The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

Anton dreams about a girl putting a handkerchief over his face, and his mother tells him that he’s dreaming about the girl who lives with her father in the tower of the moon. Anton must meet this girl, but first, he meets an eagle, an ant, a lion, and a dove fighting over a dead ox. Anton divides it for them, and the grateful creatures tell Anton to call for them if he’s in distress.

Anton carries on but then becomes stumped. He calls for the eagle, and Anton turns into an eagle, flying seven miles without breaking a sweat. He arrives at Mother-of-the-Wind’s house and tells her he’s looking for the girl in the moon tower. Wind, the son, comes home and smells royal blood. His mother corrects him: There’s no royal blood—no one comes to her house. To hide from Wind, Anton calls on the ant and morphs into an ant. While Wind eats, his mother asks him about the tower of the moon. Wind says he was just there, and to get there, one must pass by the inhabitants of the moon.

Calling on the dove, Anton turns into a dove, flies to the inhabitants of the moon, and spots the tower of the moon.