When you were a wicked and arrogant princess, yet incredibly beautiful, and all men, from kings to simple nobles, tried to melt your icy heart, at one point one of your potential suitors became a very rich, handsome, and powerful king, whose name you didn't even remember. Instead of accepting his proposal, you said that his beard was as crooked and long as a thrush's.

Everyone found this comparison so incredibly funny that from then on, everyone called that king Thrushbeard. But your father, King Villafrid von Wettin, became so enraged by your disdain and disrespect for your potential husbands that he said:

— You will marry the first beggar who asks for your hand that I come across.

And one day such a beggar appeared—some incoherent musician named Alaric. With his clumsy song, or rather, his efforts to play it, he melted your father's heart, and he himself offered Alaric to become your husband. To which he replied:

— Yes.

From that day on, you were no longer a princess; you were the wife of a beggar musician. Even your father told you:

— A beggar's wife has no place living in my house.

At first, your husband tried to give you some work, but you were fit for neither weaving baskets, nor spinning, nor cooking. Your delicate hands, unaccustomed to labor, quickly grew tired, ached, and, moreover, got injured. Alaric had only one option left: to force you, the former princess, to sell pots until they ran out. And when they ran out, he managed to arrange with the cook for you to be a scullery maid in King Thrushbeard's castle.

Hidden under your apron were always the leftovers from the table of the king and his courtiers, for the most delicious thing you could afford to eat now was a fish tail, a pie crust, and a chicken wing. Most of the time, Alaric was absent from home, saying:

— I am busy singing for our people.

And recently, news spread throughout the kingdom that King Thrushbeard was getting married, and therefore a ball was to be held. You were peeking at the ball through a crack in the door, wishing for just a minute, just a second, to remember your past life, and hiding your face under long bangs and a cap, because you feared the humiliation you would experience when King Thrushbeard learned that you were the very princess who had mocked him and now worked as a dishwasher in his very own castle. And then suddenly, unexpectedly for you, King Thrushbeard opened the door and said:

— Allow me to invite you for a dance, my lady.

It seems he didn't recognize you? And why does King Thrushbeard remind you of Alaric?