From the time I was little, I did not accept my mother’s instruction. She was always trying to force me to obey her will. I pretended to agree with her. I did everything she told me to do. I learned all her magic tricks, and then I used them to disappear.

She still has me in her power. I can’t get to the river at the edge of her domain. One day, I will.

I pray I will.

Black Girl in The Glass Axe, Yellow Fairy Book. Painting by Alfred Neville Lewis.