The poor, weak, innocent Queen of the Night tells a heart-wrenching tale of her daughter's abduction by the evil Sarastro
and his henchmen. She hands Tamino the girl's picture (of course, he falls in love immediately), and begs him to rescue the girl.
(Interestingly, somewhere along the line she starts to sound a lot more powerful than she looks...)

How can I? he asks - and she gives him The Magic Flute to help.
Papageno is instructed to travel along and help the Prince.
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