Medved a strasidla (1960)

Princess Blanka and the huntsman Ondřej love each other. “Surely your father will have to find out how things stand between us one day,” Ondřej urges her. “Yes, of course,” the princess agrees, “but we have to wait for the right moment.” When she returns to the castle, the king summons her because three suitors have come to ask for her hand. He assures his daughter that it is high time she finally married, since he wants to hand the throne over to someone younger; it has all become too much for him. One of the suitors is Prince Hynek, whom he would very much like to give Blanka in marriage. But the princess wants none of them. The king thanks Princes Vítek, Sytek, and Hynek, and asks them to understand that the princess wishes to remain unmarried for a while longer. When he is alone with Blanka, he reproaches her, saying that this is already the ninth, tenth, and eleventh suitor she has turned down, and she will not reject the twelfth, whoever he may be. In any case, the twelfth will be the one who finds the secret chamber she is now to move into. He then explains to his astonished daughter that no one knows there is a secret passage in the old tower leading to the chamber. She will stay there until the man who frees her is found. The king’s daughter agrees, but asks if she may take her maid, Aněžka, with her. The king agrees. Before she has to go into the chamber, the princess meets Ondřej in the forest once more and tells him her father’s plan, as well as what she has come up with. The king himself leads his daughter and Aněžka to the hiding place, which no one knows about. The princess’s plan to let Ondřej know through Aněžka how to find the secret passage does not work, however, because the king has taken precautions and introduces the princess to Háta, a cook who will look after her meals. Aněžka is not allowed to leave the chamber either. The princess also fails in her attempt to pretend she is frightened so she will not have to stay there. The king’s messengers are already on their way to announce that the king’s daughter is waiting in a secret chamber for whoever frees her, and will then take him as her husband. Twenty noblemen try their luck, but none of them finds the secret passage. Meanwhile, the king’s subjects are enjoying a dancing bear outside the castle, which gives Ondřej an idea. With his father’s help, he puts on a bearskin, and together they return to the castle to entertain the king and his subjects. The king really likes the dancing bear and is astonished to learn that the bear’s name is Bridegroom. “That’s because he can dance like a bridegroom,” Ondřej’s father explains to the king. The bear is rewarded with applause and gold coins, and the king remarks that today this has been the best bridegroom of them all. Ondřej’s father suggests that the bear could also dance to cheer up the princess, sitting all alone in her dungeon. He dispels the king’s misgivings by explaining that the bear is completely harmless, that there is no need to be afraid, and that he can go alone with it to the princess, ensuring that no one learns the way to the chamber and might pass it on. So the king and the bear set off. The king opens a secret door by pressing on a ring in a portrait of one of his ancestors. “Now guess, my dear girl, who I’ve brought you,” he says as he enters the room. “The bridegroom!” When he sees the alarm in his daughter’s eyes, he adds with a smile, “This bear here is called Bridegroom.” Ondřej manages to reveal his identity to the princess without the others noticing. As soon as the king and the bear have left again, Blanka tells the bewildered Aněžka that she will marry the bear. The next day, a servant informs the king that Prince Hynek wants to try his luck again. The king greets him with particular delight and wishes him good luck and success in finding the princess. He then does everything he can to steer Hynek in the right direction. He ushers him into the right room and repeatedly points to the portrait of his ancestor with the conspicuous ring. Only when he tells Hynek that he should take a very good look at the ring does Hynek understand. But when the door opens, the princess is already coming toward him with her maid and accompanied by Ondřej. The king turns to the young man and asks who he is. Ondřej tells him that he is a huntsman from the king’s forests. The king then says to his daughter, “You see? Why could you never make up your mind? Now you have to take a huntsman.” “Don’t worry, I’m happy to take him,” Blanka replies. The king asks Ondřej whether he will be good to his daughter. The huntsman, who is now allowed to call the king “Father,” can answer with all his heart that he will.