Making 'The Visit' - The Story

Here is my own simple retelling of the tale that has inspired this movie.

***********************

Cow's Head

Oksana lived on the outskirts of town in a small house with her father and stepmother. She did all the housework while her stepmother did nothing. Oksana's father was too timid to argue with his new wife and so Oksana only wore the most ragged of clothes and her hands became chapped and raw from working in the cold.

One dark and cold winter, Oksana's family ran out of money and food became scarce. Oksana overheard her stepmother telling her father to take Oksana away because they had no food. Her father agreed that this would be a good idea. The next morning he led Oksana into the forest and left her by a tiny cottage.

She was very frightened. The forest was known to harbor monsters. She went inside the cottage with her small bundle and found a fireplace, a crooked table and an old iron pot. She unpacked her loaf of bread and the slab of cheese her father had given her. She put her blanket by the fireplace and went out into the cold to search for roots and berries to eat.

At night, she melted snow for drinking water and made herself a little stew. She ate well. When she lay down by the fire for the night she listened to the wind howling outside the little cottage.

At midnight came a knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

It boomed and echoed through the tiny cottage.

Oksana woke with a start.

Knock, knock, knock.

She thought the monsters had come for her.

Knock, knock, knock.

Oksana stood up and grabbed a stick. She crept towards the door. The wind howled outside even louder than before. She reached and swung the door open.

There was nothing there. Snow blasted through the door into the cottage. Then she looked down and shrieked in terror. She fell backwards, dropping her stick. There was a demon at the door. It had no body. Just the head of a cow.

"Who are you?" Oksana cried.

"I am cow head," it replied.

The head had terrible curved horns and haunted eyes.

"I am cold and hungry," said the head. "May I come inside?"

Oksana trembled with fear.

"Yes... come in," she whispered.

"Carry me through the door and set me by the fire."

Oksana hesitantly picked up the terrible cow head and carried it over to the fireplace where she carefully placed it on her blanket.

"Feed me," said the head.

Oksana gave all the rest of her stew.

"I will sleep," said the head.

Oksana wrapped her blanket around the cow head and leaned against a wall to sleep.

When she woke in the morning, the cow head was nowhere to be found. Instead, by the fireplace where it had slept, stood a large wooden trunk. When Oksana opened it she found the most beautiful dresses she had ever seen. There were also great piles of gold and jewels.

As she sat wondering at the treasure, she heard her father's voice calling her out in the snow.

"Oksana... my daughter... I am come back for you," her father called.

She burst out of the cottage and ran to her father's open arms. After showing her father the great treasure that waited inside they went home. Oksana was rich beyond compare and soon she was married.

After seeing this, Oksana's stepmother went into the forest to stay in the cottage and wait for the cow head. But when it came, she did not feel like serving it. By morning, everything she owned had turned to dust.

Oksana lived to be a very happy old woman.

***********************