Florinda is a transgender heroine of a folk tale from Chile.

Florinda’s Story

When Florinda was born, her father bought her a crucifix and hung it over her cradle. Some years later, after Florinda’s mother died, her father tried to “marry” her. Florinda ran to the crucifix and promptly disappeared. The next day, Florinda fled to her godmother. At the girl’s own request, her grandmother helped cut Florinda’s hair and dressed the girl as a man. In this masculine disguise, Florinda stole one of her father’s horses and rode off.

Florinda’s disguise was so convincing, she even fooled her father who came across the “gentleman” in his search for his daughter.

“Have you seen a young girl riding away on horseback?” he asked the stranger. Florinda stated that she had not.

Continuing on her journey, Florinda came upon a king’s palace and asked if she might buy some broth; she was very poor and hungry. The king, struck by how handsome the young man appeared, arranged to have Florinda marry his daughter. On their wedding night, Florinda admitted to her new bride that she was also a woman.

“All the better,” the new bride said. “We’ll simply share our life like two doves.” Florinda agreed to the plan, but only if the king’s daughter kept her true sex a secret.

The deception might have held if it hadn’t been for the princess’ godfather. The godfather, who was king of a neighboring land, had a prophet who revealed that his goddaughter had married a woman. The godfather proceeded to tell the first king that his son-in-law was actually a woman. The king could not believe his ears.

Florinda, with considerable angst, agreed to undergo a series of tests to settle a bet the two kings had made on the matter. The king’s daughter feared both of them might be killed if their marital deception was uncovered.

Florinda passed the first test, proving she could shoot pigeons like a man. But when the two kings proposed to watch her bathe in a river, it looked like Florinda’s secret was soon to be revealed. 

Just as Florinda was about to come out of the river, her childhood crucifix came flying across the water. As she stood up, Florinda was revealed to be a man.

Florinda rode back to the palace to reveal the miracle to his wife, who had been sick in bed with worry. As for the second king, who lost his bet, he was furious at his fortune-teller. “Why did you tell me she was a woman?”

 “She was,” the prophet said. “But I’m not able to predict the miracles of the Lord.”

The Complicated Message of Florinda’s Journey

The story elements of the Florinda folktale are complex and require some unpacking. The original motivation for Florinda adopting a masculine identity is to escape her father’s incestuous interest in her. Once she is safely free of her father’s sphere of influence, however, the story shifts to a love story between two women. It is also noteworthy that Florinda’s wife is all right with marrying another woman, though recognizes the need for secrecy. Florinda’s ultimate physical transition to a man was in part a way to legitimize the relationship in heterosexual terms. But the fact that her sexual transition was identified as a miracle of God could also be seen as legitimizing in folkloric terms such gender fludity.

Similar tales of female wives are well distributed across the world. Florinda’s particular story also seems to owe something to the Catholic tradition of cross-dressing saints. But there may also be some indigenous sources of inspiration for the transgender element of the story related to the often genderfluid shamans of the Mapuche people in Chile. That said, the imagery of the story is decidedly Christian.

Mark Carlson-Ghost

References

Pino-Saavedra, Yolando, Ed. (1970). Folktales of Chile. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 103-08, 262-63.