Little Birdy

Ahh... I feel so much better now that I've made a new friend.

I am actually amazed that I never met Catherine, Called Birdy when I was young. It's the story of an adolescent girl living in medieval England. It's written in the form of the girl's diary, offering a more personal glimpse into her life. I would have loved this book when I was a kid! I loved books that featured girls my age, regardless of their situation. I loved Anne Shirley and Emily Starr, orphans living on Prince Edward Island, Canada in the 1800s. I loved Jo March, who was strong, and balanced her ambition with her love for her family, and Polly Milton, who exhibited the ideals of

 

charity and humility even among her friends, who were more interested in material, superficial things than they were the quality of their character. I loved Claudia Kincaid (and her brother Jamie) and envied her adventures in Metropolitan Museum of Art. I considered Susan and Lucy Pevensie (and their brothers Peter and Edmund) to be my dear friends and enjoyed their journeys to Narnia as though I had been there myself. Somehow, though, Catherine, Called Birdy escaped my attention.

How I discovered her wasn't really typical. Usually I get suggestions from my mother, a friend, or pouring over reviews on Amazon or Goodreads.  Karen Cushman's novel, though, I found because I liked the name Birdy and I wanted to know what formal name could be given on a birth certificate if a parent wanted to call their child Birdy.

Perhaps I should have prefaced this post with a small fact about myself. You see, I love names. It's an extension of my love for words, and began in my personal Bible study when I was a teenager. Knowing that Benoni (what Rachel named her youngest son just before she died) means "son of my sorrow," but that Benjamin (what Jacob re-named Benoni) means "son of my right hand" is somewhat telling. The names of all of Jacob's twelve sons are significant, in fact. When I realized that Nabal (1 Samuel 25) means "fool," however, I became fascinated. It wasn't as though Nabal wasn't foolish. "Fool" perfectly describes Abigail's first husband. I just couldn't fathom a mother naming her son "Fool." This sent me on a journey, where I met Henri Daniel-Rops through his book, Daily Life in the Time of Jesus, and became familiar with books written by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, and later with their website, Nameberry. It is on this site that I came across references to my new friend, Catherine, otherwise known as Birdy. So I suppose, in a round about way, I did meet Birdy through friends, albeit author-friends.

But I digress...

As I said, Catherine is the daughter of a minor knight in 13th century England. She is the youngest child, and the only girl, having three older brothers. Her best friends are a young goat hearder with one leg longer than the other and a girl who takes a shining to Birdy's beloved Uncle George, who has been away fighting in the Crusades.

Birdy is somewhat resentful of the expectations placed upon her. While her mother insists that she spend time learning to sew and embroider, her father attempts to find her a husband so that he might add to his own wealth. Birdy does her best to escape her family's plans for her, attempting to run away with the Jews who have been banished from England, and contemplating disguising herself as a boy so she can join a monastery like her brother, Edward.

It is this part of Birdy's life with which I can identify, and with which I would have identified as a teenager. Having grown up with the expectations of my family and with those of my church, I can understand her frustration. Although I wanted nothing more than to travel the world and to go to college and study history, art, and  literature, my family and my church expected me to marry young and be a stay-at-home mother to my many, many children. I succumbed to my predestined life, at least for a time. In hindsight I wonder how my life might have turned out differently if I had been brave enough to follow my own path, but I wouldn't change the path that I took for anything. (My children are far too wonderful!) I am enjoying spending time with the less submissive Birdy, though, and I am looking forward to seeing how her life turns out.

I'll keep you posted.