The film begins as a little girl scavenges among the corpses splayed beside a battlefield, in search of scraps of food for her dying mother. A slightly older boy of the noble classes makes her a proposition. If she agrees to be his slave, he will give her a few morsels of food. The little girl accepts. It is the very first promise she has ever made. But she breaks it immediately: Having received the food, she flees. Little does she suspect that years later she will pay the price. Running in the darkness, the girl trips and falls. The precious food rolls from her hand and is swallowed up by quicksand. Before the little girl's astonished eyes, a miracle occurs. A beautiful Sorceress slowly rises from the treacherous sand, holding the food in her hands. The Sorceress informs the child that her mother is dead and that she is now an orphan. The girl bursts into tears. 'Do not cry, my dear,' says the Sorceress. 'If you so wish, you can become a princess. You'll grow to be the woman men the wo |