Girl Power!

Since the beginning of time, men have been the ones in charge. In all occasions; such as, relationships, family, the workforce, and the government, women have always been second in command. For this reason the United States went through the Civil Right's Movement, in which women fought for their rights to be able to head certain working positions, to be able to apply and have the same privileges as men, and to be in charge of situations. This is what the "Wife's Tale" is mainly about.

In the tale, a handsome and proud knight rapes a young maiden. When the news gets to the king and queen, they feel that the action was absolutely unacceptable. The king, outraged, sentences the knight to be decapitated, but the queen finds it in her generous heart to challenge the knight in exchange for his survival. The king agrees to these terms and they give the knight one full year to answer a question about what is a woman's greatest desire and then they send him off. This is the first demonstration of the control women like but seldomly have.

The knight asks every woman he can find but they all respond differently. On his way back, towards the end of the year, he runs into a group of women in the woods. They all disappear except for one old woman. Desperate to find an answer, he tells the woman of what happened and that his life was at stake, then he asks the woman what a woman's greatest desire is. The woman said she knew the answer and that his life would be saved, but he had to pledge himself to her in return for the answer. This is the second demonstration of women in power. The woman used her knowledge to take advantage of the weak knight.

They rode to the castle and gave the queen the answer, which was: a woman's greatest desire is to be in control of her relationships and of her life as a whole. Like the old woman had promised, his life was saved. She then publicly asked him to marry her and after pleading with the woman to take all of his belongings instead, she refused and they were married. This is the third demonstration of women taking charge. The old woman was strong and did not let the knight's worldly possessions distract her from what she had wanted initially and what he had promised to her.

While married, the knight was noticeably miserable. The woman noticed this and asked him what was wrong. He told her the honest truth. He said that he felt ashamed to be married to such an old woman. Taking no offense, the woman gave him two choices. The first choice was for her to stay old but faithful and good to him, and the other choice was for the woman to be young and beautiful, yet she would be unfaithful to him. Not knowing what to do, the knight gave the old woman the choice to do what she felt was right. This is the fourth demonstration of women in power. The knight relied on the old woman's knowledge to make the decision which would affect the rest of his life. Because the knight gave the choice to the woman, she became young and beautiful and she remained faithful to him for the rest of their long and happy lives.

Women are very smart and capable of making great choices. Most times, they make better choices then males do. Yet because the choice is not given to them often, a woman's greatest desire is to have control and to make decisions for herself.