Elisabeth as Madeleine

Some little girls prefer to play dress up in high heels and sparkly dresses. Others dress up as doctors, cowboys or Cinderella.

But Elisabeth?



Left alone in the living room with her sister's riding clothes, she chooses to become an equestrian.

Madeleine soon realizes what her little sister is up to and supervises. See her there, just behind Elisabeth, hovering?



Madeleine is there, not as a jealous overseer of possessions, but as a happy older sister who thinks her little sister is sweet and cute in her too-big riding helmet and sagging half-chaps.

Elisabeth is strong of mind and will. She admires her big sister, but does not want to become her for more than short snippets of time. For a moment. After dinner, maybe, in the living room. But later? Madeleine's interests are discarded in favor of her own.

Here Elisabeth is dressed as her big sister, but underneath Elisabeth remains. What sorts of clothes she will put on as she pursues her own interests and activities have yet to be determined. And I pray Madeleine will still be there, hovering, with a smile on her face.