The King promises his dying Queen that after her death he will only marry a woman as beautiful and virtuous as she. Pressed by his advisers to remarry and produce an heir, he comes to the conclusion that the only way to fulfil his promise is to marry his own daughter, the Princess. Following the advice of her godmother, the Lilac Fairy, the Princess demands a series of seemingly impossible nuptial gifts, in the hope that her father will be forced to give up his plans of marriage. However, the King succeeds in providing her with dresses the colour of the weather, of the moon and of the sun, and finally with the skin of a magic donkey that excretes jewels, the source of his kingdom's wealth. Donning the donkey skin, the Princess flees her father's kingdom to avoid the incestuous marriage.