The history of conquest is a scourge on the human condition. A lingering one.

Fantasies sometimes reveal undisclosed information about ourselves: our hidden phobias, unspoken desires and unexamined motives. And group fantasies say much about our culture—our society's real values as opposed to the ideals that receive mainly lip service.

Last spring, I got a message from the universe. Now I don’t get too many messages from the universe; sometimes I don’t even get my phone messages. But this message was very loud, and it came at four in the morning in the form of a tremendous thud from my closet. This particular message was one...

There was once a crow who was very hungry. Flying over the tops of the trees, it spotted a large, tasty-looking walnut growing from one of the tallest branches below. Seeing the makings of a fine supper, the crow swooped down and plucked the dangling walnut and held it triumphantly in its beak....

Exodus 16: 1-31; 35 (New Revised Standard Version) The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness... The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness....

A retelling of a Buddhist Jataka Tale. Once there was a village that was prosperous. The wealthiest of the villagers was afraid that the town’s reputation would attract thieves, so they buried a huge lump of gold in a field for safe keeping. Many years passed and the village lost much of its...

Based on "A Calabash of Poi," originally published in In the Path of the Trade Winds by Coral Wells Thorpe (New York/London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1924). It was a sizable house, as Hawaiian houses go, perhaps fifty feet long, its side thatched with ti-leaves—a sign of rank. Its only window, about a...

Adapted from a Haitian tale.To whom does the water belong? There was once a drought in the country. The streams dried up and the wells went dry. God saw there was no place for the animals to drink. God provided a well with the condition that it must be taken care of so all may use it. God said,...