The Futurological Congress part 2

"If the truth cannot be altered, let us at least conceal it."

Stanislaw Lem, The Futurological Congress

The Futurological Congress part 1

"What was civilization, ever, but the attempt by man to talk himself into being good?"

Stanislaw Lem, The Futurological Congress

The Wizard of Earthsea part 1

“Now that they stood on Roke Knoll, hate and rage were gone, replaced by utter certainty. He need envy no one. He knew that his power, this night, on this dark enchanted ground, was greater than it had ever been, filling him till he trembled with the sense of strength barely kept in check.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wizard of Earthsea

Black Folktales part 5

Not too many minutes had passed before the young woman fainted once again. The man was almost upon her when the young witch doctor shouted, “Now!” and uttered a strange word. She, too, rose from the ground and, waving her arms like wings, she flew into the distance and out of sight.

This time the man with the whip knew who was responsible, and as he pulled back his arm to lash the young witch doctor, the young man yelled, “Now! Now! Everyone!” He uttered the strange word, and all of the Africans dropped their hoes, stretched out their arms, and flew away, back to their home, back to Africa.

That was long ago, and no one now remembers what word it was that the young witch doctor knew that could make people fly. But who knows? Maybe one morning someone will awake with a strange word on his tongue and, uttering it, we will all stretch out our arms and take to the air, leaving these blood-drenched fields of our misery behind.

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Black Folktales part 4

They took him on out behind the jail where the gallows was built. Stagolee got up on the scaffold, and the sheriff dropped the rope around his neck and tightened it. Then the hangman opened up on the trap door, and there was Stack, swinging ten feet in the air, laughing as loud as you ever heard anybody laugh. They let him hang there for a half hour, and Stagolee was still laughing.

“Hey, man! This rope is ticklish.”

The white folks just looked at each other and realized that Stack’s neck just wouldn’t crack. So they cut him down, and Stagolee went back home and went back to bed.

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Black Folktales part 3

“And that’s how the Snake got his rattles. By that time, though, almost everybody was so afraid of him anyway that hardly anyone ever came around to see him. When they did, though, he shook his tail right hard, and it rattled through the forest, letting everybody know: this is Mr. Snake here. You can’t step on me now.”

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Black Folktales part 2

“The sky used to be very close to the ground. In fact, it wasn’t any higher than a man’s arm when he raised it above his head. Whenever anybody got hungry, all he had to do was to reach up and break off a piece of the sky and eat it. That way, no one ever had to work.”

Julius Lester, Black Folktales