diff --git a/src/utils/PhutilCowsay.php b/src/utils/PhutilCowsay.php
--- a/src/utils/PhutilCowsay.php
+++ b/src/utils/PhutilCowsay.php
@@ -45,11 +45,13 @@
     // (and any comments in the file) away.
     $template = phutil_split_lines($template, true);
     $keep = array();
+    $is_perl_cowfile = false;
     foreach ($template as $key => $line) {
       if (preg_match('/^#/', $line)) {
         continue;
       }
       if (preg_match('/^\s*\\$the_cow/', $line)) {
+        $is_perl_cowfile = true;
         continue;
       }
       if (preg_match('/^\s*EOC\s*$/', $line)) {
@@ -59,6 +61,16 @@
     }
     $template = implode('', $keep);
 
+    // Original .cow files are perl scripts which contain escaped sequences.
+    // We attempt to unescape here by replacing any character preceded by a
+    // backslash/escape with just that character.
+    if ($is_perl_cowfile) {
+      $template = preg_replace(
+        '/\\\\(.)/',
+        '$1',
+        $template);
+    }
+
     $template = preg_replace_callback(
       '/\\$([a-z]+)/',
       array($this, 'replaceTemplateVariable'),
diff --git a/src/utils/__tests__/cowsay/cube_perl.expect b/src/utils/__tests__/cowsay/cube_perl.expect
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/__tests__/cowsay/cube_perl.expect
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+ __________________
+( I made a friend! )
+ ------------------
+ o
+  o
+    /---\__/---\\
+    | / .... \ ||
+     \ ..--.. //
+     |..(<3). ||
+     / ..--.. \\
+    | \ .... / ||
+    \---/--\---//
diff --git a/src/utils/__tests__/cowsay/cube_perl.test b/src/utils/__tests__/cowsay/cube_perl.test
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/__tests__/cowsay/cube_perl.test
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# test case for original perl-script cowfile
+$the_cow =
+ $thoughts
+  $thoughts
+    /---\\__/---\\\\
+    | / .... \\ ||
+     \\ ..--.. //
+     |..($eyes). ||
+     / ..--.. \\\\
+    | \\ .... / ||
+    \\---/--\\---//
+~~~~~~~~~~
+{
+  "text": "I made a friend!",
+  "action": "think",
+  "eyes": "<3"
+}