How Did My Hair Turn Purple?: Musoman Legends & Lore

It's practically not normal to walk around with purely natural-colored hair these days in the Pacific Northwest. So my brother, his girlfriend, and I were just blending in when we added a little purple to our locks. But in Musoma, purple streaks are not the common sight, and my students wanted to know, what had I done?!

So of course I told them...

• Sometimes I told them about the bear that I'd met when I was picking huckleberries in the mountains. He was so rude. He sat above me drooling huckleberry juice on my head.
• Sometimes I said that when I was at the ocean with my family, boogie boarding, an octopus grabbed me by a shock of hair and released his purple ink just at the same time as I slipped away.
• Sometimes I explained that I'd been under stress in the States, which can turn a person's hair white. But it just so happened that blueberries are a comfort food for me; I ate so many the white streak turned purple.
• As legend and lore grew (with art to match), new stories started to circulate. My favorite is the one about how, since I'm a mermaid... and everyone knows mermaids' natural hair color is purple or green or something... obviously, I've just been dying my hair a normal color all this time to stay incognito. I just missed a patch.