Sample
from
African Stories
Raintree English Readers
Grade 5
retold by
Alan Moore
The Hairdresser
The next morning at dawn all the young girls of the village came to Fatou's house and called her.
'We're going to the hairdresser's to have our hair done. Come with us, Fatou.'
'I'm sorry,' Fatou said, 'but I can't come with you right now. I've got lots of work to do. I'll catch up with you later. But, wait, I'm not sure how to get there. When you go along the path and it divides into two, can you leave something to show me the way? You can put a branch of a tree there to show me the right way.'
'Yes, okay,' the girls called out. 'We'll do that for you.'
Fatou got on with her work. She didn't stop for one moment. As soon as she had finished one thing, her stepmother gave her something else to do. By three o'clock, Fatou was quite tired but she had finished all her jobs. Her stepmother couldn't think of anything else for her to do.
'Okay, Fatou, you can go now.'
Fatou set off down the path into the forest. It was hot and very quiet, too. All the birds and animals were asleep. Soon she came to a place where the path divided into two.
Now the girls that morning hadn't been very happy with Fatou. They thought that Fatou didn't want to go with them. They thought that she was too proud of herself. They didn't know that it was Fatou's stepmother who had stopped her from going. So the girls decided to play a trick on Fatou. They put a branch on the wrong part of the path! And then they all started laughing at the trick they had played. Fatou would take the wrong path, and not get to the hairdresser's till it was too late!
More of this and other stories in
African Stories
retold by
Alan Moore
Raintree English Readers
Grade 5
ISBN 967 65 3803 5
This text is copyright Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 1997.
If you can read this sample easily, you can enjoy any Raintree English Reader from Grade 1 through to Grade 5.
Return to the Raintree English Readers bibliography
'Luxfield' Home Page