jewel and
it's not about Dewey Dell...
and it's not about me.
Help! Fire! There's a fire!
Pa! Pa!
Let's get the mules!
Get the mules! Get the mules!
Come on.
Look out!
Jewel! Jewel!
Jewel! Jewel!
Stop him! Jewel!
Stop him!
Where Darl?
Where Darl got to?
Your foot look funny, Cash.
I reckon we gonna have to bust
that off.
You take that off, gonna take
the hide, too.
Why in tarnation did you put it
on there?
I thought it might steady it
some.
Didn't anybody think to grease
his leg first?
I only aimed to help him.
It was Darl put it on.
Where is Darl?
Where is Darl?
Oh, God.
Be it best to leave it on.
You gonna keep the cat away,
Darl?
You needn't to cry. Jewel got
her out. You needn't to cry,
Darl.
If you could just travel out
into time, that would be nice.
It'd be nice if you could just
travel out into time.
Takes two people to make you.
and one people to die.
It's how the world will end.
Can you still hear her?
Hey, Darl, we close to
Jefferson?
Yeah.
Life was created in the valleys.
It was blew up on the hills on
the old terrors...
the old lusts and the old
despair.
That's why you must walk up the
hills, so you can ride down.
I gotta stop.
What for?
I gotta go to the bushes.
Can't you wait till we get to
town?
Stop! I gotta go to the bushes!
Hold, mule!
Leave them cakes. We'll look
after them.
We gonna have to take him to the
doctor.
I reckon we just have to.
We ought to send word from
Gillespie's...
have someone get that grave
ready.
I just never wanna be beholden
to none but her flesh and blood.
Who can't dig a damn hole in the
ground?
It ain't respectful talking that
way about your Ma's grave!
You just don't know what it is.
You never pure loved her, none
of you.
I thought I told you to leave
them clothes to home.
Pepper! Come on, mule.
How many more hills now, Darl?
Just one.
Next one goes all the way into
town.
Hold, mule!
I reckon we gotta slide it in
yonder.
They got...
one or two Christians inside,
I'm betting.
What we need is some shovels. We
can go to a hardware store.
That costs money!
You begrudge her it?
Skeet, there's a woman up front
that wants to see the doctor.
I said, "What doctor do you want
to see?", she said, the doctor
that works here.
When I told her there ain't any
doctor works here, she just
stood there, looking this way.
What kind of woman is it? Tell
her to go upstairs to Alford's
office.
- Country woman.
- Send her to the courthouse.
Tell her all the doctors have
gone to Memphis to a barbers'
convention.
All right. She's just pretty
nice for a country girl.
Wait. Wait.
What can I do for you?
Are you the doctor?
Sure.
Can we go back yonder?
Now...
madam...
what is your trouble?
It's a female trouble. I got the
money.
Have you got female trouble is
all?
Or you want female trouble? If
this so, you've come to the
right doctor.
- No.
No which?
I ain't had it. That's it.
I got the money.
You got something in your belly
you wished you didn't have.
'Course you realize I could be
put in the Penitentiary after
doing what you want?
I would lose my license.
Then I'd have to go to work.
You realize that.
I ain't got but $10...
but I could bring the rest next
month, maybe.
Ten dollars.
You see, I can't put no price on
my knowledge and skill.
Certainly not for a little
poultry sawbuck.
What do you want then?
You guess three times, then I'll
show you.
I got to do something.
You come back 10 o'clock
tonight, I give you the rest of
it.
Will it work?
Sure it'll work. If you come
back and get it.
Get on up outta there.
Fill it in.
Go on.
Darl Bundren?
Yeah.
How does Gillespie know it was
Darl that done it?
Vardaman swore he never told
nobody but me.
If Vardaman never told nobody
but you, how come they know it?
It don't matter.
What matters is Gillespie knows.
He'd suspicioned it sooner or
later.
I reckon it ain't no way around
it.
We got to send him to Jackson.
It's either that or Gillespie
sue us.
So you wanna fix him now?
Fix him?
Yeah, catch him. Tie him up.
Or you wanna wait till he sets
fire to the goddamn team and
wagon?
He's crazy!
That's 'cause Jewel was too hard
on him.
I thought about it more than
once...
before we crossed the river and
after...
that it would be God's
blessing...
if He'd taken her out of our
hands...
and we got shut of her in some
clean way.
It seemed to me, when Jewel was
working to get her out in the
river...
he was going against God in a
way.
And when Darl seen that it
looked like one of us was gonna
have to do something...
well, I can almost believe that
he done right, in a way.
But that don't excuse burning
down a man's barn...
or endangering his stock, or
destroying his property.
I guess there ain't no excuse
for what Darl did...
endangering that stock,
destroying his property.
I reckon that's how a man's
crazy.
He can't see eye to eye with
other folks.
And I suppose there ain't much
you can do...
except for what it is that most
folks says is right.
But it's a shame in a way.
Are you Darl Bundren?
You better come with us.
Get off me! Cash!
- Cash!
- You son of a bitch!
- Cash!
- All right. Dewey, let go of
him!
Cash, I thought you woulda told
me.
I never thought you wouldn't
have told me.
Cash?
All right, all right, all right.
You can scratch at me all you
want.
Maybe, you see, if I'm gone...
no one'll know.
Ain't gonna go away, just like
whatever you got in that box
ain't gonna make it go away.
And you...
What, you think the questions
are just gonna go away just
'cause I ain't here to ask them?
Darl...
Is this what you want?
Maybe it'll be better for you.
It's quiet down there without
all the bothering.
Is that what you think I am?
It'll be better for you, Darl.
Better? Better?
It's quiet down there, yeah.
Is that what you think I am?
It'll be better for you.
Maybe it'll be better.
Maybe. Maybe!
Vardaman, come here.
It was getting right
noticeable...
the smell, that is.
We didn't have no time to waste.
It don't bother none.
Don't you lie there and tell me
that.
You with all that time on a
wagon...
with no springs and a broken
leg, and it don't bother you.
Well...
It don't bother much.
You mean, it don't bother Anse
much.
Why don't he just take you over
to the nearest sawmill...
and put your leg in a saw? That
woulda cured it.
And you all coulda taken...
Anse over to the saw, stuck his
head in there and cured the
whole family.
Son, this toe is gangrenous.
Get it off, Doc! Take it! Go!
Go!
You wait out here.
Why can't I come in?
I wanna come in, too.
You wait out here.
All right.
You want something?
A banana.
Where is it?
There it is.
And you're sure it'll work?
Sure. As long as you take the
rest of the treatment.
Where do I take it?
Let me show you.
That's what you want.
That's what you came back for?
That's what you came back for.
Take that little seed out. Take
the little acorn that you got
in.
Yeah, that's what you came back
for.
I'm gonna fix you.
My brother, they say he went
crazy.
But he went to Jackson, too.
Jackson is further away than
crazy.
He had to get on a train to go
to Jackson.
I've not been on a train.
But Darl has been on a train.
Darl.
Darl is my brother.
Why do I laugh?
Why do you laugh, Darl?
Is it because you hate the sound
of laughter?
Is that why you laughing, Darl?
Is it because your mother is a
fish?
A horse?
Is it because you no longer have
a mother?
Because you hear the dark lands
speaking of God and His beauty
and His sin?
Because we use each other with
words...
like spiders hanging by their
mouths from the rafters...
swinging and twisting and never
touching.
He got them teeth.
Who's that?
That there is Cash.
That there is Jewel.
That Vardaman, and that's Dewey
Dell.
Meet Mrs. Bundren.
Pepper.
It's gonna be a little.