If a Polish Tennyson were to appear, intent on composing a Polish Idylls, the maiden he would have to choose from the national gallery for his “lily-maid” Elaine would be the one bearing the simple but euphonious name Wanda. Similarly, if some Polish Shakespeare were to arise, and if he were to undertake the writing of a Polish Lear, he too would have to use this Wanda, in the role of the third daughter Cordelia. At the same time, the Polish writer seeking a figure in his nation's past akin to the Englishman's Boadicea would likewise be obliged to turn to this very Wanda. For in the Polish Wanda, as she has come to be enshrined in the national vocabulary, are to be found the qualities of mind and heart for which each of these three characters, so familiar and so different, are famous: here we have the pure white chastity of Elaine and the filial devotion of Cordelia; here also the Amazonian sternness and manly vigor of the iron-willed Boadicea.