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."