Honza málem králem (1977)

Honza, nicknamed the Fool, would most like to spend his whole life lolling in the warmth behind the stove. His mother sends him out into the world, where a princess and half a kingdom may await him; Honza goes reluctantly. Although he is considered a fool, his quick wit outmatches everyone. He outwits both a market woman and a miserly landlady, promising the latter that he will cook a delicious axe soup. The farmer Matěj hires him, but instead of paying him in ducats, he lets Honza eat his fill after finishing his work. At the farm, Honza gets to know the lovely Maruška better and falls for her. Before that, he had rid her of a persistent royal drummer by putting the man’s drum on his head. Maruška likes Honza too. He approaches his work conscientiously and often completes seemingly impossible tasks without batting an eye. The kingdom is in mourning because the princess has not uttered a single word for many years. His Majesty the King has promised her hand and half the kingdom to whoever can lift this curse. But since no one has succeeded and all the hopeful candidates have lost their heads, there is a severe shortage of further volunteers. The drummer and the army commander plot a punitive expedition against Honza, whom they find in a field during haymaking. At first, however, they mistake him for the farmer, who has dozed off beneath the spreading crown of a leafy tree; they catch the farmer asleep and give him a beating. Honza quits the farmer’s service and agrees to go with them to the castle to try to cure the princess, but escapes from the soldiers on the way. He goes to work for a widowed blacksmith whose daughter is ill. Honza lets the Sun into the room and drives out the godmother Death, which the little girl likes very much. The King is impatient, and when the punitive expedition fails to bring Honza back but instead arrives with a chest full of coins stolen from robbers, he orders the drummer to repeat the search mission. He warns him that if Honza fails to cure the princess, he too will lose his head. The drummer then spouts all sorts of wise sayings and proverbs and does everything he can to delay the soldiers during the expedition. On Death’s advice, they eventually find Honza at the blacksmith’s and manage to bring him before the King. Honza really does get the princess to speak when he tricks her into a kiss. The petulant noblewoman is furious that an ordinary lout would dare such insolence. She takes her revenge by not uttering a sound before the King, so he does not believe Honza. Honza and the drummer are both sentenced to death, and they wait in the jail for execution by sword or axe. Before the execution, everyone in the kingdom gathers at the castle. Honza is granted a condemned man’s last wish, so he bends the princess over his knee and spanks her. The proud princess screams as loudly as she can. After the humiliating spanking, she runs off to her chambers. The King, on the other hand, rejoices and agrees with Honza on his reward. All Honza wants is a chest full of ducats and a mare with a cart. On the way home, his chest tips over and the ducats spill onto the road. The villagers eagerly gather them up and bless him; but Honza does not return empty-handed—he has gathered something more valuable in the world: experience.