Summary “The Naked King”
Enamored swineherd Henry convinces the Princess Henrietta to visit the lawn where the pigs graze and succeeds in a month, only telling her about a certain singing and playing a variety of musical instruments on his kettle, which, besides, is able to guess what dish to cook in the kitchen at any person.
The daughters of the king need to behave themselves appropriately to their social status, so with it come the court ladies who follow the behavior of the Princess. It is they who are exposed by the pot, whose amazing ability was presented to the public by Henry’s friend Christian: it turned out that nobody presently cooks from the present ladies, because they either eat with the hostess on a visit or steal food from the royal table. The ladies are indignant and demand an early start of the dance. Princess really likes Henry, she dances with him, and they kiss. This scene is observed by the Princess’s father who emerged from the bushes. In indignation, the King promises
The neighboring kingdom meanwhile carefully prepares for the arrival of the future wife of his king. The local minister of gentle feelings is entrusted to confirm the authenticity of the incoming Princess, because the King is pursued by persistent thoughts. For example, he thought that, perhaps, the Princess – of unknown origin, if the mother of the bride was a “minx”, and the Princess’s father is not a king. And, perhaps – the thought came to the King – the Princess and the “minx” herself. Because of these thoughts, the king nearly dies twice: it is choking with food, then choking on a shallow place. Minister of gentle affairs, in order to save the situation and check the girl, proposes to put a pea under the featherbeds on which the bride will sleep, because the delicate skin of the person of royal origin will not allow them
The Princess who arrives first manages to prepare her bed for a sleep, because she hopes to be in a dream with Henry. She is guarded by the Chamberlain and the evil Governess. The minister offers them refreshments and twelve bottles of strong wine to learn the details of the past bride. To the Princess’s bedroom, he sends gendarmes.
On her twenty-four featherbeds, Henrietta is not up to sleep, because something prevents her from sleeping, digging into her body through the feather beds. The princess starts singing a song that they used to sing with Henry, but suddenly two more voices are heard before her singing the same song. Opening the door, the girl discovers gendarmes behind her, who, to her surprise, are asked to tug at their beards. The amazed girl does this and discovers that her beards are still in her hand. The gendarmes turned out to be disguised as Henry and Christian. They have two plans: either they take the Princess away with them secretly, or, failing the first, the girl will have to memorize the swear words Henry wrote on the piece and scold them with her new fiancé. Also, remembering a pea, Henry advises Henrietta to say that she slept very well, so that the King refused the wedding.
The first plan failed. The fugitives were noticed when they tried to pass unnoticed by the intoxicated Minister of gentle feelings, the Chamberlain and the Governess. The latter managed to take the Princess back to her quarters, and friends managed to escape.
The next day was devoted to preparing the costume of the King for his wedding. Henry and Christians, disguised as weavers, offered an unusually amazing cloth for the royal dress, whose special secret was known only to them. To deliver the proposal directly to the King was not possible: he slept, and he could not be disturbed – but his servants promised his friends to inform him about this idea without fail. At this time Henry manages to hide in a patty on a platter that was brought for breakfast to the Princess, a note. The First Minister carefully checks the food of the Princess, but he can not find the note.
The king wakes up in a bad mood, he is angry. The King’s mood is trying to raise a fool, and only then the King decides to do business. He begins with a court scholar and court poet. Next comes the turn of the weavers. Henry and the Christians in paints describe their fabric, the magic properties of which are that only an intelligent person can see it, but not a fool or someone who is not in his place. The king is delighted with the idea that he will be able to find out who is who in his kingdom. Suddenly the Minister of gentle affairs with sad news appears: The princess slept very well, the pea did not prevent her from sleeping, which can only mean one thing: she is not of royal origin. The king is saddened, because he was very serious about the wedding.
Found a note of Henry the Princess, everywhere trying to find his lover and pulling at the beard of everyone on the counter, thinking that it is a disguised Henry.
It’s time to meet the King. He immediately fell in love with Henrietta and began showering her with compliments. On his words the Princess answered with curses, as Henry taught her, but it does not work. He wants to marry the Princess as soon as possible and instructs him to make a suit for the wedding sooner. But it is necessary to look at the wonderful fabric, and this the King does not fear – maybe he will not see it. Then he decides to entrust this to his First Minister. The latter is afraid also, having thought up a pretext, entrusts this royal instruction to the Minister of gentle feelings, which, in turn, sends to the weavers of the court poet. In the room of the weaver, the poet sees nothing – only tables and frames for stretching the fabric. He tries to find out from the weavers, where is the cloth. Henry and the Christians pretend that they do not understand what the matter is, because the fabric is supposedly right in front of the poet. The poet faces a dilemma: to lie that he sees a fabric or to recognize himself as a stupid person. He chooses the first and begins to praise the weavers’ product. The same thing happens with the Ministers, and with the King, who came to the weavers.
The wedding was planned for the next morning. A huge crowd was waiting for the King to appear on the square, among them also the bride in a wedding dress and her father. The king is absolutely naked. Enchanted cries are hushed, and the bride’s father tries to explain to the King what is happening. He does not understand this, because he thinks that he is dressed perfectly. Suddenly, one small smart boy cried out that the king was really naked. Then the crowd explodes with outraged cries. The king runs back to the palace. Heinrich and Christian come. Enamored Henry and Princess are finally together and happy. Christian declares that, despite all the obstacles, celebrating the wedding in any case will be, because love conquers everything.
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