There is a tale called "Molly Whuppie" by Joseph Jacobs that many might not know. Molly Whuppie is the youngest of her siblings and was left in the woods with two other sisters by her parents. It is similar to "Hansel & Gretel" because the family did not have enough food to feed the children and decided to abandon them. It is also similar to "Jack and the Beanstalk" because she steals from the evil giant and gets away. This tale differs from many because we have a female as the lead. "Molly Whuppie" subverts from the usual female stereotypical role of standing by the side while a male takes care of everything. She is not only a girl, but the youngest of her siblings. She was able to safely get them away from being killed by a giant. Then she was able to successfully marry her sisters and herself to princes. This required Molly to sneak into the giant's house three times to take treasures back to the king. This is a female character who took care of herself and others. The image of womanhood represented by Jacobs in this tale subverts expectations regarding the female gender because Molly Whuppie was an independent, strong female lead who took charge of what happened. There was no prince charming coming to her rescue; instead, Molly worked to make herself get to her happy ending along with her older sisters.
