The Queen of the Village Ball

The little Swiss village of Schenau is preparing for its annual ball, whose queen is to be the beauty Adele. The girl does not yet know that right after the day she spends in dreams and fairy tale, she will be forever plunged into the depths of hard labor that drove her mother into the grave and maimed her older sister. For an enormous mechanical monster is already waiting in the little room; it only needs the moment when the slender girl’s waist will bend, her girlhood strength will run out, and her beauty will wither forever. But that will be tomorrow. And today the beauty is whirling in a waltz with Death, freezing from fear, yet still willingly submitting to strong, grown-up hands. What path will the young maiden choose? What will she devote herself to? Who will she give herself to?