William kneels before Philip the Good and Godelive

Philip the Good finds Willem van Nieuwen, a shoemaker, drunk in the forest. He decides to play a trick on him by taking him to the palace to sleep off his drunkenness there. The court makes him believe he is the ruler. After dinner, Willem falls asleep drunk and is returned to his own house and stripped of his royal clothing. The next day he thinks he has dreamed it. Because he had fallen in love with Godelive, a servant who posed as a princess, he was summoned again to the palace. When he sees his beloved again, he falls to his knees. Later they marry.