In The Princess and the Kiss, A Story of God’s Gift of Purity by Jennie Bishop, our titular character, the “sweet little princess,” is given a gift from God, her first kiss. It is protected by her parents, then gifted to her when she is of appropriate age. She finds no suitors that are worthy of offering her first kiss despite their many alluring qualities. That is until a common farmer comes and offers his own first kiss to her. He is strong and handsome and they are wed together, bearing a baby who in turn is gifted their own first kiss to be kept safe.

The princess is cast as a gentle, kind, and intelligent girl who is pure of heart. The men all flock to her while she sits regally atop her seat judging them. Sticking to traditional Catholic values, she is expected to protect her purity from the men which would pursue her for her status or for personal gain. This enforces that a woman is above the men which come to her and that she is the one who decides relationships because a woman is pure and emotionally intelligent. The suitors display men who’s best qualities make up the downfalls of their personalities, one is strong and handsome yet conceited, one is rich and kind yet shallow, one is lovely and enchanting yet disloyal and ephemeral. The princess thus retains her kiss for someone more worthy, enforcing that men must rightfully prove themselves to gain a woman’s love and should have themselves entirely composed at the time. The commoner comes to reflect a man who is worthy of the princess’ love. He has no drawbacks besides being a poor commoner, something which can be respected in a Catholic view, but most importantly, he has remained pure.