The Princess Who Lost Her Hair: An Akamba Legend

This book is about a princess who was vain and selfish and lost all her hair and who lost her kingdom because of it. It is only because of a selfless beggar boy named Muoma who heeds the advice of the gods posing as hungry animals around him that the kingdom and her beauty is restored and saved.

I love this book both for its message of selflessness and its cultural background. It is a great way to introduce a universal message while exploring cultural diversity.

I would have the children think of a time they shunned someone asking for help and explore what they may have done differently. OR, I could have a drawing of the princess and I could have the children each draw selfless personality traits into a strand of hair. We could discuss show more those traits and why they are important to being a good person as we attach them to the head of our classroom princess, beautifying her inside and out! show less

The Princess Who Lost Her Hair is a childrens book about a Princess who has long beautiful hair that everyone admired. A bird wants to use some of the princess's hair to make his nest. The princess selfishly says no and the bird casts a curse on the princess and she looses all her hair. Through the kindness of a begger, the princess learns to share.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The story kept a steady pace and I couldn't wait to see how the end turned out. This book had a great lesson in sharing.

You could use this book to show kids that good comes from sharing.

This book is about a selfish Princess who had the most beautiful hair. But because of her selfish ways, she lost ALL of her hair. A magic bird placed a curse upon the Princess because the Princess refused to share some of her beautiful, soft hair with the bird. The bird wanted to build a nest with her hair. A giving, beggar boy voluntarily set out on a journey all alone to find this "magic bird." He wanted to help the Princess restore her beautiful hair. The beggar found the bird, obtained magic seeds and helped the Princess grow her hair back. In the end, the beggar married the Princess and they lived happily ever after.

I was not impressed with this book. This book was kind of long and had a very busy plot. I did like the show more illustrations, though. They were very bright and full of character.

If I were to read this book to my class, I would give my students a an art project. I would probably have them color, cut, paste and create a picture of the "magic bird." I would also discuss with my students the type of person the Princess was and see what they would say about her. show less

Summary: This book is about a princess whohas long hair that everyone in the kingdom adores. One day a bird comes by to see the princess and ask for some of her hair to buld a nest. The bird tells the princes that she can spare some hair, but the princess becomes furious and refuses to give the bird some hair. The princess is so angry she demands the bird to leave. The bird saids he will leave, but one day you will wish that you had given me some of your hair, for when the dry season comes, you will lose your hair. The story goes on to introduce Muoma, a hungry beggar boy, who observed the incident. Muoma dreams about the bird and wanting to shot the bird with an arrow, but the bird disappears into the red sunset. Months pass and the show more dry season sets in, and a gust of wind takes the princess's hair. The princess hides in her chamber, scared of what the of people of the kingdom would think of her. The king tried everything to get the princess's hair back, but nothing worked. Muoma dreams of the solution and sets off on a journey to help get the princess her hair back. During Muoma's journey he gives his water to thirsty flower, his food to a hungry ant, and promises a mouse that he would save her family. Muoma continues his journey even though he was hungry, thirsty and tired. Once Muoma comes to the mountain, he sees three beautiful trees. Eac tree has a gift for Muoma. The last tree has a gift for the princess to get her hair back. Muoma follows the bird instructions to take care of the gift. He plants the the seed in the princess's garden and take care of it. Eventually the princess starts to take care of the seed. Muoma catches the princess watering the plant and explains his journey and eventually she gets her hair back. Muoma and the princess marry and the seed becomes a tree with birds nesting in it and the princess gladly gives up some of her hair to each of the nests.

Personal Reaction: I liked this story. This story teaches children that they should be happy for what they have. Also at the same time children and adults should share the bounties of their gifts.

Classroom extensions: 1. This book can be used in the classroom to discuss sharing. 2. Students can write a journal enrty after being read this book, on why it is important to share and why. show less

This story is an Akamba legend. It is about a princess with long beautiful hair. A bird comes and asks for a piece of her hair for his nest. She says no to the bird not knowing this greed would cause her country drought. A begger boy dreams about the bird and his plan. The boy goes on a journey to seek the bird. He stops the drought and ends up marrying the priness.

I like this book because the concept is about greed. The princess is greedy with her hair and causes a drought. She learns her lesson and greatness comes to her and her country. This shows that greed will only make terrible things.

I would use this book in the classroom to show the historical story of the Akamba people. It will show them what happens when people are greedy and show more what happens when people are not greedy. show less

SUMMARY:
This is a legend about a beautiful but vain princess who was blessed with alot of hair. She refused to give any of her hair away and then lost it all. This was indeed a sad day for the princess and her dad, the king, who summoned every magician to get his daughter's hair back. However, it took one selfless act of a begger boy who was chased away previously by the king when he asked for some food to eat, to get the princess's hair back. In the end, the princess and the begger boy got married. This also portryed that we never know who we fall in love with.

PERSONAL:
I enjoyed this story very much even though it was very predictable like every other legend. It has a little mystery which I have always enjoyed when reading. show more

CLASSROOM:
The students will form groups. Each group will dramatize their favorite part of the story.
The students can also come up with a new modern version for the story. For example, the high school girl lost her hair when she used too many different hair products to please friends and so on. show less

This story is about a young girl who is a princess. The princess has beautiful long hair. She also is very selfish and mean. One day a bird came to play with her and she shooed the bird away. Well, a storm hit her palace and her hair disappeared. A young boy came and promised to fix her problem. Eventually the boy made her hair grow back and what more beautiful than before.
I can relate to the story because my hair is extremely long. Las year I actually cut all my hair off because my father passed away. But it has only been a year and my hair is just as long and I feel really good.
I am going to use the story in my class room two different ways. I will have the class cut and draw out a princess girl and princes and act out the story and show more what happened to learn how to make a paper board pup it show. I also will have the class create a really big princess out of sturdy card board paper and every day the classes will create a math problem on the back of a small piece of black paper. Well, after the students have finished and made sure the answer is correct they will tape the black pieces of paper, with the math problem showing, on the princess’s haed and at the end of the school year she should have beautiful long hair like the princess in the story. show less