In a Baoulé village in Côte d’Ivoire, there lived a young woman whose beauty attracted the attention of many suitors. As she grew older, young men began approaching her family, hoping to marry her. Each came with his own qualities. Some were wealthy, some were hardworking, and others were respected by their families and neighbours. Yet the young woman was never satisfied.
She had one condition that mattered greatly to her. She wanted a husband without a scar on his body.
To her, a scar was a flaw. It did not matter whether the man was kind, responsible or hardworking. If she discovered a mark on his body, she rejected him.
Her parents tried to reason with her. They reminded her that nobody was perfect and that a person’s character mattered more than physical appearance. But she would not listen.
One by one, the suitors disappeared.
Then, one day, a stranger arrived.
He was handsome, confident and well dressed. Unlike the men she had rejected, he had no visible scar. The young woman was immediately impressed.
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She believed she had finally found the husband she wanted.
Her parents were not as confident as she was. They did not know the stranger or his family. They wondered where he had come from and why he had appeared so suddenly. But their daughter was convinced that she had made the right choice.
The stranger spoke pleasantly and behaved respectfully. He gave the impression of a man who knew exactly what he wanted.
Before long, arrangements were made for the marriage.
The young woman left her family and followed her new husband.
At first, she was happy. She believed that all her previous disappointments had finally led her to this moment. She had searched for a husband without a scar, and now she had found one.
But there were things about her new husband that she did not understand.
His home seemed unfamiliar.
His surroundings were unlike those she had known.
And there was something about him that made her uneasy.
She could not explain the feeling.
She had been so focused on his appearance that she had never asked the questions that mattered most.
Who was he?
Where had he come from?
Why had he chosen her?
What kind of family did he belong to?
The answers would eventually frighten her.
Her husband was not an ordinary man.
He was a genie.
The discovery shattered everything she believed about her marriage.
The man she had chosen because he appeared perfect was not what he seemed. His handsome appearance had hidden his true nature.
The young woman became frightened.
She thought about her parents and remembered their warnings. They had told her not to judge people simply by what they looked like.
She had ignored them.
Now she was trapped in a world she did not understand.
Her fear grew stronger as she learned more about the supernatural world surrounding her. She realised that she had followed a stranger without knowing his true identity, and the decision had placed her in serious danger.
Eventually, circumstances created an opportunity for her to leave.
She began the difficult journey back home.
But returning was not going to be easy.
The path took her through unfamiliar places. The forest seemed endless, and every sound made her nervous. She knew that danger could appear without warning.
She had entered the supernatural world as a confident bride.
Now she travelled as a frightened young woman desperate to see her family again.
The journey forced her to depend on courage rather than beauty.
She could no longer rely on her appearance or the idea of finding a perfect husband.
She needed to survive.
As she travelled, she encountered dangers that threatened to prevent her from reaching home.
At one point, she received help from an unexpected source.
A magical horse appeared.
The horse was not an ordinary animal. It possessed extraordinary abilities and became closely connected to the young woman’s escape.
Whenever danger approached, the horse helped her move away from it.
The young woman quickly understood that without this strange companion, she might never make it home.
The horse carried her through difficult stretches of the journey and helped her escape situations that would otherwise have ended badly.
With every mile, the young woman became more thoughtful.
She began thinking about the men she had rejected.
Some had carried scars.
Some had physical imperfections.
But what did those scars really mean?
A scar could come from an accident.
It could come from protecting someone.
It could come from surviving an illness or a dangerous experience.
A scar could tell a story.
Yet she had treated every scar as a reason to reject a person.
Meanwhile, the man without a scar had turned out to be a supernatural stranger whose true identity she had never known.
She began to understand how badly she had confused appearance with character.
The journey continued.
The magical horse remained her protector.
The young woman became more courageous with every danger she survived.
She was no longer thinking about the perfect husband she had imagined.
She was thinking about getting home alive.
Her priorities had changed.
She had once believed that the most important thing in marriage was finding someone who looked exactly the way she wanted.
Now she understood that trust, honesty and character were much more important.
The forest became a place of testing.
Every difficult moment taught her something.
She learned to observe before trusting.
She learned to listen before making decisions.
She learned that a stranger’s pleasant words did not necessarily reveal his true intentions.
Most importantly, she learned that people cannot be judged by appearances alone.
Eventually, after many trials, she came within reach of her home.
The sight of familiar surroundings filled her with relief.
She had travelled through a world she had never imagined existed.
She had experienced a marriage that had turned into a nightmare.
She had faced supernatural danger.
And she had survived.
When her family saw her again, they were overwhelmed with emotion.
They had feared that she might never return.
The young woman told them everything that had happened.
She explained how she had chosen the stranger because he appeared to be the perfect husband.
She told them what she later discovered about his true identity.
She described the dangers she had encountered and the magical horse that had helped her escape.
Her family listened carefully.
The young woman had returned, but she was no longer the same person who had left.
The experience had changed her understanding of life.
She now knew that beauty could deceive.
She knew that a person’s outward appearance could reveal very little about their character.
She also understood that rejecting someone because of a scar could mean overlooking a good heart.
Her parents did not need to lecture her.
Her journey had already taught her the lesson they had tried to explain.
The young woman also began to understand the importance of making careful choices.
A decision that seems small can sometimes change the entire direction of a person’s life.
Her decision to reject men because of scars had seemed harmless.
Her decision to accept the mysterious stranger because he had no scar had seemed like a triumph.
But that choice had taken her into danger.
The experience showed her that the qualities she had considered important were not necessarily the qualities that would protect her.
She had searched for perfection and nearly lost herself.
The magical horse had also taught her an unexpected lesson.
Help can come from places we never expect.
The stranger she trusted brought danger, while the magical horse she could never have anticipated became a source of protection.
The young woman therefore returned home with a new understanding of trust.
She knew that people deserved to be judged by their actions, not simply by their appearance.
She understood that marriage was not a competition to find the most handsome person or the person with the fewest physical imperfections.
Marriage required trust, understanding, honesty and good character.
Her journey had begun with a search for perfection.
It ended with a search for wisdom.
The village eventually learned about her extraordinary experience.
Her story became a warning for young people who were too quick to judge others.
A scar could not tell the whole story of a person.
Neither could beauty.
Neither could wealth.
Neither could a pleasant voice or charming behaviour.
What mattered was what existed beneath the surface.
The young woman’s greatest mistake had been believing that she could recognize a good husband simply by looking at him.
Her greatest achievement was learning that she could not.
She had entered the unknown because she thought she had found perfection.
She returned knowing that perfection was an illusion.
The experience did not make her bitter.
Instead, it made her wiser.
She understood that every person has imperfections, visible or hidden.
Some people carry scars on their bodies.
Others carry wounds in their hearts.
Some flaws can be seen immediately.
Others remain hidden until a person’s true character is revealed.
The young woman had learned this lesson through a journey she would never forget.
And whenever she remembered the mysterious stranger and the magical horse, she also remembered the most important lesson of her life:
A beautiful appearance can attract the eye, but only good character deserves the heart.
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Moral Lesson
Do not judge people by physical appearance. Beauty and perfection can be deceptive, while honesty, character and trustworthiness are far more valuable.
Knowledge Check
1. What condition did the young woman place on her future husband?
She wanted a husband without any scar on his body.
2. Why did she reject several suitors?
She rejected them because she considered their physical scars or imperfections unacceptable.
3. What was unusual about the stranger she eventually married?
He appeared to be an ordinary handsome man but was actually a supernatural being, a genie.
4. Why did the young woman have to begin a journey home?
After discovering the stranger’s true nature, she needed to escape the supernatural world and return to her family.
5. How did the magical horse help her?
It helped her escape danger and protected her during her difficult journey home.
6. What important lesson did the young woman learn?
She learned that physical appearance does not reveal a person’s true character and that beauty should never be valued above honesty, kindness and trustworthiness.
Source
Adapted from Koffi Koffi, Les contes d’Ahoko Kouah’in: La jeune fille, le génie et le cheval (2014).
