TEACHER
(scratching his head)
That’s right. His hunting field is on the opposite side, in the mountains.
MINA
(puts knitting on her knees)
The brother is right, they won’t find your Heinrich in the Valley.
The teacher looks reproachfully at his sister. She understands that she is saying the wrong thing and becomes silent. Maria cries again
END OF THE TEACHER’S MEMORIES
INT – ROOM IN THE VILLAGE INN – SAME NIGHT
Karl Ivanovich pauses and puts the notebook down
TITLE: 1912
HARRY
(claps his hands)
Tomorrow we are spending the night at the Hunting House. It’s just near the Valley.
CAPTAIN WRIGHT
(yawns in the armchair)
Right now I don’t understand anything.
HARRY
(smokes his cigar)
You will understand once a witch gets hold of you.
CAPTAIN WRIGHT
(lazily)
What is it, the Witches’ Valley?
JAMES
(takes whisky off the table)
I thought you knew.
HARRY
(blows smoke rings)
The Valley is located at the foot of a mountain, on top of which the castle stands. In the valley’s centre there is a lake. The lakeshore is very swampy and at sunsets mists rise from its water.
He breathes out another portion of smoke
JAMES
(holds the glass of whisky in his hand)
It was this very mist that gave rise to all the legends.
HARRY
(gesticulating with his cigar in the air)
In the moonlight the mist takes on forms of beautiful women.
CAPTAIN WRIGHT
Not bad.
HARRY
Everyone who ended up in the Witches’ Valley on full moon was found dead.
JAMES
The lake women drink a man’s life with their kisses.
Drinks his glass of whisky at a draught
VILLAGE DOCTOR (48 years old) enters the living room
VILLAGE DOCTOR
Of course he will die, the lake water is stagnant and rotten.
Everyone looks at him
HARRY
(makes a hand gesture in his direction)
Doctor, you may pay for your lack of belief.