Adapted from Alexeï Konstantinovitch Tolstoï’s La Famille du Vourdalak, the story written by Adrien Beau and Hadrien Bouvier kicks off as follows: "My children," implores old Gorcha before leaving, "wait six days for me. If I haven’t returned by the end of the sixth day, offer a prayer in my memory, for I will have been killed in combat... But if, God forbid, I should return after these six days have passed, I order you to forget that I was your father and to refuse to let me in, no matter what I say or do, for I will be nothing other than an accursed Vourdalak."

The wooden little man, whom Papa Carlo scraped out of logs, turned out to be cheerful, cocky, noisy and gullible. Fox Alice and Cat Basilio brought him to the Land of Fools, but the wise Turtle Tortilla helped Buratino find the Golden Key, because he was terribly charming.