Marnie doesn't mind smelling like horse dung. It keeps everyone at a distance and she doesn't need people looking too closely at the tiniest stable boy. Uneven patches of filthy blond hair and unwashed body encourages everyone to keep a distance. They call her Piggly. The other stable boys leave her the smelliest chores. They don't bother her when she curls up in the stalls, so she sleeps with the horses standing guard.

If anyone guesses her identity as a girl she'd be whipped and sent on her way without clothes or food. She's an orphan girl and has no rights to anything until she marries someone. At ten years she wants nothing to do with marriage, so stable work is an easier choice to make. She keeps her blue eyes downcast whenever anyone is around to avoid catching anyone's interest. No one's noticed her so far.