Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters Visual Summary

Learning to summarize a story is a skill students will use throughout their life. Starting with the Beginning, Middle, and End, students will learn to identify important scenes in stories in a way that creates an easy to understand summary. In this activity, students will create a storyboard that summarizes the beginning, middle, and end of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. Teachers may choose to have students include two cells for each, or differentiate by only including one.

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter Summary Example

Beginning: Manayara tells her sister Nyasha that she will be queen one day, and Nyasha will be her servant. Nyasha has planted a garden and befriends a garden snake who she affectionately names Nyoka. Early one morning a messenger arrives from the city, telling Mufaro that the Great King wishes to choose a wife. They prepare themselves for the journey to the city.

Middle: Manayara sneaks out to journey to the city alone, in order to beat her sister. Along the way she meets a hungry boy and an old woman, both of whom she is rude to. The next day, Nyasha, her father, and the wedding party head out as planned. Nyasha comes across the same people and is kind to them.

End: They find Manayara sobbing at the city gate. She tells them of a cruel snake with five heads, but Nyasha goes ahead anyway. When she arrives at the king’s chamber, she sees her garden snake friend, Nyoka, and he changes shape into the king! He tells Nyasha that he was her garden snake friend, the hungry boy, and the old woman, and that because she was so kind, she is the most beautiful daughter in the land. They get married and Nyasha becomes the queen, with her sister Manayara as a servant in the household.