The People Could Fly

Long ago in Africa, many people had the power to fly, but they lost their wings when they were captured and brought across the ocean in the hulls of slave ships. On a plantation where the sun beat down like a hammer, a young woman named Sarah struggled to work with her baby strapped to her back. When the baby cried from hunger and heat, the Overseer lashed them both with his whip. An old man named Toby, who still remembered the ancient magic, saw Sarah fall. He walked to her and whispered secret, rhythmic words from their homeland. Suddenly, Sarah stood, took a step into the air, and began to soar like an eagle. One by one, as the Overseer's whip struck other workers, Toby whispered the words 'Kum... buba yali... buba tambe.' The field hands dropped their hoes, clapped their hands, and rose into the sky in a great black cloud of liberation. They flew over the fences and the trees, leaving the Master and the Driver shouting in the dust, as they followed the wind back to the freedom of the sky.