War, as a means of sorting things out, was invented by men. However, throughout the entire existence of mankind, the fair sex often had to take the most direct part in it, and not always as healers or cooks. There are known cases, and there are many of them, when women stood on a par with men and entered the battle, in no way yielding to the latter in courage and the desire to defeat the enemy. In order not to go far for examples and not to plunge too much into distant semi-mythical times, it is enough to recall the heroines of the Second World War, who, along with men, defended our country from the invasion of "true Aryans" and endured all the hardships of that terrible era on their fragile shoulders. Yet war is not a woman's business; to die in battles, we exist - men who are obliged to protect their mothers,daughters, wives and girlfriends.
The images of warrior maidens are present in the legends of many peoples, the most famous of which can be called the Valkyries from German-Scandinavian mythology. Based on the latest archaeological finds, some researchers have made a cautious conclusion that the profession of a warrior in ancient Scandinavia was not the lot of men only. Thus, the prototype of the Valkyries could serve as real-life Viking women, whose exploits became the basis for the emergence of myths about beautiful maidens flying over the battlefield.
In Slavic epics, there are also characters of the fair sex, distinguished by their courage and indomitability in battle, and are called "polyanitsa" (sometimes - "raspberries" or "firewoods"). The word itself, apparently, comes from the verb "Pole", i.e. "Fight in the field." This is the name of female heroes, whose strength and combat training is not inferior to that of men; at the same time they, as befits the heroines of legends, are distinguished by their beauty and femininity. It is difficult to say how plausible are the epics that have come down to us and the characters present in them, although some legends indicate not only the proper names of the Polyanets, but also their short genealogy. The legends say that many of them were not limited to participating in friendly duels, held for fun, but also fought in real battles. Of course, to achieve reciprocity from a girl like that,possessing not only beauty, but also a warlike disposition, it was not so easy for young people of that time.
To win the favor of the Slavic maiden warrior, the knight had to defeat her in battle; there was no other way to marry Polyanitsa. It is worth noting that often such marriage unions of two strong and independent personalities ended tragically. Having already become husband and wife, the Polyanitsa and the hero continued to compete in strength and dexterity, and at some point, one of them killed the other. One of the most famous epics tells the story of love between Polyanitsa Nastasya Korolevichnaya and the knight Danube. During a competition for marksmanship, the Danube accidentally hits his wife's head with an arrow and she dies. Unable to bear the loss, the famous hero passes away on his own.
A few more legends about the Polyanets and their chosen ones have come down to our times, however, in them the main emphasis is on the description of the fights themselves between the warrior girl and the applicant for her hand. Many experts are inclined to doubt the Slavic origin of the Polyanitsa, pointing out that in almost all legends the Russian knights are forced to fight with them. It is not excluded that our distant ancestors called some steppe riders, representatives of nomadic peoples who fought with the Slavs, as "glades". In this case, it would be logical to assume that some of these beauties, once captured, became the wives of Russian heroes.