Many years have passed since the famous events that accompanied Tartaglia's marriage to the daughter of the King of Antipodes Ninetta who came from an orange. A lot has happened over the years in Monterotondo. The once burned arap of Smeraldin and Brigell was resurrected from the ashes: he was a poet and diviner, she was whitened with soul and body. Truffaldino married Smeraldine, who stole so much in the royal kitchen that he could leave the service and open a sausage shop.

For almost nineteen years, King Tartaglia has not appeared in the capital, fighting with the rebels somewhere on the outskirts of the kingdom. In his absence, his mother, the aged queen of Tartallion, ruled everything. The old woman disliked Ninetta, and when she gave birth to Tartaglia lovely twins, a boy and a girl, ordered to kill them, and wrote to the king that, they say, his wife brought a couple of puppies. In the hearts of Tartaglia, Tartallion allowed, at his discretion, to punish his wife, and the old queen buried alive the poor thing in the crypt under the opening of the sewage pit.

Fortunately, Pantalone did not comply with the orders of Tartalona: he did not kill the babies, but, securely wrapped in oilcloth, threw them into the river. Smeraldina pulled out of the twin river. She gave them the names Renzo and Barbarina and raised them as her own children.

The excess eaters in the house were an eyesore to the greedy and grumpy Truffaldino, and then one fine day he decides to drive out the foundlings.

Renzo and Barbarina perceive the news that they are not native children and should now go away, because their spirit is strengthened by reading modern philosophers, love, human affection and good deeds explaining low self-love. Free, as they believe, from selfishness, the twins go to the wilderness, where stupid and importunate people will not annoy them.

On a deserted shore, a talking antique statue appears to brother and sister. This is the statue of the king Kalmon, who was once a philosopher and turned to stone at the moment when he finally managed to get rid of the last vestiges of self-love in his soul. Kalmon is trying to convince Renzo and Barbarina that selfishness is by no means a shame, that in oneself and in others one should love the sealed image of the Creator.

Young people do not heed the words of a wise statue. Kalmon, however, tells them to go into the city and throw a stone at the palace walls - this will instantly make them rich. He promises the twins help in the future and also informs that the secret of their birth will be revealed thanks to the Green bird in love with Barbarina.

This bird has been flying to the crypt for Ninetta for eighteen years, feeding and watering her. Arriving this time, she predicts the imminent end of the Queen’s suffering, says that her children are alive, and the bird itself is not a bird at all, but an enchanted prince.

Finally, King Tartaglia returns from the war. But nothing is sweet to him without the innocently ruined Ninetta. He cannot forgive her death either to himself or to his mother. There is a noisy quarrel between the old queen and Tartaglia.

Tartallion is inspired not only by her confidence in her own righteousness and resentment towards her ungrateful son, but by Brigella's prophecies and flattering speeches. Brigella uses every occasion for outpourings of them - himself and the Tartalions - to a brilliant future on the Monterotond throne; at the same time, the sly man praises to heaven the long, long withered charms of an old woman, who supposedly undividedly owns the heart of the poor poet. Tartallion is ready for anything: to unite fate with Brigella, and get rid of her son, only a testament in favor of the narrowed is considered inappropriate, since she still has to bloom and shine for many more years.

Renzo and Barbarina, following Kalmon’s advice, come to the royal palace, but at the last moment they are overwhelmed by the doubt: is wealth rich for philosophers? After conferring, they still throw a stone, and in front of them a magnificent palace grows before their eyes.

Renzo and Barbarina live rich in a wonderful palace, and now they are not occupied with philosophical thoughts. Barbarina is sure that she is more beautiful than anyone in the world, and so that her beauty shone even brighter, she spends money without a bill on the most exquisite outfits and jewelry. Renzo is in love; but in love, not with any woman, but with a statue. This sculpture is not the creation of a sculptor, but a girl named Pompey, who many years ago turned into stone her own unlimited vanity. Beside himself with passion, he swears not to regret anything, if only Pompey would come to life.

Motivated by love for his adopted daughter, Smeraldina appears in the twin palace. Barbarina, for whom love is an empty phrase, first drives her, then tries to pay off with a purse of gold, but in the end allows her to remain a servant with her person. Truffaldino also wants to live in the palace of foundlings, but love has nothing to do with it: he wants to eat deliciously, drink plenty and sleep softly, but things in the sausage shop go badly. Not immediately, but Renzo agrees to take the former dad into his service.

The inhabitants of the royal palace are surprised by the new neighborhood. Brigella - and he is a diviner after all - sees in Renzo and Barbarina a threat to his ambitious plans and therefore teaches Tartallion how to destroy the twins. The king, going to the balcony and seeing the beautiful Barbarina in the window opposite, falls madly in love with her. He is ready to forget the unfortunate Ninetta and marry again, but, alas, Barbarina is not at all touched by signs of the highest attention. Then Tartallion seizes the moment and tells her that Barbarina will become the most beautiful in the world only when she has a singing Apple and Golden Water that sounds and dances. As you know, both of these miracles are stored in the garden of the serpentine fairy, where many brave men lay down their heads.

Barbarina, who quickly got used to all her desires to be instantly fulfilled, first demands, and then tearfully begs to deliver her Apple and Water. Renzo hears her pleas and, accompanied by Truffaldino, sets off.

In the garden of Serpentina, the heroes almost die, but Renzo remembers Kalmon in time and calls for his help. Kalmon, in turn, causes a statue with nipples exuding water, and several dozen sculptures. From its nipples, the statue watered the beast-guards furious from thirst, and they allow Renzo to pick the Apple. Weighty statues, leaning on the gate leading to the source of the Serpentina, do not allow them to slam; Truffaldino walks with trepidation and picks up a phial of sounding and dancing Water.

When the job is done, Kalmon tells Renzo that the secret of reviving his beloved statue, like the secret of the twin's origin, is in the hands of the Green Bird. Finally, the king of the statues asks Renzo to order him to repair his nose, which was once spoiled by boys.

Returning home, Renzo learns that the king asked Barbarina to become his wife, and she agreed, but then, at the instigation of Brigella and Tartalona, ​​she demanded a green bird for dowry. Renzo would like to see his sister as a queen, and in addition, he is overcome by a passionate desire to revive Pompey and reveal the secret of his origin. Therefore, he takes Truffaldino and sets off on a new, even more dangerous journey - to the Ogre hill behind the Green Bird.

On the way, brave travelers are blown into the back by the already familiar Truffaldino devil with furs, so they get to the place very soon. But there they find themselves in some confusion: it is not known how to overcome the charms of the Ogre, and the only one who could help - Kalmon - cannot call Renzo, since he did not fulfill the trivial request of the king of the statues: he did not correct his nose. Having decided, the lord and the servant approach the tree on which the bird sits, and then both petrify. Meanwhile, Barbarina, in whose hardened heart still woke up anxiety for her brother, in the company of Smeraldina also goes into the possession of the Eater and finds Renzo and Truffaldino turned into statues. This sad sight makes her repent in tears of excessive arrogance and slavish indulgence of her own desires. As soon as the penitent words were uttered, before Kalbarina and Smeraldina appear Kalmon. He reveals a way to take possession of the Green Bird, while warning that the slightest mistake will lead to imminent death. Barbarina, moved by her love for her brother, overcomes fear and, having done everything as Kalmon said, takes the Bird. Then, taking a feather from her tail, he touches them to the petrified Renzo and Truffaldino, and they come to life.

Tartaglia burns with impatience, wanting to call Barbarina his wife. Nothing seems to interfere with this, it would seem. After all, Renzo doesn’t interfere even with the animated bird feather Pompeii that in the recent past it was a statue. However, first of all, Barbarina insists, one should listen to what Water, the Apple and the Green Bird have to say.

Magic items and the Bird tell the whole story of the atrocities of Tartalona and her henchman Brigella. The king, who found children and miraculously escaped incestuous marriage, was literally overjoyed. When Ninetta comes into the light of God from the fetid crypt, he completely loses his senses.

A green bird casts a spell, and Tartallion and Brigella in front of everyone, to their common joy, turn into wordless creatures: the old woman into a tortoise, and her pretender beloved into a donkey. Then the bird drops feathers and becomes a young man, the king of the Terradombra. He calls Barbarina his wife, and calls on everyone present on the stage and in the hall to be true philosophers, that is, recognizing their own mistakes, they become better.