The Fairmaid and the Girl Who Wanted More Fairmaid, Fairmaid 1 ‘Dey messin’ up de seas’. What do you think this means? 2 a) What are the ellies’ ivories ? b) What is a plea ? 3 In Standard English, write a list of three of the things Baby-K is worried about. 4 Which words in the poem are onomatopoeic? Why did the poet choose these words? 5 In the last few lines of the poem, the poet asks the same question twice. a) Is it a good way to end the poem? Explain why you think that. b) Write the question in Standard English. 6 Find two other places in the poem where the poet uses repetition. 7 What is the poet’s point of view? 8 What do the photographs on this page and on page 74 add to the poem? Now read another poem by the same poet.
Still that girl wanted more – a chest of gold, a galleon of silver, all the sea’s fine treasure. So to her ocean-home a sad fairmaid returned. But still she yearned for her precious comb.
standing on your fishtail just below my window hair in a moonglow. What will you give me if I return your fairmaid comb, the golden one I found beside the ocean’s foam? ‘A box of twelve oysters, each one with a golden pearl,
As for that girl who wanted more, she tosses to this day in her sleep like a frigate in the stormy deep, like a sea without a shore.
a necklace of coral, this will be yours.’
1 Where did the girl find the fairmaid’s comb? 2 A galleon and a frigate are both types of what?
• Fairmaid: Help students to see that Nichols uses a character from a traditional story to tell a modern fable. • Extension: Ask students to research other traditional stories that have messages. They can ask family members if they know any. Invite them to retell these stories to the class. • Show videos of Grace Nichols reading her poems online, for example: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/, then click on ‘Explore’ and search for ‘Grace Nichols’; https://clpe.org.uk then click on ‘Poetryline’. Ask students to compare the experience of reading a poem with that of hearing the poet read it aloud. 3 Think of a synonym for yearned . 4 she tosses to this day in her sleep What does this tell us about how the girl feels? 5 What is the message of this poem? 6 What poetic device is used in both of the last two lines? a) simile b) metaphor 7 What other folklore characters do you know? 8 In what ways is this poem different from Baby-K Rap Rhyme ? Which poem do you prefer and why?
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