Die Geschichte von der Gänseprinzessin und ihrem treuen Pferd Falada (1989)

The kingdom into which Princess Aurinia is born comes to the aid of the neighboring kingdom of King Ewald, which is under attack by a wild tribe of horsemen. Together, the two kings manage to defeat the horsemen. In a fit of rage, the horsemen’s king kills his wife and is about to murder his newborn daughter, Liesa, too, when Aurinia’s father intervenes. While rescuing the baby, he is struck by an arrow. As he lies dying, he promises King Ewald that Ewald’s son, Ivo, will marry his daughter Aurinia. Liesa grows up alongside Aurinia at the royal court and, despite receiving the same upbringing, is jealous of Aurinia, who has magical powers and can control the wind. When Princess Aurinia is old enough to marry, she sets off for King Ewald’s castle in the neighboring kingdom, accompanied by her foster sister Liesa—who cunningly volunteered to serve as a maid—and a soldier, in order to marry Prince Ivo as her father wished. Aurinia takes with her a goblet that fills itself with wine, a cloth with three drops of blood on it, and the loyal horse Falada, who once belonged to her father. Her mother has given her all three magical objects as proof that she is the true princess. On the journey, Liesa manages both to take the goblet, the cloth, and the horse for herself, and to force Aurinia to switch roles with her. She also incapacitates the soldier with one of the enchanted drops of blood on the cloth. Once they arrive at Prince Ivo’s court, Liesa presents herself as his future bride. Ivo, however, is drawn from the very first moment to the supposed maid, Aurinia. The horse Falada’s affection for his mistress Aurinia threatens to expose the false princess, but the horse is killed. On Liesa’s orders, Falada’s head is nailed above a gate that Aurinia, now degraded to the status of a goose girl, has to pass through every day. She now tends the geese each day with the shepherd boy Kürdchen and confides her sorrow to the talking horse’s head. Curious, Kürdchen tries to find out more about her, but she uses the wind to keep him at a distance. Arrogant, cold-hearted, and overbearing, Liesa offends everyone at court. Nevertheless, preparations are made for Prince Ivo’s wedding to Liesa. Liesa also tries to get rid of Aurinia by means of a plot. Aurinia ends up in the dungeon, from which Prince Ivo frees her. King Ewald catches the two of them and gives Ivo a choice: remain a prince and marry Liesa, whom he believes to be the rightful bride, or be with Aurinia and instead be prince of the pasture where the geese graze. Ivo leaves with Aurinia. On the wedding day, King Ewald, now suspicious, gives Liesa the task of dispensing justice as the supposed future queen. Liesa assumes she is to pass judgment on Aurinia and demands an especially harsh punishment. King Ewald, however, tells her that she has passed judgment on herself as a fraud. He uses the second of the three drops of blood to summon Aurinia’s mother, the queen, and the soldier, who confirm Liesa’s schemes. When Liesa tries to flee, Falada holds her there until she gives up the last drop of blood to bring him back to life. The entire wedding party heads to the goose pasture to join Prince Ivo and Princess Aurinia. We learn from the narrator that Prince Ivo becomes king and that King Ewald marries Aurinia’s mother, the queen.