“You can’t treat my brother like that!” With that, Princess Anna punched the boy directly on the nose.
The impulse to defend her brother made her feel good. The blow against the boy felt good. An instant later, when pain surged through her hand, the action didn’t feel quite so good. But in her mind, the pain was worth it.
Her older brother was Prince George of the Kingdom of Greendale. He’d been willing to talk sharply at the boys a year older than her who thought it would amusing to pull on Anna’s fair hair, or mock her for being a girl. He would snap at the boys who called her “Fanny Annie,” both because of the foolishness of their cruel nickname, but also because they were the children of the King and Queen of Greendale. Even at a young age the children of the King and Queen were aware that mockery of them shouldn’t be tolerated too much.
So it now was with Anna. Her younger brother, Prince Kenneth, had just lost one of his front teeth as he was growing up. He’d lost another tooth a few months before. The combination of missing teeth gave his voice a raspy quality. He already struggled to pronounce certain words. This combined with his missing teeth made him sound odd.
The boys around the town a year or so older than Kenneth hadn’t yet realized the danger of making fun of a Prince. He was simply a well-dressed little boy they could mock to make themselves feel better. They too were little boys at the whim of older children and adults. Any advantage over a weaker foe they’d take.
They’d been taking it for several days.
Finally Kenneth had cried to Anna about it. Anna, unhappy about her own memories of being mocked a few years before, decided to take action. She marched with her younger brother to the boys in question. She confronted them. When the one boy let loose, she let her fist fly.
The boy grabbed his nose and began crying. Anna held her sore hand but stood her ground. “It doesn’t feel so good, does it?”
“The Princess broke my nose!” the boy shrieked.
His friends dashed away. Anna’s first thought was that they’d retreated before her attack. Moments later she realized that few ran to get adults from nearby.
One of the adults was one of the soldiers who served under her father. “What is going on here, Highness?” he said to Anna. His tone lacked the deference Anna was used to from those who served her father.
“He was making fun of Kenneth,” she answered. “He was calling him ‘Wispy Kenneff’ and ‘Gap-Toothed Prince.’ I told him to stop. I told all them to stop. He said to make him stop. So I punched him in the nose.”
“Is this true?” the soldier asked the boy, still holding his nose.
“She hit me for no reason,” the boy insisted.
“You’re a liar!” Anna shouted.
“Enough!” snapped the soldier. He turned to Kenneth. “Is Her Highness telling the truth, Highness?”
Kenneth stood frozen for a moment. It was only then that Anna noticed how scared he seemed. It hadn’t occurred to her that her younger brother might be scared. She had defended him. Could it be that her anger frightened him? Could it be that felt a little shame that his older sister, a girl, had to defend him? Was he afraid that the boy’s friends would come after him when his sister wasn’t around?
These were complex thoughts for a girl like her. In her roughly eleven years of life, matters were fairly simple. There were lessons in the castle, reading and writing, numbers, sewing and cooking, and the like. There was dressing up for important occasions. The was instruction in being graceful and proper. There was also time for play, with her siblings, with the few children of the castle servants, and with children in town. Life was orderly.
Yet there were things that tugged at her mind. She knew other girls her age in the town next to the castle didn’t have to learn grace and propriety. She’d discovered that they didn’t have near as many gowns as she did. They didn’t know letters and numbers, and didn’t seem troubled that they didn’t know such things.
Anna struggled to wrap her mind around all this. Letters and numbers felt important to her. It wasn’t so much that she’d ever rule Greendale. It was, after all, a kingdom and not a “queen-dom.” But letters and numbers allowed you to know things. To understand the land beyond the castle and the town. To know that there was even a world beyond Greendale. There seemed to be power in such knowledge, power and the pull of the interesting and new.
By contrast grace and propriety seemed silly. The girls of the town seemed well enough knowing “Grace,” “Highness,” and “Majesty.” They didn’t concern themselves with matching the colors of their gowns to ribbons in their hair, or bracelets and necklaces. They didn’t have such finery and seemed perfectly happy. They were also happy in being direct with each other, whether joking about their prospects for marriage, the hard work of their chores, or what other girls around the town were doing or saying.
Which took her mind back to this moment and her younger brother. While she could understand why he might be scared, she wanted him to know that that all would be well if he told the truth. At some point George had encouraged her to stand up for herself. It felt to her a good time to teach the same lesson to Kenneth.
“Tell him the truth,” she said to him. “You’ll feel better.”
Kenneth gave her a nod. He turned to the soldier. “Anna’s telling the truth, sir,” he said, even though the gaps in his mouth made his words a little hard to understand.
The soldier looked at the boy Anna had punched. “Consider yourself lucky that you’ll have a sore nose and two black eyes, boy,” he said. “Mocking royalty is a serious offense.”
“But she hit me,” the boy insisted. Anna heard that some of the sharpness in his tone was gone.
“And if I take your name, I’ll have to tell your father what happened. You might have to spend the night in jail, then get a right spanking. Or you can go home, tell your father yourself, and not do this again. Which do you want?”
The boy glowered at the soldier, then at Anna, the turned around and started walking away.
The soldier looked at Anna. “Highness, you and His Highness need to come with me back to the castle.”
“Am I in trouble?” she asked. “I defended my brother.”
“That’s for Their Majesties to decide, Highness.”
She nodded. She took George by the hand and followed the soldier back to the castle. Once at the castle the soldier recounted the incident to the soldiers on guard duty at the front gate. One went into the castle. A few moments later a Captain came out. The soldier reported to him. The Captain escorted Anna and her brother into the castle.
A short time later Anna was before her father and mother. The Captain told them what the soldier had told him. Anna had to give her own version of events. George managed to tell his observations, haltingly and through a few tears. Their parents had the Captain escort them from the throne room. George went to the bedroom he shared with their older brother to rest for a while. Anna had to go to her room and wait.
That she had a room of her own was something else that made her different from others. She’d understood for some years that most in the town had to sleep together in some way or another. The poorest would have one room for everyone. Most could afford a house with a room the parents and another for their children. Having her own room was one of those things that only a Princess had.
As such she was trying hard to make the room truly her own. She glanced around at what was on shelves or placed in reclaimed apple crates. There were dolls and other toys, but she felt no interest in many of them. When she was younger she adored her dolls. They were as much her friends as the girls she spent time with in the town. Now, though, they seemed both childish but also “too much.” She felt conflicted about having a room filled with things. It was indeed something that a Princess ought to have, along with pretty gowns and a servant to take care of her. Much of what she had she never used anymore. It felt to her as if having them made her special, when it should be who she was that was special.
But who was she? Was she just another in a long line of Princesses of Greendale?
There were distant cousins, once or several times removed, living here and there. They were the children, or grandchildren, or descendants of Princesses. When those Princesses came to womanhood they’d been married off. They were given to men of nearby lands to make peace. They were wedded to Dukes or the sons of Dukes to maintain their loyalty to the King. They seemed to stretch back for generations, and seemed to have come to the exact same end. They were married and had moved away.
Anna wasn’t certain about being married. She was more certain about moving away. Greendale was a fine kingdom, so she’d heard from her subjects and from visitors. It was peaceful and it was prosperous. No one had mentioned to her a place where she might have to go. She will still a few years from having to think about that, so her mother and her maidservant had told her.
Thoughts of elsewhere and her future ended when the door to her room opened. Her father, King Mark, had a stern expression on his face that always worried Anna. She sat as quietly as she could on her bed as he came to stand in front of her.
“You punched a boy on the nose, Anna,” he said.
“Yes, Father.”
“How’s your hand?”
“My hand?” Anna looked at her right hand. “A little sore, I suppose.”
“Serves you right.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Princesses don’t resolve problems by fighting, Anna.”
“No, Father.”
“Princesses should be proper young ladies.”
Something in her mind urged her to defend herself. “But he was being especially cruel to Kenneth.”
“‘Gap-Toothed Prince,’ you mean?”
“Yes.”
Her father knelt down. “It was a noble impulse, Anna. But to hit him?”
“He wouldn’t stop. I commanded him, and the others, but they wouldn’t stop.”
“Commanded them? By whose authority?”
“I just told them to stop.”
His face suddenly didn’t seem quite so stern. “I see. You asked first?”
“I asked first, Father.”
“Then you told them?”
“Yes.”
“Then you struck.”
She sighed. “Yes.”
“How old was this boy?”
“Older than Kenneth. Taller, too.”
“And the others?”
“Older, I think.”
“You do know that Kenneth will have to stand up for himself one day.”
“I know.” She frowned. “But there were six of them, and they were all around him.”
He rose and sat down on her bed beside her. “I know, Anna. You wanted to protect your little brother. It’s an honest impulse. It’s a good impulse. I know of families in town where brothers and sisters can hardly stand to be in the same house together. Your mother and I are pleased that the three of you get along well.” He smiled in a way Anna rarely saw. “We shall see if that continues once you and George get a little older.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Perhaps you’ll find out. For now, we’re happy that you care for each other.”
“George defended me. He still does.”
“Which is right and proper. And in a few years, it will be his duty.”
“His duty?”
“When you’re older, Anna.”
“When I’m older what, Father?”
“What?”
“You, and mother, and the others in the Royal Court, and Marian, and everyone says when I’m older I’ll learn so much. I’ll be told so much. Why do I have to wait?”
“You’re still a girl, Anna. In a few years you’ll be on the road to womanhood. Much more will be clear to you then. Of that I am certain, as your father and as King.”
“If you say so, Father.”
“I do say so. As much as I’m glad you were willing to stand up for Kenneth, it’s just not proper for a young lady, and a Princess at that, to hit another boy.” He shook his head. “It’s just not done, Anna.”
“Why not?”
He blinked at her. “It’s just not.”
“What if a boy tries to hit me?”
“No boy would dare hit a girl.”
“When I was younger a boy tried to hit me.”
“And George gave him a damn good thrashing for it.”
Anna faced her father. She could tell from the way the corners of his mouth struggled to go up or down that he abruptly regretted saying what he’d just said. She knew enough not to cross her arms at him, as her mother sometimes did when she didn’t like something he said to her. Instead she looked at him, keeping her face as mild as possible.
“Giving a boy a thrashing is a man’s duty,” he said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.
“Shouldn’t I stand up for myself?”
“It’s not what a young lady should do.”
“Why?”
“Women just don’t fight, Anna.”
“I know that’s not true, Father. There was a Queen who fought. I read about it several days ago. Queen Henrietta.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“She had no husband to protect her. She had to defend the kingdom on her own.”
“Might that not happen to me?”
“I hardly think so. The Spirit has blessed us. George has almost made it through childhood. He’s a hale and hearty lad. When he grows up he’ll be King.” He pointed a finger at her. “His wife will be Queen.”
“I know, I know.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re not plotting against your brother, are you?”
She glared at him. “No, Father.”
He smiled. “Good. Anna, you’re not likely to become Queen. If, Spirit forbid it, something were to happen to George, you’d marry and your husband would become King. He would have to die before you’d be on your own like Henrietta was.”
“But what happens if I go somewhere else and marry? And then my husband dies? I shouldn’t like to be helpless.”
“None of us is ever helpless.”
“Kenneth was helpless until I punched that boy on the nose.”
“Anna!”
“But, Father, it’s true.” She paused for a brief breath. “I don’t mean to say I enjoyed hitting him.” She shook her right hand. “It still stings a little. But I can’t see why I can’t defend him the way George defended me when I was Kenneth’s age. If we’re supposed to like each other, and get along, shouldn’t we defend each other?”
“But it’s not proper, Anna.”
“Why?”
“It’s just now how a young lady behaves.”
“Says who?”
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Instead he frowned.
“The Spirit doesn’t forbid women from fighting.”
“The Spirit commands women to remain in the home to raise children.”
“The Spirit also commands women to protect their children, and to love them, and to honor them as they honor the Spirit, with justice and firmness.”
“‘With the firm hand of justice and kindness,’ young lady,” he replied.
“Yes, Father, but isn’t it the same?”
“How so?”
“You say that we’re a fine kingdom because our Kings know to be firm when it comes to justice, but to also be kind. You don’t throw a thief in the dungeon simply for stealing. If a thief steals because he’s trying to feed his family, and he’s desperate, and he hasn’t broken the law before, you make him work off to pay for what he stole. Once he’s done that you forgive him his crime, and tell everyone to forgive him.”
“That’s because punishing an already desperate man with shame will only make him more desperate. That also leads to another important lesson the Spirit teaches us, Anna. We must forgive others their sins if we wish them to forgive ours.”
Anna had the sense that her father was trying to guide their conversation away from where she wanted it to go. “Father, you still haven’t said why I can’t fight.”
“Anna, you can’t fight everyone who angers you or mocks your little brother. It’s not proper and it’s not right. It’s not proper because young ladies don’t fight. It’s not right because you can’t solve every problem with a fight.”
“I know I can’t solve every problem by fighting. But why isn’t it proper?”
“Fighting is man’s work.”
“Why? If a Queen might have to fight to protect her domain, that’s not man’s work.” A thought came into her mind. “If a woman is alone in her home, and someone comes to steal, or a monster comes to take the children, she’s supposed to fight for them. Isn’t that what the tales say? If you don’t fight the monster bad things happen. It happens to men and to women. To boys and to girls.”
“I don’t think tales are relevant to your future, Anna.”
“Why not? What’s going to happen to me?”
Her father didn’t have an immediate answer to her question. She knew that he wouldn’t. She wasn’t yet aware of what it meant to be a woman, but she did know that Princesses like her were often married and sent away to make peace. Yet she also knew that Greendale was at peace with its neighbors. There hadn’t been a rebellious Duke in a few generations now. The nearby domains had no hostile intentions towards Greendale, and her father and grandfather had no interest in conquering those domains.
She wanted to know more about the lands farther away from Greendale. She had some thought that she might have to go to one of them to make peace. A few men from those neighbors of neighbors had come to the castle. From what she’d heard they had little interest in Greendale beyond what little trade could go that far.
To her mind that left her future cloudy. She was wondering if she’d have to take command of her future because no one else would. She was starting to understand that, though to a child a year was a long way away, the older you got the faster time seemed to move. While the time for such decisions might be five or six or even ten years away, she was gaining the sense that such a period wasn’t distant but possibly closer than she would have thought even a couple of years earlier.
At last her father sighed. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen to you. But I can’t see you taking up arms, Anna.”
“Can’t I at least read more about Queen Henrietta? Can’t I find more example of women who fight? If I could, would you allow me to learn to fight?”
“I can’t allow that. You’re a Princess.”
“But what am I supposed to do with myself?”
He glared at her. “I should be very angry with you, young lady.”
“I just wanted them to stop making Kenneth cry. Those boys are so mean to him.”
“Children can be mean at that age.”
“Aren’t they taught better than that?”
“We all are, Anna. But children sometimes aren’t always aware of right and wrong unless something is done to them.”
“Like getting punched in the nose?”
“Young lady.”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
He shook his head again. “You are a handful. I suppose I can’t order you not to read. You do need some knowledge if you’re to fit into a Royal Court or a noble house somewhere. Instead I’m going to tell you to apologize to the boy you hit.”
“Apologize?”
He raised his hands. “If he promises not to provoke you again.” He gave her a half-smile. “I don’t want you fighting, but I’m not going to punish you for standing up for Kenneth. As long as you’re not smug about that, you can let this boy know that.”
She nodded to him. “Yes, Father.”
“Good. Your King has given you a command. Find Captain Craig, and carry out my command.”
She bowed her head. “Yes, Majesty.”
With that she left her room with her father behind her. In the corridor he went his way and she went hers. She found the Captain in the common room. She told him what her father had instructed her to do. The Captain escorted her out of the castle and into the town.
In about half an hour they found the soldier who had arrived on the scene of the incident. The soldier told them the name of the boy Anna had punched and where he lived. The Captain took her to the house in question. A woman answered his knock on the door. She bowed to them and let them in once the Captain told him who he was and who Anna was.
The house appeared to Anna to consist of just two rooms, a common room for eating and sitting around with friends, and a bedroom for the family. The woman was at home tending the hearth and preparing supper. Her husband, she said, was a carpenter at work around town. The boy came out of the bedroom, followed by a girl in a ragged gown who seemed a couple of years younger than Kenneth.
Anna faced the boy. “I’m sorry I punched you on the nose,” she said, trying not to stare at the black eyes forming on his face.
The boy simply looked at her.
“My father, His Majesty, isn’t punishing me for standing up for my brother. He said it’s not proper for girls to hit boys.”
“It’s not,” the boy snapped.
“But it is proper for an older sister to defend her younger brother. If I find that you, or any of your friends, are making Kenneth cry, I’ll report you to my father. Do you understand me?”
The boy nodded, though not as swiftly as Anna thought he ought to.
Anna looked at the girl standing beside and behind him. “You wouldn’t like me to tell everyone that your sister is ugly, would you?”
“You wouldn’t do that!” the boy shot back.
“If that makes you unhappy, you now know how I feel. Remember that.”
The boy nodded once more.
Anna took a step sideways. She looked at the boy’s sister. “What’s your name?”
“Mary,” the girl replied in a tiny voice.
A thought entered Anna’s mind. “Would you like to have one of my toys to play with?”
The girl smiled and nodded.
“Then I’ll come back here in five days. You tell me if your brother is being good, and I’ll give you one of my dolls. Would you like that?”
The girl grinned.
Anna turned back to the boy. “I’ll only do this for you because I hit you. You be nicer to Kenneth, and I’ll do your sister a good turn.”
“Yes, Highness,” the boy replied.
“And you tell your friends that if I see Kenneth crying, or hear about them mocking him, you’ll all be in trouble with His Majesty.”
The boy swallowed. “Yes, Highness.”
Anna turned to his mother. She bowed her head. “Thank you for your hospitality, Madam.”
The woman thanked her for her apology and for her consideration. With that Anna and the Captain left the house and returned to the castle. For the next five days Anna didn’t hear of any mocking of her younger brother from that boy, his friends, or anyone else in town. After that time Anna fulfilled her end of the bargain and gave one of her dolls to the boy’s little sister.
For her part, Anna began to read up on the history of Greendale. She read what histories the library had of other domains, as well as codexes that compiled the tales of Greendale and other lands. She wanted to learn more if she might have to go away, but she also wanted to find stories of women who fought. She had a hope that she might convince her father if she could prove that Queen Henrietta was not the only woman who ever stood up for herself.
Princess Anna takes an interest in fighting at an early age. She grows up to become a skilled and renowned warrior. But there’s little place in her kingdom for her, seeing as she’s also the youngest of three children.
She chooses to leave her kingdom and explore the surrounding region. She hopes to learn more to benefit her father the King and her brother, the Prince and heir to the throne.
Anna quickly finds war, injustice, and slavery. She refuses to let good folk suffer at the hands of bad rulers. She vows to fight for what is right, even if she must side with outlaws and common villagers. She also finds her affections challenged in a most unexpected way.
Princess Anna journeys not only away from home but away from the life she was certain she’d lead…
Thanks for reading!
Comments ()