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Friday, April 12, 2013

K is for the Killer Princess

Her name is Maria Morevna. She is from Russia.

I have read a lot about her in the past months. I did a version of her tale at MythOff USA (see below) for Slavic mythology - in that version, she was the goddess of the Underworld, who, very appropriately, escaped with Koschei, the god of the underworld.

In folktales, however, Maria Morevna turned into a princess. The first time we see her in one of the tales is across a battlefield full of dead soldiers - when Ivan tsarevits, the hero, inquires about the massacre, he is told that Maria Morevna, a princess, killed all those men.
Well then.

Maria Morevna is clearly a warrior. I especially enjoy the fact that this story is the opposite of the Bluebeard tales: the prince is left home while the princess goes to war, and opens the one room he was not supposed to open, which leads to a whole world of trouble.
The princess' warlike nature is never quite explained in the stories. She just happens to be a warrior that can slay an entire army, and still look attractive when a prince visits her tent after.

This tale was recently turned into an amazing mythic fiction book called Deathless by Cathryn M. Valente. Check it out, it is a gorgeous book!

10 comments:

  1. I take it your theme is princesses! This is quite an interesting one! I will have to check out your other posts.

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  2. I love that it's not explained why she's a warrior. The tales never explain why men are warriors, so it should be just as acceptable that a woman is an awesome warrior and not something that needs to be explained as something unusual. Hooray Russian storytellers!

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  3. Maybe she was secretly a Klingon with a love of battle!

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  4. She sounds kick-ass!! I love hearing about female warriors

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  5. Yikes, I think my mom told me this story. I remember the room you were not supposed to open.

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  6. I have a vague memory of a room you were not supposed to open too!
    Happy A to Z-ing
    Jemima at Jemima's blog

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  7. I'm putting this book on my 'must read' list.
    Great theme!
    Peanut Butter and Whine

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  8. I'll have to ask Worf if he's encountered her in battle. Klingons never surrender.

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  9. What a fascinating tale!

    That book you mention, Deathless, would probably make an interesting movie, too.

    ~Tui, from the #AtoZchallenge
    Twitter: @mentalmosaic

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  10. Your blog post was killer! Sorry couldn't resist. :)

    #atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com

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