"The Visitor" is a 1965 short story by British writer

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

, centred on the fictional

Uncle Oswald Oswald may refer to: People *Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name * Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...

and the lurid adventures he describes in his elaborate diaries. In this story, set in 1946, Oswald has amorous designs on his

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

host's wife and teenage daughter, with unfortunate and unexpected consequences.

Plot

Oswald becomes stranded for a night near

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

at the desert mansion of a wealthy businessman, Abdul Aziz, whose wife and adult daughter are both very beautiful. Oswald plots to seduce either the wife or daughter, and believes he has succeeded after a woman slips into his bedroom under cover of darkness and spends several passionate hours with him, although he cannot see her face and she refuses to converse with him. The next day, Oswald leaves the house none the wiser as to which of the two women he has slept with. The story ends with a twist as Mr Aziz reveals to Oswald that he has a ''second'' daughter who lives in seclusion in another part of the house – because she has incurable

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

Publication history

"The Visitor" was first published in the May 1965 issue of ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

''. It was later included in the 1974 collection ''

Switch Bitch ''Switch Bitch'' (1974) is a book of adult short stories by British writer Roald Dahl. Four stories, originally published in '' Playboy'' between 1965 and 1974, are collected. They are linked by themes of rape by deception: in each one, some m ...

''. Norton H Moses states that Dahl's story was likely expanded from an anecdote found in George "Dod" Orsborne's ''Master of the Girl Pat'', published in 1949. Orsborne presented the anecdote as factual, involving a writer known to an editor who then told the story to Orsborne. Additionally, this story was told at least once by

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

, from whom Dahl got the plot of "

Lamb To The Slaughter "Lamb to the Slaughter" is a 1953 short story by Roald Dahl. It was originally rejected, along with four other stories, by ''The New Yorker'', but was published in ''Harper's Magazine'' in September 1953. The story was illustrated by Adolf Hal ...

". Dahl did not publish it until after Fleming's death. However, David Ogilvy recalled that Dahl had told the basic story orally as early as 1941, during their association together through British intelligence activities during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, with Dahl half-seriously presenting the tale as a true incident that had happened to "a friend".

In other media

Television

In his later years,

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

occasionally told this story as a black joke during his appearances on American talk shows, most notably during an appearance on ''

The Tomorrow Show ''The Tomorrow Show'' (also known as ''Tomorrow with Tom Snyder'' or ''Tomorrow'' and, after 1980, ''Tomorrow Coast to Coast'') is an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder that aired on NBC in first-run form from October ...

'' on 29 May 1973. ''Akhbar's Daughter'', a 1987

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

associated with ''

Tales from the Darkside ''Tales from the Darkside'' is an American horror anthology television series created by George A. Romero. A pilot episode was first broadcast on October 29, 1983. The series was picked up for syndication, and the first season premiered on S ...

'', bears many similarities to the Dahl and Orsborne stories. Norm Macdonald tells a version of this story as a joke on his podcast ''

Norm Macdonald Live ''Norm Macdonald Live'' is a discontinued weekly audio and video podcast hosted by Canadian stand-up comedian, writer and actor Norm Macdonald. The Comedy Store's Adam Eget, served as the show's co-host, with former ''Late Show with David Letterm ...

'', on season 2, episode 6.

References

External links