[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Indeed. But Penelope does have a say if only because her suitors wanted everything to appear legal and aboveboard. That she held out so long is proof of that. Her say may not have been a traditional kind of power but never the less it was still there.

She played them very skillfully.

[nopardons]

Not exactly...if she had had any power at all, she c ould have dislodged the damned freeloaders. Instead, all she did was keep unraveling her weaving and feeding and housing the "suiters" for years on end.