Auntie Zarkashat Sells Hats

ABOUT THE BOOK
FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Auntie Zarkashat Sells Hats

Text and illustrations: Ala'a Hlehel

Auntie Zarkashat is a merry cap-seller. When the monkeys steal her caps, she uses a clever trick to get them back. The story invites a conversation with the child on being clever to get out of trouble.

Family Activities

While Aunt Zarkashat – a cap seller- was having a nap in the wood, naughty monkeys climbed into her cart and stole her colorful hats.

Video

Auntie Zarkashat Sells Hats – Parent Suggestions

Dear Parents,
While Aunt Zarkashat – a cap seller- was having a nap in the wood, naughty monkeys climbed into her cart and stole her colorful hats. Aunt Zarkashat tries to take her hats back with nice words, but to no avail. Finally, she thinks of a clever way to trick them into giving her back her hats, by taking advantage of their tendency to imitate people.
This folk story is believed to originate in India. It is mentioned in the Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables.
What does the fable tell us? Using our heads is the best method to solve a problem!

We share with you some thoughts regarding the book…

Family Activities

Aunt Zarkashat tries to convince the monkey to give her the hats back by offering them candy. We can think with our child what other food the monkeys might accept.
We think together: if Aunt Zarkashat had tried to take the hats back by force, what would have happened?
Aunt Zarkashat used her head to think of a clever way to get back the hats. We can have a conversation with our child about incidents where he/she had to think to get out of a situation.
We can follow every monkey and what each one did with his hat, especially the chef who likes food and meals. We can encourage our child to think of other jobs related to hats, such as: fireman hat helmet and others. If you have such hats then it would be fun to put them on and play act with them – or you can make hats for yourselves.
We can find a lot of wandering vendors in our towns. Our child might want to pretend to be a wandering salesperson: what would he/she like to sell? What would he call out to attract people to come buy the wares?