1982
The King Without a Heart is a fairytale about of a happy king who has a young daughter and a lovely wife. After the sudden death of his wife, the king becomes so sad that he wants his heart taken out of his chest. The kingdom is turned into an effective society based on reason, and there is no longer place for emotions. When she grows up, the princess tries to make her father see the importance of play and emotions.
1950
Lavish adaptation of Wilhelm Hauff′s fairy tale: Young charburner Peter Munk dreams of joining the upper class. He makes a deal with the sinister Holländer-Michel, who offers to trade Peter′s human heart for one made of stone. Once he has the "cold heart" in his body, Peter eventually strikes a fortune and enjoys great wealth, but at the same time, he becomes a bitter and emotionless man – and, having lost all traces of humanity, even murders his wife Lisbeth. Only then does Peter Munk finally realize what has become of him, and he decides to regain his real heart from Holländer-Michel.
1956
When Prince Vain got his shirt fixed, he proclaims that he had slain two lizards in front of the tailor's house - "two in one strike". When the tailor swats seven flies at once, he sows himself a banner saying "seven in one strike", and together with his bird he starts a journey into the world to pronounce his deed.
1963
The widow has an ugly and lazy daughter, Pechmarie, and a beautiful and hard-working step-daughter, Goldmarie. Because Pechmarie is her real daughter, the widow clearly favors her and makes Goldmarie do all the work. Poor Goldmarie must also sit and spin all day by the well until her fingers bleed. When she tries to rinse out the spindel, it drops into the cold water. Her unsympathetic step-mother tells her to jump in after it. Goldmarie does as she is told, and then wakes up in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers. This is the land of Frau Holle, who welcomes Goldmarie and invites her to stay, as long as she will help with the housework. Marie stays and serves Frau Holle gladly, until she suffers so terribly from homesickness that she asks to go home. Before bringing her back, Frau Holle rewards Marie with a shower of gold. Upon her return, Goldmarie and her gold are welcomed by her greedy step-sister and -mother. Hoping for the same kind of reward, the step-mother sends ...
1988
Henriette is a princess; she is playing with her ball, but drops it into a well. A talking frog replaces it with a golden ball, on condition that he can eat and drink with her, and rest in her bed. She accepts, but then is repelled at the thought of the frog eating and drinking with her, etc., but her Father makes her do so. In her bedroom, the frog turns into a handsome prince, and she falls in love with him, but he leaves immediately because of her broken promises. She pines and eventually seeks him out, braving various tests of her truthfulness in the process.
1958
The land in poor Hassan's Central Asian homeland is stony and lacks water. Every day, he gazes longingly at the well in the garden of the rich merchant Machmud, which is full to the brim. One day, Hassan's parrot sits on the edge of the well and is attacked by Machmud's guard dog. To save his only friend, Hassan has to kill the dog. The cadi then sentences him to take the place of the guard dog, chained up. When a horse is stolen, he also has to do its work. The slave girl Fatima is his only ray of hope. But even she cannot persuade him to flee, as his place seems predestined by Allah. Only an overheard deal between the merchant and the cadi makes Hassan realize that the world order is dictated by the rich.
1953
An old man living in an oriental city tells the story of his life to a group of kids: He too was once a young boy by the name of Little Muck - much like them, but with better manners and a heap of problems. Having lost his father at early age, little Muck is expelled from home by his greedy relatives. He wanders off into the desert hoping to find the merchant who sells good fortune. Amidst the dunes of sand he comes across a small house owned by a wicked woman and her many cats. She wants to make Little Muck her servant, but he manages to escape by stealing a pair of magic shoes which enable him to run faster than any man in the country. From there he heads right into the next set of challenges...
1974
Hans Röckle is a puppeteer, inventor, blacksmith and more. He is challenged by the Devil (in almost a dozen fancy costumes) who offers him even more inventiveness, against his soul should he ever make money with an invention, build something twice, or cease inventing for 7*7 hours.
