Everyone looks at him
HARRY
(makes a hand gesture in his direction)
Doctor, you may pay for your lack of belief.
VILLAGE DOCTOR
(sits down in a spare chair)
If a drunk makes his way to the swamp, he will either drown or catch a fever.
The front door claps on the ground floor (sound behind the scenes).
EXT – VILLAGE INN – SAME SUMMER NIGHT
It is dark outside. Crickets sing.
INT – ROOM IN THE VILLAGE INN – SAME NIGHT
Harry and his guests sit in a room with a fireplace.
Georges sleeps. Karl Ivanovich looks into the notebook
KARL IVANOVICH
(rearranges his glasses and reads)
It was only after he regained consciousness that we were able to pry open his fingers. There was the medallion of Holy Virgin.
HARRY
I guess we have missed something, haven’t we?
KARL IVANOVICH
Yes, there is a gap in the records.
EXT – WITCHES” VALLEY – SUMMER EVENING, HEINRICH’S MEMORIES
BEGINNING OF THE MEMORIES
TITLE: 1852
HEINRICH – the hunter (20 years old) sits on the ledge of one of the rocks near a hawthorn bush.
The moon is bright. Mist rises from the lake.
Heinrich leans towards the hawthorn bush, smells the fragrance of its flowers and yawns.
Suddenly a gust of wind shakes the bush and a hawthorn branch strikes Heinrich on his chest – in an instant, white flowers cover him.
A white veil covers Heinrich. The veil shines and in the middle of it a beautiful female face appears, pale and wondrous, with huge greenish eyes and pink lips (Countess Maria’s face).
She moves closer to him. Heinrich is unable to take his eyes off her. He tries to reach for his medallion but there is no holy picture and lace on his neck.
The LAKE MAIDEN (26 years old) moves closer to Heinrich and kisses his lips. Everything around Heinrich starts to spin. He falls down unconscious.
END OF HEINRICH’S MEMORIES
EXT – WITCHES” VALLEY – SUMMER DAY, THE TEACHER’S MEMORIES
BEGINNING OF THE MEMORIES
The teacher passes by the lake back to the village. He sees a white nenufare underfoot, stops, picks it up from the ground, examines. The flower is little wilted
TEACHER
How did it get here?
INT – TEACHER’S BEDROOM IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE – NIGHT OF THE SAME DAY
The teacher sits in his bedroom in his house on the second floor. He is about to go to bed.
Almost full-blown white nenufare stands in a glass of water. The teacher looks at it
TEACHER
(talking to the flower)
You are so beautiful…
The flower in the glass begins to transform. The white nenufare seems to move, it opens its petals a bit more.
Droplets of water shine on its petals. Those are either droplets or blue eyes of a woman
TEACHER
(breathing the air with his nose)
What is this, a fragrance?
The nenufare no longer floats helplessly in the glass of water, but sways proud on its high stem, but this is no longer the stem, but a slim woman’s body (aka Countess Maria)
She has a pale face with big sad eyes and pale pink lips. Her golden hair falls in beautiful waves upon her breasts.
Her figure sways softly and with every movement grows bigger and bigger until becomes a normal woman, yet her body stays translucent.
Now she floats on air from the table. The room is filled with inaudible sounds.
Her figure as if floats on air. She comes closer and closer; soon she sways beside the teacher’s bed, whispering something. She leans over him. She stretches out her arms, as if begging for something
TEACHER
(pushes the ghost aside with his hands)
No! No!
A crash and sound of breaking glass are heard in the room.
EXT-WITCHES” VALLEY – SAME SUMMER NIGHT
The fog band moves away from the open window of the bedroom towards the Witches’ Valley. In the moonlight it seems magical glow.
INT – TEACHER’S BEDROOM – SAME NIGHT
Frightened Mina appears in the room. The teacher sits in the bed and looks at the sister.
The broken glass decanter lies on the floor next to the bed in a puddle of water
MINA
(grumbling)
Why shouting, you have broken the decanter!
The teacher looks at the desk suspiciously: the nenufare dies helplessly in its glass. The teacher mops his brow slowly
TEACHER
(smiles, embarrassed)
Only a dream.
MINA
(picks up the pieces from the floor)
Scared to death.
INT – TEACHER’S BEDROOM IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE-MORNING
There is no nenufare in the glass on the desk anymore. The teacher looks at the empty glass half awake
TEACHER
May it be a spirit of a suicide?
INT-DINING ROOM IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE – SAME MORNING
The teacher enters the dining room on the ground floor. Mina puts dishes for breakfast on the table
TEACHER
Mina, have you seen the flower in my bedroom?
MINA
(puts the dishes)
The faded one? I’ve thrown it away.
TEACHER
(sits at the table)
Pity, I got used to it.
MINA
(stops and looks at her brother)
You are pale in the morning.
TEACHER
Just sleepy.
MINA
(continues putting the dishes)
You know, Heinrich has become