1. This is an example of how to share the information about Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters – It is not an example of a finished presentation. A finished presentation would compare/contrast all three versions. It would also address all parts of the graphic organizer. You are to take all the information and synthesize it into your presentation and how the story elements and cultural aspects for each version are reflective of the cultures they came from.

2. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
An African tale
By John Steptoe
First written account of this tale is 1895

3. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
Summary
Mufaro has two beautiful daughters, one who is kind and gentle, Nyasha, and one who is short-tempered, Manyara. One day it was announced that the Great King was looking for a wife, someone considered the most worthy and beautiful. Mufaro decided to take his two daughters to the city to meet the King. Manyara decided to leave while everyone was sleeping so she could meet the King first and be chosen. On the way there she was rude to a young boy and an old woman. The next day Mufaro and Nyasha left for the city. Nyasha was kind to the young boy and the old woman. When they arrived at the city they saw Manyara running out of the enclosure in tears. She told Nyasha not to go in because there was a monstrous snake inside. Nyasha went inside to find her garden snake inside, who turned himself into the King. He told her that he had been the little boy and old woman she met on the way and that he knew her to be the most worthy and most beautiful. They were married and Manyara became a servant in the Queen’s household.

4. Story Elements Comparison
Characters
In Cinderella there is a stepmother, two stepsisters, and a Prince.
In Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, there is no mother or stepmother – just a father and two daughters, as well as a King.
Both versions have someone of royalty that they would like to meet and marry – either a Prince or King.

5. Story Elements Comparison
Sequence of Events
Both versions portray the central character as beautiful, kind, and generous, but with unkind family members.
Both versions have the central character travelling to meet a Prince or King with the possibility of being chosen as his wife.
In Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, Nyasha meets the King on the way to the city but does not know it because he has transformed himself into a boy and then an old woman who test her kindness.

6. Story Elements Comparison
Sequence of Events, cont.
Upon meeting the King, Nyasha discovers that all this time the Prince had been her pet garden snake Nyoka.
Both Cinderella and Nyasha are chosen by their Prince or King to become his bride and live happily ever after.
Cinderella is chosen after her foot fits the glass slipper.
Nyasha is chosen because she is found to be the most worthy and beautiful – she was kind to Nyoka, her pet garden snake (who turned out to be the King), as well as the boy and old woman on the way to the city.

7. Motif Comparisons
In Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, there is no fairy godmother who helps her meet the King like in the Disney version; the only magical elements are the talking snake, laughing trees, and the King’s ability to transform himself into a snake, a boy, and an old woman.
There are more magical aspects in the Disney version – fairy godmother and the talking animals who help Cinderella.

8. Motif Comparisons Both versions have animals that talk.
Both versions have animals or people that can transform into something else.
The heroines in both versions have the same wish – to marry the Prince or King.
The “lost item” motif is not found in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, but is in Cinderella when she loses her glass slipper.

9. Cultural Elements Setting/Geography/Natural Resources
The setting for Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters takes place in an African village just outside a city. This makes the setting very different from Cinderella, which takes place in a chateau in the countryside. Because of the geography and natural resources of this setting, the structure of the homes is very different. Mufaro’s family lives in a round thatched hut made from bricks of mud.