Nyasha (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters)

Nyasha is the main character and protagonist in the children's book Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe.
==Personality==
Nyasha is a kind, caring and compassionate young woman. She is always polite and considerate of others. Despite her sister's bullying, nyasha keeps a positive attitude. Nyasha is very brave; when she found her sister crying, she went to the throne room alone to confront the snake. 
== Appearance ==
Nyasha is a very beautiful young African woman with short black hair in braids, warm brown skin and sparkling black eyes.
==Biography==
In a small village in Africa, a man named Mufaro has two beautiful daughters, Manyara and Nyasha. However the girls are very different from each other. Manyara is bad-tempered and selfish and Nyasha is kind and compassionate. Manyara bullies Nyasha for being a favorite in the village. Nyasha befriends a garden snake named Nyoka while gardening. The Great King asks all his citizens to bring their daughters to him so he can marry one of them who is worthy of being queen. Manyara runs away to the royal city alone. Along the way, she meets a hungry child, but refuses to give him food. She then meets an old woman who gives her advice on how to progress past a grove of laughing trees and a man with his head tucked under his arm, but she refuses to listen to them and hurries to the royal city. Nyasha goes the same path Manyara took except this time, she chooses to feed the boy and listen to the old woman. When she and her father arrive at the city, they find Manyara frightened, saying that the king is a giant monstrous snake with five heads that wanted to eat her. However, when Nyasha enters the king's chambers she finds Nyoka there. Nyoka transforms into a human man and reveals himself as the king. He states that he shapeshifted into the hungry boy, the old woman and the headless man to test the girls to see if one of them was worthy of being a queen. Because of Nyasha's kindness, selflessness and compassion, the king chooses her to be his queen. However, because of Manyara's cruelty, selfishness and arrogance, she becomes Nyasha's servant. 
==Trivia==
The name Nyasha means "mercy" in Shona.
Category: Female
Category: Selfless
Category: Animal Kindness
Category: Monarchs