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Trapped in a hollow baobab tree after a flood, a giraffe makes a deal to lend the wings of an exhausted blue bird who has alighted on the tree to recover its strength. The giraffe promises to return after one day of flight. But at sunset, greatly tempted by the grand experiences of free movement into breaking her promise, she must decide what’s more important: keeping her vow, or keeping her liberty.
And then, when the flood recedes and leaves behind a desert, and a gazelle seeks refuge at the baobab, the captive bird tries to make a deal of his own, but help does not come to him the way he expects—leading to unintended consequences for them all. And so, each learns that freedom cannot be achieved by betrayal , or by good intentions or prayer; and that only honesty and self-knowledge can deliver one from both physical and mental prisons.
Poetic, evocative, and vibrantly illustrated in a striking expressionistic way that will entrance children and adults alike, this gentle fable is a perfect example of story and moral that leads to a satisfying conclusion: those who would be free must first feel free.
ALLAN KOLSKI HORWITZ was born and raised in South Africa. In his twenties, he moved between the Middle East, Europe, and North America, before returning to live in Johannesburg in 1986. Since then, he has worked as an organizer and educator in the South African trade union and social housing movements. He is a writer, songwriter, and singer, a member of the Botsotso Jesters poetry performance group, and sits on the Botsotso Publishing editorial board. His short fiction has been published in three collections: Un/common Ground, Out of the Wreckage, and Meditations of a Non-White White. He has received the Olive Schreiner Prize for Poetry and was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Short Fiction.
ANNA VARNEY was born in 1959 in South Africa. She is an artist, poet and psychotherapist. As a member of the Botsotso Jesters poetry performance group from 1995 to 2001, she was the group’s first book designer and created the logo and style for what became Botsotso Publishing. This distinctive combining of Word and Image sets Botsotso apart from other South African publishers and has greatly contributed to its success as a multi-disciplinary bridge. Her poetry can be found in the Botsotso Jester collections We Jive like This and Dirty Washing as well as on the group’s poetry/soundscape albums which can be accessed via the Botsotso website (www.botsotso.org.za)