It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was Medieval Times!!!

As many of you know, knights - and now carefully selected princesses - play a big role in our household. We have a helmet and swords, a shield and a tunic. We have "chainmail", gowns and crowns. We have figurines and catapaults. We have a charger stallion and a campfire. We have books galore - poetry, non-fiction, tales short and long.

So it was with great excitement that Sebastian and Sophie were given tickets to Toronto's on-going "Medieval Times" show for Christmas http://www.medievaltimes.com/friends_and_foes/knights.php

It comes highly recommended by adult and child friends. So while not exactly my cup of tea - it seems to be a cross between the World Wrestling Entertainment (with big booming voices, strobe lights and dry ice) and a Lipizzaner show, all set in the 11th century - it was all that a 3 year old and 6 year old could possibly hope for - and a chicken dinner thrown in too!

Auntie Roberta had prepped Sebastian by watching Lipizzaners strut their equine stuff on youtube. Lorraine's wonderful capes and jewels came in handy too. Being George, they had the upgraded seats in the front, the special photo and banners to wave for "their" knight during the jousting tournament.


The royal guests


The prince and princess in costume


Gallant Sir Sebastian


"Their knight"


The Lipizzaners

Being me, I have hauled out the fantastic book of short tales about all the other child characters in the Medieval Ages - i.e. the serf's daughter, the trainee blacksmith, the apothecary's messenger, etc. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! There were/are a heck of a lot of people making the knight/princess' life easy! Got to get a little balance and perspective here.

Speaking of carefully selected princesses, we are very eager to hear suggestions of princesses who are brave, clever, witty, original, anything but "pink". So please, step right up and tell us the name of any such girls/young women from any culture. At this stage, she needs to have "princess" attached to her name. We have found a wonderful source in the Enchanted Forest series. We have Princess Smartypants (thanks to my trousered aunt Dorothy's foresight). We talk about Joan of Arc as a cross-over knight/princess figure, even though she wasn't royalty.

Help us!! There is too much talk of damsels and inconsequential princesses in this household.