With the crowds gathered to witness the suitors to the Princess arrive at her throne, a grand array of wealthy - but fairly grotesque - men arrive to pay their homage. Alone and ridiculed at the bottom of the stairwell is a hunchback, armed with only a bunch of flowers. The princess is touched by the gift but the king orders his guards to remove the man and thereafter he is subjected to humiliation by the servants and the soldiers. When faced with a whipping though, he grabs a sword and determines to prove that you ought not to judge a book by it's cover. Perhaps the princess will find true love after all - despite her father's clearly more venal ambitions for her? It's an entertaining animation this one, with some really impressive use of light and shade as well as Christian Maire's score to underpin a clear-as-a-bell theme that pours scorn on the shallowness and viciousness of people sometimes.

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