Page:Ivan Cankar - Hlapci.pdf/49

 Pastor. Belief, orientation, dialectics, faith, and as many of such words one can list, are all nothing to me. I do not ask you of them. There is only one subject, so alive and known; reign. It has lived through the ages; it was the first of all words and will be the last to perish. Subdue; do not resist – that is the key commandment. Everything else is a kitschy detail and a sloppy filter. Whoever follows this commandment will have their sins pardoned; who breaks it shall have their neck broken. . . I have come to warn you before the sentence you call for is carried out. My soul has thus been extricated.

Jerman. I thank you from within my heart. Did you not name me an honest man? I am truly not born to serve. I like being fed and cared for; yet my ankles and my knees are rigid; though I command them. There was no need to declare what I had knowledge of. I do not have the strength to be a martyr; I do not have the gift to be a hero. Let the future bring its command. Stick feathers on a dog and it will be no pigeon. Let the pigeon turn around nine times – it won't ever bark. I thank you. You have shown me what my job is; transform serfs into human beings. Having hands and the mind of a single of them be unbound will be enough of a payment.

Pastor. You have made your assessment.

Pisek. Greetings! Viva! I have come! Let's shake hands! Flies, black, where are, are there black