English name: Prinzessin Fantaghiro
Release date: Early and mid-nineties
Film actor: ALESSANDRA MARTINES
KIM ROSSI STUART
Region: Italy
Language: German
Synopsis:
[This was a popular TV series in Italy in the early and mid-nineties. The story is simple but profound. The music written by AMEDIO MINCHI is also very charming.
Part 1 Episode 1
Two feuding kingdoms are at war for some reason. One of them has two daughters and is expecting the queen to give him a son to succeed the throne. On the eve of the queen's delivery, a soothsayer says the third child will be a boy. A white fairy appeared and said, "The queen will give birth to a princess." The king was annoyed and thought the fairy was doing something magical.
The fairy was right, and the king's third child was another princess, and to make matters worse, the queen died in childbirth. In his grief, the king took the baby girl to the Cave of the Golden Rose and tried to kill her as a sacrifice to the spirits of the cave. As the king raised his sword to slash, a bolt of lightning struck his sword in half. The king became frightened and took his daughter home.
The daughter, Fantagoras, was so naughty that the king had to put her in the bottom of the well from time to time. After one "reflection" at the bottom of the well after another, Fantagoras grew into a young woman. At this time, she was independent and bold, and did not want to be confined to her home and obeyed by men, and thus often quarreled with her father.
The king felt that he was getting old and wanted to marry off his three daughters. It so happened that three princes came and asked to marry all three sisters at the same time. The two sisters are delighted, but Fantagoras does not comply. The king was so angry that he told her to get lost! The three brothers were so attached to each other that they had to work together, so all three marriages fell through. The great general of the kingdom was delighted! For he was coveting kingship and wealth.
At this time, the king of the neighboring country of the enemy died. Prince Romualdo returned from abroad and inherited the throne. Seeing that the people were unhappy, he was reluctant to continue the war.
Part 1, Episode 2
Fontagoro meets a white fairy knight in the countryside. He teaches her many things, including about being friends with her neighbors. The fairy tells Fantagoro to mow a field of wheat in one day. It turned out that apparently she was not strong enough. The princess did not want to be a farmer and wanted to learn to fight. The fairies used their magic to make her fight a sword that flew on its own accord, resulting in Fantagoro's defeat.
Romualdo sought a way to end the war. He traveled to the border. That's when the white fairy told Fantagoras to shoot an arrow at the sun. The princess was encouraged by the fairy to shoot an arrow as hard as she could. The arrow ended up nailing a tree trunk and almost hit Romualdo! Romualdo, leaving his two attendants behind, crossed the border and chased after her. He saw Fantagoras and fell in love with her at first sight and chased after her relentlessly. Fantagoras ran so hard that she almost slipped down the hill, but fortunately the old oak tree held her up by its roots. Romualdo is disappointed not to find her. A white fairy appeared and lied that the girl was the Lake Fairy, telling the young king to die. Fantagoro tried to find her master, the white fairy, but she could never find him again. She was sad because only the fairy understood her. The White Fairy tells her not to be discouraged and to go back to the castle first. The fairy encourages Fantagoro to be confident and trust her instincts.
In the castle, the other three brothers, the princes, come to propose. The first sister wants her future husband to be intelligent, the second sister wants him to be handsome, but the first prince is an idiot, the second prince is ugly, and the third prince is not stupid or ugly, but vicious. The two sisters look at the suitors and draw a cold breath. Fantagoras returned home and said derisively that marrying them dishonored the talent of the first sister and the beauty of the second. The three brothers became enraged and abandoned the proposal. The king is furious and sends Fantagoras to work in the kitchen. The cook asked the princess to cut off the goose's head without blood. The goose spoke, telling the princess not to kill it, but to find another goose that was already dead.
Romualdo spends his days roaming the forest in a trance, hoping to see the beauty he has seen once before. His deputy tells him, "Now is not the time to dream of roses!" Romualdo wakes up and remembers that he has to solve the problems of the country. First the war must end. He proposes to Fantagoro's father that a one-on-one duel instead of war determine the winner. The ill-intentioned great general, however, wanted to destroy this opportunity for peace. He told the old king, "Romualdo is a great martial artist, and no one in our country can fight him." The soothsayer also asked the king to reject the offer. The old king, who also wanted peace, would not listen to them, but only sighed that he had no son of his own, and had to decide to fight the duel himself.
The old king apologized to the white fairy that he would do her will. The fairy said, "Only your offspring can win the duel."
The king became heartbroken, "My daughter!"
The two sisters put on their armor, their hearts unsure. Fantagoro, however, cut her hair to show her determination, "We are not weaker than men!" She took the talking goose and changed into men's clothes. The three sisters set off anonymously.
Part 1 Episode 3
The three sisters arrive at the forest and station themselves at the lake. Caroline complains straight away. She wants to go back. The three sisters have a falling out. Both sisters find their younger sister arrogant and whimsical. The Great General was pleased, he was waiting for the duel to fizzle out. Fantagoras catches up with her sisters and apologizes. Both sisters encouraged her to stay.
Cataldo forged a sword for Romualdo. When the young son of the country picked up the sword, he saw the beautiful eyes he had seen on the bright, mirror-like surface! His lovesickness returned. He demanded that all the women of the country come to him blindfolded, showing only their eyes. But there was no eye like that pair ......
The duel began. Romualdo and the warrior who called himself Count Gusto began to compete. In the midst of the sword fight, "Gusto" tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground, his helmet's visor popping open to reveal a beautiful face. Romualdo was amazed - how did that face look so much like the beauty of the forest?
He stopped Ivaldo: "Don't kill him! He tripped and fell." Fantagoro picks up a life. Goose says, "King Romualdo is so handsome!" Fantagoro is not impressed.
At night, Romualdo asked a dancer, "What is a girl's greatest fear?" The dancer told him. "Women are afraid of the Divine Dragon. The Dragon only eats women." Romualdo laughed. He suspected that Gusto was the woodland beauty! He wrote to Count Gusto, inviting him to hunt with him near the Cave of the Golden Rose, where the Divine Dragon was coiled. Fantagoro goes to the appointment without a mask. "Why do you hunt in this forbidden place?" Romualdo replied, "It matters not what is hunted, it is a fang that I want to capture."
Romoldo lured Fantagoro into the Cave of the Golden Rose. Fantagoras went in fearlessly. Romualdo was in a hurry outside! He rushed in and found it blocked! The Dragon closed his mouth.
The princess found the golden rose in the cave, and she tried to touch it, but realized that she was in the mouth of the Dragon! The Divine Dragon only eats women, which is why Fantagoro calls himself the Count.
Part 1 Episode 4
In fact, the Dragon knows that it is a woman in its mouth. For it heard the goose call the so-called Count Gusto a princess. The goose tells Fantagoro that the glittering, wobbling golden rose is actually the little tongue of the divine dragon. Fantagoro has the bright idea of plucking a goose feather to tickle it. The divine dragon was about to eat the princess when he suddenly got a tickle in his throat and sneezed ......
Romordo and the two barons are out there regretting it! The young king only wanted to use this aspect to try if Gusto was a woman, if he was the beauty of the forest with a pair of pin-up eyes! They were already Gusto's certain death and regretted it to death.
Then the ground shook, and out of the mouth of the cave spewed countless flying sands and stones. The princess was sprayed out along with the goose. Romualdo was surprised and puzzled. Fantagoro said easily, "The Dragon is friendly to me. What did you trick me into the cave for? I wanted a duel, and you were trying to get me killed?"
Romordo and his courtiers were speechless. He returned to his palace, unable to eat or sleep. "The fact that the Dragon did not eat him means that he is not a woman; but the fact that he did not kill him means that he is not a man. What is he then?"
Ivaldo said, "Just duel, whatever!"
Romordo was full of fire and had nowhere to get it out. He grabbed Ivaldo: "I love her! I love her! Say one more word and I'll kill you!" He fell back on his throne, "It's those eyes, those eyes!"
Fontagoro was resting at the camp. Goose said, "Do you know why he wants you to go to the Dragon Cave?"
"He wanted to use this opportunity to kill me! So he wouldn't have to duel." Fantagoro said hatefully.
"Can't you see his mind? Are you in love with him?"
The princess laughed out loud, "Of course not!"
The general brought a new challenge. "King Romualdo wants to compete with you in swimming. This time you will have to refuse." Fantagoro stiffened and went next first. She understood that Romualdo wanted to reveal her gender. Once the other party decided who she was, they would not be able to duel. She wrapped a white cloth tightly around her chest. "In case he asks, I'll say I'm wounded."
"Then bandage your whole body!" Goose laughed.
But the princess had other plans for her. She found a fast rider and drunkard in the camp, and rewarded him with a whole castle's worth of wine to show up at the river race at some point and proclaim loudly, "The king is very ill, and the Count of Gusto is summoned!"
Riverside. Cataldo asks King Romualdo, "What if Gusto is really a woman?"
"I'll cancel the duel and ask her to marry me."
"What if it is a man?"
"I'll kill him and then kill myself."
"Why kill yourself?"
"For the impossible love."
Fontagoro arrives. Romualdo asks for a match, starts to strip, and asks Fantagoro to strip for a match soon as well. Fantagoro, thinking of her reprieve, first pushed for prayer and waited for the soldier to come. Unfortunately the drunken rider didn't come-- he ran into an old man with a drink on the road, and an old woman calling for help, and thinking of his own task, he refused them. But when he bumped into a beautiful woman in the water, he didn't stick around to walk away, and ended up falling headlong into the water.
Romualdo had stripped nearly naked. Fantagoro dropped his head in embarrassment. Romualdo teased her excitedly, "Stop praying and start. Why have you turned your back? Shy? Afraid to see me naked?"
Fontagoro gathered her courage and sneered back, "Yes, I'm ashamed of you, growing so thin!"
This hit the nail on the head. Romualdo said, "Well, let's see how much muscle you have!" There was an uproar around the room.
Fontagoro helplessly took off a layer. There was another layer inside. "It's a bit cooler."
"How can I get into the water like this?"
Fontagoro had to take off another layer. Romualdo was already in the water. "The water is warm, come down!"
Fontagoro gritted his teeth and took off another layer. "Knights should go into the water in their armor!" The crowd roared with laughter at the words. Fantagoro was only wearing his shirt now.
"I see you are shy." Romualdo went ashore. Fantagoro would not make a public spectacle of herself, she said angrily, "I came here to duel! Not to play games! First to hunt, then to swim, and I refuse to be fooled again! I can swim!" She swings her sword at Romualdo. Cataldo hastily throws a sword at his master. The two fight with swords. Romualdo finds a break and pushes Fantagoro into the water. "This is finally going under."
No movement. "Isn't that one of the dryads? I should go save him." Romualdo leaned over the bank and looked into the water, but unexpectedly the princess leapt up and stabbed Romualdo in the chest with her sword.
"Ah, very unfortunate!" She said. Once on shore,, she changed her words to, "Unfortunate not to have stabbed you to death!"
The two fought a few more rounds, with Romualdo deftly slashing her pants. "You don't have much muscle on your showy legs either."
Fontagoro, irritated, swung her sword in close. Suddenly, she pushed him to the ground and Romualdo parried with his sword, but his sword was cut in two. Fantagoro already had the tip of her sword at his throat.
"Please stay away, don't let my blood stain your shirt." Romualdo said.
"I am not afraid."
For the first time they were that close. Romualdo looked at her and said with a kind of heartbreaking joy, "You've won, kill me!"
Fontagoro did not move. In this moment, she no longer wanted to kill him. Her face was covered in sweat and tears. Perhaps it was at this moment that her heart quietly opened. She fell in love with her enemy. In the love-hate mix, love prevailed. Her generals urged her to kill her enemy, but she hung down her sword and walked away. The great general cursed in anger, "Traitor!"
Count Gusto was escorted back to the castle. When the king saw his daughter return, he pretended to be stern and said, "Why didn't you kill Romualdo?"
Fontagoro said in shame, "Forgive me, I do not know why."
The king ordered "him" to be put in the tower. Caroline is anxious. Catherine whispers, "Fantagoras can only come back after Gusto has disappeared." Catherine gives Fantagoras a bottle of LSD and tells her to drink it. The elixir will make her sleep for many days, as if she were dead. This would allow the kingdom to announce Count Gusto's death and close the case of treason.
"But it was Fantagoro who committed treason, not Gusto!" Fantagoro could not accept this.
The king angrily rebukes the general for faking public opinion to start a war. At that moment Romualdo came with his courtiers to surrender. They placed three swords before the king. "I come to ask for peace on behalf of my subjects. My country and people are now in your possession and I have no right to ask for anything more.
The king took a liking to the handsome and powerful Romualdo. "You may marry one of my daughters." But Catherine and Caroline, who are present, have eyes for two equally handsome squires, Cataldo and Evardo, respectively. They were also eyeballing each other.
"And if I refuse?"
"Then we reopen the war!"
"I don't have that power. I am no longer king." Romualdo was disheartened. That's when Cataldo whispered in his ear, "I have my eye on Princess Catherine!"
Romoldo said, "On behalf of Cataldo, I ask Princess Catherine to marry me."
The king was hesitating when Catherine urged her father to agree. The king smiled and allowed it. "What do you see Caroline?"
Ivaldo told Romualdo that he wanted the princess. Before Romualdo could say anything, Caroline, who was afraid of losing out on happiness, jumped in, "I want to marry Ivaldo!"
What more could be said? Father agreed.
Romordo said, "Your Majesty, I have given you my two barons and the country, it is time for me to go."
Where to? In short his heart was broken.
Caroline said, "There is still Fantagoro to marry you!"
The old king said, "Right, what do you think?"
Romordo, impassive, turned and walked away. Catherine suddenly remembered the ecstasy and caught up with him. "I'll take you to see her!" Romualdo made it clear that he didn't want to go! "Then you'll at least agree to come with me to save her!" So Romualdo followed the Grand Princess towards the tower.
At the tower, the white-robed Immortal appeared and told the Princess to think carefully about where to go and advised her not to take the ecstasy. Fantagoro finally admits that she is in love with Romualdo. The White Immortal tells her, "He's coming up."
Fontagoro looks at herself in rags and is embarrassed. The White Fairy appears, and she recognizes that the White Fairy, the talking goose, is all her. She casts a spell to change the princess into a gorgeous dress. Catherine comes up missing her little sister and is terrified. At that moment, the fairy-like Fantagoro appears. Romualdo looked dumbfounded, this is not the beauty of the forest he thought of day and night? It is the beautiful knight who made him dream and haunt him? So it was the same person!
They finally approached, embraced, and kissed.
The old king addresses the people. He takes off his crown and wants to travel the world as a peacemaker, telling their story to all.
Romordo enthroned Ivaldo and Cataldo as dukes. Both they and their brides made speeches rich in meaning. But when it was Fantagoras' turn, she was not there. It turned out that she was in the square, announcing that the slaughter of geese was forbidden in the city. Romualdo placed the heavy-weight crown on her head. "We only have one crown, and it's better for you to wear it."
The crowd cheered.