Over the weekend, a picture of a Malay-language children’s book went viral on Facebook, with over 6,500 shares and 2,400 reactions.
The children’s book in question is appears to be a Malay version of the classic story, Rapunzel. However, the character’s name was changed to “Rapunzelilah”, and instead of having her famous long locks, she has an extremely long tudung!
Source: Facebook
This book, titled “Tudung Rapunzelilah” by Shah Bakri, became the subject of widespread debate and amusement among Malaysian netizens, many of them giving mixed opinions about a Malay version of the classic children’s story.
Some of them pointed out how her behaviour appears to contradict her beliefs, based on the cover of the storybook.
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
Some netizens also saw the advantages of having an extremely long tudung instead of magical, long hair.
Source: Facebook
However, there were many who explained the entire story of Rapunzelilah, and it actually sounds quite inspirational!
Source: Facebook
This comment from a netizen, who claims to personally know the author, explained what the book was actually about.
Apparently, the book is about a young girl who wants to be like Rapunzel and looks up to the character, so she decides to take fate into her own hands by making a long tudung, since she couldn’t grow long hair!
Source: Facebook
When you think about it, this story teaches a valuable lesson to kids and shows that we can be in charge of making our own dreams come true, regardless of our circumstances.
Well, this is definitely a prime example of why we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover!
Also read: Son of Rubber Tapper from Malaysia Just Received Prestigious American Scholarship
