Sedem jednou ranou (1989)

Princess Helena of Arkonia is secretly at a ball in the hostile neighboring state with the poet Krispín. During a dance, Krispín’s trousers tear, and young Franziska is instructed to have them repaired by the finest tailor in town. Instead of taking them to Moritz’s fashion salon, however, Franziska takes them to her brother Simon, who also works as a tailor. Simon shortens one leg of the trousers, making Krispín a laughingstock, though the criticism falls on the tailor Moritz. The next morning, Simon buys some plum butter from an old market woman and enjoys it on a slice of bread. Seven flies settle on the plum butter, and the tailor kills them. He sews himself a belt, drives in seven studs shaped like crosses, and sets out into the world. He comes to Giant Mountain, where he encounters two giants. One crushes a stone, and Simon does the same with a piece of cheese, from which water even drips. When one of the giants throws a stone into the nearby lake, Simon counters by tossing a bird into the air. Then he helps himself to the giants’ grilled food and lies down to sleep, but flees when the giants begin striking the bed. Simon arrives in Arkonia, where the citizens not only pay high taxes to the giants but also sew them enormous clothes and prepare equally oversized food. An inn is furnished with very large pieces of furniture on which the giants are supposed to sit. Simon declares that the giants are not nearly so big, and the townspeople begin to rebel. The revolt is quickly put down by Knight Wilhelm and the judge, and the rebels are arrested. They face death by hanging, but are pardoned by the merciful King Rudolf the Far-Sighted. He is glad to have found his daughter again; in a fit of resentment, she had taken shelter in a castle destroyed by the giants. The king, like the rest of the court, is sunk in gloom, and is also troubled by the fact that his daughter takes little joy in life. The giants, as well as a wild boar and a unicorn dwelling in the castle cellars, terrorize the people of Arkonia. The king offers half his kingdom to whoever can rid them of these three terrors. Simon takes up the challenge, even though he must evade the traps set by Wilhelm and the judge. He tames the boar and captures the unicorn, but Knight Wilhelm catches him and pushes him down Giant Mountain. Simon sinks into Giant Lake and is presumed dead, but the plum-butter seller nurses him back to health. At court, the knight and the judge vie for the princess’s hand, but in the end Knight Wilhelm manages to abduct Helena. He goes to the giants to retrieve a chest containing the taxes they have hoarded there. Simon has also gone to the giants, intending to persuade them to come with him to the village so people can see how big they are and lose their fear. At last, the judge also appears at the giants’ home, where he and the knight fight over the tax chest. Both fall to their deaths. Simon returns to the city with the princess, the two giants, and the chest of taxes, and is greeted with enthusiasm. The citizens realize that the goods they have made are indeed far too large for the quite small giants, so Simon was right. After a brief misunderstanding, when the princess believes Franziska is Simon’s beloved, Simon and Helena reach a happy ending. And when the king’s jacket tears, it also proves quite handy that Simon turns out to be a tailor.