The scene opens with the brothers and sisters running away from their stepmother, who has cursed them with a curse. The brothers have been walking in the forest all day, and the sisters have had to work very hard to get back to the castle. The sisters are worried about their feet, which are badly hurt, but the brothers are confident that they will be able to run again. The king of the neighboring kingdom, Konrad, is on his way to visit them, and he tells them that he wants them to be the new queen of the kingdom, which is in the process of being conquered by his sister, Aria. Aria tells the brothers that they must be back in a couple of days, or else she will kill them.