My father doesn’t give a whit for his country. He spends all his time on riddles! He has shut me into a marble tower with seventy windows, seventy feet from the ground. Now he has sent his heralds out to proclaim that whoever can climb the walls to my windows will have me for a wife.

I detest his game. Why must I suffer for the amusement of men?

I don’t want anything to do with men! I want to be on the ground, looking after my country and ensuring that my people live healthy, contented lives.

The Princess in the Marble Tower in The Prince and the Three Fates, Brown Fairy Book. Vintage poster.