'The Ordinary Princess' by M.M. Kaye

This blast from the past is possibly more relevant for young readers than ever before.

Summary: Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries . . . or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there . . . much to everyone's surprise . . . she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!

"This delightful fairy tale is sure to please young romantics . . . Neither Kaye's princess nor her book should be considered ordinary."

MY THOUGHTS:

This story is told in four sections, each named after a line from the first verse of the poem 'Lavender's Blue.' 

Phantasmorania, like any generic fairy tale kingdom, has a predictably exceptional royal family. The six little princesses, Diamond, Opal, Emerald, Sapphire, Crystal, and Pearl, are all uniformly beautiful, clever, and talented. The king and queen plan to hold a Christening party for their seventh baby, Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne. 

King Oberon has misgivings about inviting any fairies as guests to the event, for he considers them capricious and potentially dangerous. But his wife overrides his doubts, because fairies, if they're flattered into good moods, bestow such wonderful gifts.

Alas, the king's fears are realized when Crustacea, an elderly water fairy, arrives cantankerous because her seaweed robe has dried up. She pronounces, 'My child, I'm going to give you something that will probably give you more happiness than all these fallals and fripperies put together. You shall be ORDINARY!' 

Instantly the angelic baby wakes up screaming like any common infant.

Unlike her sisters, Amethyst grows up freckle-faced with a sloppy posture, snub nose and mouse brown hair, and she prefers going by the derivative name of Amy. The narrator says, 'because she was not beautiful, nobody noticed her other virtues, which was so often the way of the world.' But Princess Amy is happy because she knows her impressive sisters miss out on such a lot of simple fun. She never envies the sacrifices she sees them make day after day, just for the sake of being brilliant and admired. 

To escape the angst of having to marry a handsome prince, Amy runs away from home to work as a kitchen maid in the castle of a neighboring kingdom. There she meets a nice young man who she assumes to be a royal page or man-of-all-work. After the best first date ever, it dawns on her that he may not be quite as he seems.

(It's worth mentioning that Amy's bed in the castle where she works is hard and lumpy, but she's too tired by the end of each day's work to care. There's a nice nod to the Princess and the Pea.)

What a lot of wise fun. Reading between the lines, isn't real life as ridiculous as this story in many ways, for Phantasmorania represents the spirit of our western world. When you read anyone's work resumes or social media bios, you'll find we're all outstanding and impressive just like the six older princesses, or at least we're all groomed to present ourselves as such. Aren't we all advised to perfect our elevator pitches? And so many users of social media aim or claim to be 'influencers'. The rare souls, who simply rejoice in the privilege of ordinary joys, are perhaps in the minority. Amy, who grows up so startlingly different from her sisters in attitude and habits, is the real outlier here. 

It's a refreshing little yarn about simple contentment and resisting the urge to maximize our strengths and make big splashes. Sliding under the radar and shunning attention can be far more rewarding. Well done M.M. Kaye! I expect she'd find that with modern communication methods to fan the flames, the situation she addresses is even more extreme than it was in 1980 when this was first published.

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