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This is the tale of a

princess named Darla. Her parents, 

the king and queen

of Vercanta, were very

happy when she was born.

The whole kingdom celebrated 

Darla’s birth.

When the Queen had 

another child three 

years later, she did 

not want Darla to feel 

less important. And 

so, the Queen allowed 

Darla to name the 

new baby. It was a 

boy, and Darla named 

him Philippe. Darla's 

baby brother already 

had a big place in her 

heart, and as his older 

sister, she promised 

she would take good 

care of him.

As Darla grew up, the Queen began to worry about her. Darla 

was always playing with the boys, and never with the other 

girls her age. “Why don’t you play with the other little girls?” 

the Queen asked.

Darla responded, “I do not mind the other girls, but they 

never want to do the things that I want to do. Playing dress 

up is boring, I want to learn how to ride horses and use a 

sword and shoot arrows! I heard that Philippe will begin his 

training soon-- why can’t I learn too?” In Vercanta, all of the 

boys train to become "men," so that they can be strong, 

capable, and able to fight in case of war.

“Princesses do not do such things,” answered the Queen.

One day, the Queen saw Darla playing with Philippe in the castle’s 

backfield. Darla and Philippe each had a long, broken stick in hand, 

pretending to sword fight with each other. Darla’s feet moved swiftly 

like a fox, and her arm struck quickly like a snake.

At that moment, the Queen realized that Darla was blessed with the 

gift of an adventurous spirit and heart of gold, and there was nothing 

the Queen could do to stifle it. So, the Queen decided to encourage it.

The Queen made sure her daughter did everything that the boys did in 

their training- take sword lessons, learn to ride on horseback, explore 

the forest and learn about its plants and animals.

The other boys judged Darla at first, thinking she was just a weak, 

silly princess. However, in order to prove them wrong, Darla worked 

fifty times harder than anybody else. By the time she was sixteen, she 

was one of the top of her class. She was also accepted by all of the 

boys as a great fighter.

At this time, Prince Philippe was still at the beginning of his training. But he 

had seen his sister's swift skill with a sword, and wanted to be as good as she 

was. He was supposed to be the prince, the future king and strongest warrior 

in the land, not some little boy whose sister can fight better than him. He 

wandered off into the forest to practice by himself. Eventually, he wandered 

too far, and found himself in the dangerous part of the forest. Philippe was 

completely lost.

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