Tale of Tales 2016

In the magical kingdom of Longtrellis, a desperate King and Queen face the heart-wrenching challenge of being unable to conceive a child. Their plight leads them to a necromancer, who offers a dark suggestion: if the Queen consumes a sea dragon’s heart, prepared by a virgin, she will finally be able to give birth, albeit at a grave cost of a life. After the King bravely slays the sea dragon, he succumbs to fatal injuries during the battle. Devastated yet determined, the Queen eats the dragon’s heart and soon gives birth to a son, Elias, who possesses strikingly white hair, reminiscent of the beast. Meanwhile, the cook also has a child, a boy named Jonah, with whom Elias forms an unbreakable bond.

However, the Queen’s jealousy over their friendship intensifies, prompting her to plot against Jonah’s life. Fortunately, Jonah evades her murderous schemes and escapes, leaving behind a poignant message for Elias by plunging a knife into a tree root and declaring that as long as the root flows with clear water, he is alive and safe. Time passes, and the peaceful waters turn murky with blood, compelling Elias to search for his friend Jonah. The Queen, fearing the revelation of her sinister actions, orders her subjects to find Elias but is met with no success. The necromancer hints that the bond between the boys is too strong for her to sever with violence alone.

In a fateful encounter, Elias discovers Jonah injured in a cave, where they confront a menacing monster. Although the creature injures Jonah, it hesitates to attack Elias, allowing him to slay the beast and rescue Jonah, returning him safely to his wife. In a shocking twist, the monster’s remains dissolve into the form of the Queen, revealing the dark price of her desires.

In another tale, the lustful King of Strongcliff is entranced by the enchanting voice of a woman, unaware that it belongs to one of two aged sisters, Imma and Dora. After a night spent in darkness, the King is horrified to see Dora’s true form in the light of day, leading him to discard her from a window. Miraculously, she is caught by a tree, and later rescued by a witch, who rejuvenates her beauty. Captivated by Dora’s transformation, the King seeks to make her his Queen. Despite her promises to care for her sister Imma, Dora’s resentment leads to disastrous consequences when Imma seeks the secret to her sister’s youth, ultimately resulting in her gruesome fate as she opts for a horrific procedure.

In a bizarre twist, the King of Highhills becomes obsessed with a flea that he keeps as a pet until it grows to an enormous size. Upon its death, he decides to skin it, promising his daughter Violet in marriage to anyone who can identify the beast the skin came from. To his shock, an ogre identifies the hide through smell alone. Bound by his own word, the King forces Violet into an unthinkable union with the ogre, who later takes her captive. In a gripping turn of events, Violet, aided by a family of acrobats, manages to escape but suffers great tragedy as the ogre hunts them down. Ultimately, Violet confronts her husband, and in a desperate act, she slits his throat and returns home—bringing with her the head of the ogre, leading to a haunting emotional moment shared with the King.

As the story unfolds, the paths of Elias, Dora, and the King of Strongcliff converge at Violet’s coronation as Queen. As she approaches the throne, gazes turn towards the sky, where a performer captivates the audience with a breathtaking act of fire walking. As the celebration carries on, a poignant transformation begins to unfold for Dora, whose youthful beauty starts to fade away unnoticed. In the midst of these intertwining fates, the characters grapple with the consequences of their desires and the unending quest for love and acceptance.