A wandering musical tale, The Princess Meline. On the occasion of the festival “Contes au Jardin” around the tales of the Mediterranean, in collaboration with the companies Murmures de Cailloux and Trafic d’Arts II.

Storytelling actresses: Henriette Nhung Pertus, Morgane Neplaz
Musician and composer: Morgane Neplaz

Princess Meline, a tale of the Brothers Grimm

Once upon a time there was a king. His son asked for the hand of a powerful king’s daughter. Her name is Meline and she is very beautiful, but her father refused the prince’s request. The two youngs love each other tenderly. “I only want him, I won’t marry any other!” The father got angry and had a tower built inside which not a single ray of sunlight or moonlight could pass. “You’ll be locked up here for seven years, then I’ll come and see if your stubbornness and obstinacy has been broken.”

Food and drink are brought into the tower for seven years and Meline and her maid are walled in. The prince often comes near the tower and calls Meline by name, but the thick wall does not let his voice through.

And time passes. The food available to them has greatly diminished, and the two women guess that the seven years are coming to an end, but no sound reaches them from outside.

Meline – “There’s no other way, we have to try to break through the wall”

They take the bread knife and start scraping the wall to try to clear the stones. After three days, they see the first ray of sunshine. The sky is a beautiful blue, but what a sight to behold! All that remains of the palace are ruins, the city and the surrounding villages are burnt, the fields are fallow. They can’t see a living soul. And now what to do?

They start to walk at random, to find another country, but they find neither a roof over their heads, nor a single person to hand them a piece of bread. Everything is so bad that they end up pulling out nettles to feed themselves.

After a long walk they finally arrive in another kingdom. They offer their services everywhere but nobody wants them and nobody takes pity on them. Finally they arrive in a big city and head for the Royal Palace where a cook allows them to stay to help him.

The son of the king of this kingdom is precisely the prince who had once asked for Meline’s hand. His father chose an ugly and hard-hearted bride for him. The wedding is inexorably approaching, the bride is already there, but because of her ugliness, she never showed up. She locked herself in her room and Meline brought her food.

The wedding day has arrived, the bride must accompany her future husband to the church. Aware of her ugliness, she is ashamed to show her face in public. She then says to Meline: “It’s your lucky day! I’ve twisted my foot and since I can’t walk very well, you’ll put on my dress and replace me at the wedding.

– I don’t want to be honored by what is not rightly due to me.

– I will give you gold…

Meline is sulking

– if you do not obey me, you will pay for it with your life!”

Meline is forced to obey. She wears the beautiful wedding dress and adorns herself with her jewels. When she enters the royal hall, everyone is struck by her beauty. The groom is stunned: “It’s the very portrait of Meline! If I didn’t know my beloved locked up for years in her tower, I’d believe my faith, that I have her in front of me.”

He offers his arm to the bride and leads her to the church. Nettles grow by the road and Meline says to them, “Nettle, you graceful little plant, you look very caring! Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the time of pent-up grief. The time when you were my only pittance, not very sweet and raw, but in abundance.

“- what are you saying?

– Nothing. I was just thinking about Princess Meline.”

The groom is surprised that his bride knows princess Meline.

They walk through the cemetery gate. When they get close to the church steps, Meline says:

“- Bear with me, the steps, suffer that I borrow you. From the bride who is not one, listen to the lament.What do you say?

– Nothing, I was just thinking about Princess Meline.Do you know her?

– No, I’ve only heard of her.”

They stop at the church door and Meline says:

“O you, the great door, which I pass endure. Of the bride who is not a bride, listen to the tiny request.And now what have you just said?

– Oh, I was still thinking about Meline.”

The groom takes a necklace and puts it around her neck. They walk into the church and the priest marries them.

*Meline goes into the palace, takes off the dress and all the jewelry except the necklace the prince gave her, and walks away from the room*

Night falls and the true bride must be led into the prince’s chamber. She hides her ugliness under a veil so that the prince doesn’t notice the deception. The prince asks her:

“- What did you say to the nettles by the road?

– What did I say to the nettles? I don’t talk to nettles!

– If you didn’t talk to them, you’re not the real bride.

– Wait ! My maid I call because in my thoughts she reads.”

*she goes out and walks towards melin*

“- servant, what did you say to the nettles by the road?

– I said only this: nettle, you graceful little plant, you look very worried. Fear not, I have not forgotten the time of pent-up sorrow. The time when you were my only pittance, not sweet and raw, but in abundance.

*The bride returns to room*

“- That’s it, I know what I said to the nettles! And she repeated the words she had just heard.And what did you say on the church steps?

– On the church steps? But I don’t talk to church steps!

– Then you’re not the real bride.

– Wait! My maid I call because in my thoughts she reads.”

“Servant, what did you say on the church steps?

– I said to them simply: bear with me on the steps, suffer that I borrow you. From the bride who is not a bride, listen to the lament.

– It will cost you your life!”

“That’s it, I know what I said on the stairs! And she repeats what the girl told her.

– And what did you say at the church door?

– At the church door? I don’t talk to doors.

– Then you’re not the real bride.

– Wait! My maid I call because in my thoughts she reads.”

“- Servant! What did you have to say at the church door?

– I didn’t tell her anything. I only said: “O you, the great door, which I pass through bear with me. Of the bride who is not a bride, listen to the tiny request.

– You’ll pay for it, you’ll get your head cut off!”

“- That’s it, I know what I said at the church door. And she’s repeating Melin’s words.

– Where’s the necklace I gave you?

– What necklace? You didn’t give me a necklace…

– I put it around your neck myself. If you don’t know that, you’re not the real bride.”

He ripped off her veil and saw her ugly, ugly face.

“How did you get there? Who are you?

– I’m your promised bride, but I was afraid that people would laugh at me when they saw me on the street. That’s why I asked the little slut to put on my dress and go to church instead of me.

– Where is that girl? I want to see her, go get her!”

As she comes out of the room, she tells the servants her maid must have her head cut off immediately. The servants catch Meline and want to take her away.

*The prince hears her voice and orders her released immediately. He sees that she is wearing the necklace he gave her around her neck.*

“- You’re the real bride, you’re the one I brought to the altar. You spoke of the princess Meline to whom I was engaged. You look so much like her!

– I’m Meline. The one who, for love of you, was locked up for seven years in a dark dungeon. The one who suffered hunger, thirst, and lived in misery for so long. But today the sun shines again for us. We were married in church and I am your lawful wife.”

And they lived happily and had many children.