Mytho follows a mysterious voice and disappears. Duck and Rue go looking for him. They run into Edel, who tells them a story of a maiden who died and directs them in the right direction, which enables them to find Mytho. He finds the Wili Maiden, the ghost who’s been calling to him, and is offered the rosemary, which will allow the ghost to take him with her to the land of the dead. Rue tries to save him by dancing with the ghost, but fails since the ghost can dance for much longer than Rue. When Rue falls, Duck hides and transforms into Princess Tutu. Tutu dances with the ghost (revealing herself to Rue), and is able to keep going. She gains the feeling of sadness from the ghost and gives it to Mytho. Drosselmeyer notes that the feelings returned to the Prince, thus far, are unhappy ones, and questions Tutu, “Is this how you will restore happiness to the Prince?”
Princess Tutu follows Duck, a duck who was transformed into a young girl and takes ballet at a private school. She becomes enamoured of her mysterious schoolmate Mytho, and transforms into Princess Tutu to restore his shattered heart. Mytho's girlfriend Rue transforms into Princess Kraehe to frustrate Tutu's efforts, and Mytho's protective friend Fakir discourages Mytho's burgeoning emotions. When it becomes apparent that Duck, Rue, Mytho, and Fakir are meant to play out the characters in a story by a long-dead writer named Drosselmeyer, they resist their assigned fates and fight to keep the story from becoming a tragedy.
