A New Princess Archetype

When my girls were little one day they spotted these kits at the craft store:


I hate craft foam, and we normally avoided synthetic materials in general, but I was feeling indulgent that day, so we brought them home. As we started to assemble them, I thought it was wrong that the prince had a sword and the princess didn't, so I cut a sword for each princess out of extra foam. My middle child was delighted for her princess to have a sword, but the oldest said, "No thanks, my princess doesn't need a sword." This prompted the following conversation:

Me: What if your princess gets attacked by a dragon?
Her: The prince will save her.
Me: What if the prince isn't around? She needs a sword in case she has to fight the dragon herself.
Her (shocked): But if she fights the dragon her dress might get ruined!
Me (sarcastic): If she gets EATEN by a dragon her dress will definitely get ruined.

She was unconvinced, however, by my flawless logic, and despite my best efforts, has continued to prefer the swooning princess archetype. Until she read this book:

The main character, Aethelflaed, impressed her so much she's dressed up as Aethelflaed for Halloween two years running. In a beautiful, flowing red and gold dress with a sword hanging at her side, a golden circlet on her head, she's the picture of this Celtic warrior queen. And Aethelflaed is exactly the kind of role model I love for my daughters. As daughter of King Alfred the Great, and fiancee (at age 14 or so) to Earl of the neighboring kingdom, Aethelflaed had a blinking neon target hanging on her back. Instead of living her days in fear of kidnapping or worse, and trusting in others to protect her, she takes matters into her own hands, insisting her guard, Red, teach her how to defend herself.

This training comes in handy when her travelling party is attacked on the way to her wedding. I won't give away the details, but suffice to say that the reader, who has come to love Aetheflaed like a sister by this point, is glad that her life doesn't depend solely on the skills of those who are sworn to protect her.

Aethelflaed grew up to become "the greatest heroine in Old English military history". This book only shows us a year of her childhood, and leaves us wanting more. Author Rebecca Tingle so skillfully weaves all the elements of Aethelflaed's live together, making what could be an intimidating character into a very human one. As a side note, after I read the book I discovered that Rebecca Tingle got her masters at Brigham Young University, where I spent some formative years. Later she studied at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, where she discovered the fragmented accounts of Aethelflaed's life that inspired this book. She started writing the book at Oxford, but finished it over the next few years while also marrying and starting a family. Given the stereotypes that abound about LDS women, I love to see a woman successfully combine her academic passion with her divine roles as wife and mother. Right now homeschooling and daily survival take all my energy, (I'm no Melissa Wiley or Alice Gunther) but I know this phase of life won't last forever and someday I'll create a masterpiece, too.

P.S. In writing this post I discovered that she's written a new book about Aelfwynn, Aethelflaed's daughter. I think I know what my oldest is going to be for Halloween this year.