Embodying the malevolence of maladjustment, the evil genius of thwarted ambition, a dwarf, of renaissance Italy, tells his story. Hating normal people, contemptuous of his Princess, losing his faith in his Prince, the warped little man gets his taste of power in a war waged against a neighboring principality, poisons the enemy as they treat for truce. On his own, he poisons his Princess' lover, betrays her young daughter and the boy she loves, and brings about the death of the Princess as she strives for pardon. Told in the first person, there is the hysterical self-justification, uncontrolled resentment, implacable anger of a frustrated ego, the detailed picture of an Italian court with all its vice and color. Unusual, interpretive portrayal.