Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

By John Steptoe

Grade: 1^st - 3rd

                        Have you ever wished of being a princess? If so you have something in common with the sisters in the story Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe. The two young girls, Nyasha and Manyara, have the possibility of marrying a prince. However, along the way to meet the prince they encounter many strangers, and it’s the way they treat these people that ends up being the deciding factor of who marries the prince. To find out which sister ends up marrying the prince and why read Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.

            Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters tells the story of how Mufaro has two beautiful daughters Nyasha and Manyara who have the chance to marry the prince. Nyasha and Manyara are to very different sisters. Nyasha was very kind and would always think of others before herself; she even let a snake live in her garden because she thought it would be beneficial. While sister Manyara would always bully Nyasha and tell her that when she was Queen Nyasha would have to be her servant. When the girl got word of the prince’s request for the finest wife Manyara sneaks away in the night before anyone’s up so the prince would see her first and want to marry her. Along her way to meet the prince she ran into a starving boy, an old women, and a headless man. When encountering each of these people Manyara wouldn’t listen to any of the advise they gave and refused to help them if they needed help, thinking that her cause was more important than theirs. The following morning Nyasha started the journey to see the prince and along the way she offered food to the starving boy. Nyasha also followed the advice of the old women as well as gave her some sunflower seeds out of gratitude. Once in the village of the prince Nyasha saw Manyara run to her telling her not to see the prince because there is a five-headed snake in the palace.  When Nyasha ended up going to the palace she found it was only her friend snake that lived in her garden. The snake transformed into the prince and he told Nyasha how her kindness and gratitude made her the most worthy wife of all. In the end they got married and Manyara became a servant in their palace.

            This story is based off of an African folktale and would be a great story for students to hear because of the powerful message behind it. It would make a great read aloud because it possess a great message the teacher could discuss with the class as well as very vivid and detailed illustrations. The message the story is trying to get across is to be kind and curious to others. It also tells about how it’s better to put others before yourself rather than being selfish. The story shows that by being kind actions and thinking of others first you’re more likely to obtain benefits from doing something good. You’re more likely to have friends and other people that like you. By doing something nice for someone else they would be more likely to do something nice in return for you when you need it.

            It might be able to catch the interest of the students in several different ways. Girls might be able to relate to the story because of the dream to marry a prince someday, while boys might be able to catch interest in the book because it talks about snakes, ghosts, and not always making the right choices. The sister Manyara could be a character the students could relate to because she thinks of herself first and doesn’t always make the right choices while people often times don’t always make the best choices and sometimes want to be selfish. Others might be able to relate to Nyasha because she is so caring and wants to help others and these could be characteristics that many young children can aspire to have. Students who have been bullied could relate to it as well since Manyara bullies her sister Nyasha in the beginning telling her that she’s only worthy enough to be a servant when in the end she ends up being the most worthiest of all. Many children today suffer from being bullied and this story shows them that because one person might think you’re worthless someone else might thing differently.

            I really enjoyed this story because it has so many different messages to pass along to students. The students can relate to the characters in so many different ways as well. It could be a great book to discuss in a read aloud and one you could use when discussing folktales as well. It’s an African take on our American Cinderella story and it could be used to show that good conquers evil and show that not every culture has the same stories, but all have the same message to get across to students.

            The Massachusetts frameworks that would apply to this story:

RL 7: Students will understand the nature of written English and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of speech.

RL 8: Students will understand the nature of written English and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of speech.

RL 11: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.