Tatterhood. Folktale of a female heroine known in Norway and Iceland.
Tatterhood is a story about a king and a queen who badly wanted children but could conceive. After some help from a witch the queen was able to give birth but having followed the instructions wrong she gave birth to two twin girls one ugly and the other beautiful. The eldest was deemed the ugly one because already at birth she rode a goat with a wooden spoon in her hand and wore a tattered hood. The sisters were as different as they could be but they were very fond of each other. The elder daughter was named Tatterhood because she wore a tattered hood over her unruly hair.
She didnt care much for her outward appearance and was an overall badass throughout the story going into battle against a bunch of trolls with her wooden spoon and rescuing the head of her sister from them on the day that Tatterhoods sister was suppose to be married off. Her sisters head now gone and replaced with a head of a calf she ventured out to reclaim her sisters real head from the trolls leaving with a fiery exit telling her parents "shes safer with a head of a calf than what you were about to do to her". She was successful in getting her sisters head back after which she asked her whether she'd like to return to her normal life or travel around with her. The two of them ended up travelling together until one day they came across a kingdom in which the king fell in love with her sister. She wouldnt let him marry her seeing as she is the eldest daughter and she should be married first. After some persuasion the kings son agrees to marry Tatterhood.
Tatterhood refused to dress up and happily wore her rags on the wedding day. She asked the prince why he did not ask why she rides a goat and when he asked she answered that she rode a grand horse, why she carries a wooden spoon which turns into a wand, why she wears a tattered hood after which it is turned into a golden crown and with Tatterhood herself whose beauty surpasses her sister's. The prince now understands that she chooses to appear ragged and that her beauty matters not.
The story of Tatterhood can be understood in many ways I find it to be a story that reminds us to be fearless unconventional and unapologetic for who we are. One can also understand that this final conversation can also be tied to how the “feminine” is developed within a woman during critical stages of her life and then viewed outwardly by those around her. Tatterhood carrying both sides of the feminine spirit helps the prince to create a new consciousness in which the beauty of the feminine is completely perceived as a new truth entirely.