Franta, a shoemaker's apprentice, would like to marry Marjánka. But they are both poor, and the master shoemaker, a widow with a business, does not pay Franta for his work. On the contrary, she has her own designs on him. When she offers him her hand and her business, Franta refuses. But the master shoemaker throws him out of the house. Everyone laughs at her at the ball, so the shoemaker goes to the pond where the water sprite lives to ask for help...