Die zertanzten Schuhe (1977)

Every morning, a king notices that his daughters’ shoes have been worn out from dancing. He cannot discover the cause, because he himself locks their bedchamber each evening. All the princes who try to solve the mystery fail and are executed for it. One day, a starving soldier is brought before the ruler after stealing an apple from the palace garden. The king offers to pardon him if he solves the riddle of his daughters. Thanks to a cloak of invisibility secretly handed to him by the palace cook, the soldier is able to follow the princesses. They descend a hidden staircase at night into a passage beneath their chamber and reach a ballroom. There they meet six princes and dance until shortly before dawn. On the third and final night, the princesses discover the soldier’s secret and make him promise to say nothing about what he saw. The young women also explain to him that they can meet their partners only in secret. Their father has chosen other men as husbands for them in order to expand his sphere of power through these alliances. But when the king expects an answer the next morning, the soldier urges the princesses to reveal their secret and declare themselves to their beloveds. The soldier marries the youngest, who until then was the only one without a man.