Gritta von Rattenzuhausbeiuns (1986)

Thirteen-year-old Gritta lives with her father, the High Count of Rattenzuhausbeiuns, and a servant in a run-down castle. The Count is more interested in his inventions than in governing, so the family is poor. Gritta’s mother died long ago. Many rats live in the castle, and Gritta feeds them porridge—the only thing there is to eat in the castle. The Count invented an oat-cutting machine, and the farmers supply him with oats in gratitude. Gritta’s father is trying to invent a throne-rescue machine. The king of the country fears for his throne, so he has offered a generous reward for such a machine. Every day, Gritta and the servant have to test it. This leaves them stuck on the castle ceiling. Gritta’s father sets off to fetch a ladder, but on the way he meets Princess Nesselkrautia Anna Bollena Maria, who is travelling with some children. He invites her to his castle. Meanwhile, Gritta and the servant manage to free themselves. The princess makes herself at home in the castle and charms Gritta’s father by singing “Au clair de la lune.” Gritta is not at all happy about this, since her father is becoming increasingly interested in the young princess and completely overlooking her. Gritta finds comfort in Peter, a village boy who tends the geese. But the princess disapproves of this unsuitable relationship. One day, Governor Pekavus appears. He wants to marry the princess because she will inherit a considerable fortune from her father. However, she will not come of age for another three months. The Count of Rattenzuhausbeiuns manages to drive off the attackers who want to abduct the princess. To prevent another attack, he marries her. That is exactly what she had been waiting for. Now she has complete control of the castle, and sends Gritta away to a convent school. Gritta hates it at the convent school. The strict rules there are completely different from the wild life she had with her father. One day, she discovers that the governor, disguised as a priest, is conspiring with the nuns. He has bribed a rat at the Rattenzuhausbeiuns castle to eat the princess’s will. Without a will, her father’s fortune would automatically go to her guardian. Pekavus has also made sure that the parents of the girls at the convent school commit them to the convent for life. This brings the convent a great deal of money. Gritta warns the other girls, and they flee from the convent. The girls take shelter in a dilapidated hut by a lake. One day, the king’s son, who is Gritta’s age, appears there. Gritta manages to convince him that Governor Pekavus is after the king’s throne. A short time later, Pekavus discovers the girls’ hiding place. Together, they manage to drive him off, but they have to assume he will return with reinforcements. So they cannot stay by the lake, and Gritta and the girls part ways. They all go home, and Gritta also sets off for Rattenzuhausbeiuns Castle. When she arrives, she finds it completely deserted. Only her rats are still there. They tell her that they annoyed the princess until she left the castle. In the nearby forest, Gritta eventually finds her father and the princess. The princess has had a baby in the meantime and has also become much more conciliatory toward Gritta. With the king’s son’s help, Gritta gets into the royal castle. When the king hears that Gritta’s father has a throne-rescue machine, he wants to see it at once. But Pekavus gets there first and locks Gritta up along with the king and his son. From then on, he impersonates the king, since he has the royal crown. However, the rats have followed Gritta, so they are able to free the king. Meanwhile, Gritta’s father demonstrates the throne-rescue machine to the man he believes to be the king. Pekavus tries it out immediately. But he forgets to put on a parachute, and the machine catapults him out of the castle. Since the king would now have to rule alone, he makes Gritta his first female adviser. She decides to rule wisely and fairly and ease the burdens on the poor. She will make only good laws, so that everyone will be good, too. And if anyone should still be bad, then they will go on her father’s machine.