The Singing Ringing Tree (DVD)

German children's series shown in the '70s, became a cult favourite. The show is remembered by many who were children in the late '60s and '70s primarily because it was pretty creepy, all in all. The basic premise is that a prince asks for the hand of a beautiful princess. She rejects his gift of pebbles and demands instead a magical tree. The prince searches long and hard for such a tree and, in the land of an evil dwarf, he finds it. The dwarf tells the prince that if he can indeed win the love of the princess by giving her the tree he may do so: if however he does not succeed there will be a price to pay. The princess has no love in her heart, and the dwarf casts spells, which turn the prince into a bear and make the princess lose all her beauty. The bear carries her off to live with him in the dwarf-realm in a cave. Her bed is of moss and she has berries to eat. But even in the evil dwarf-realm kindness can be learned and love can grow. With each act of kindness some of her beauty is restored and the dwarf's power over them becomes weaker. With the help of her new animal friends she prevails over the dwarf. Not only is their previous condition restored but now the magical tree might sing/ring for her also.