when people forgot how to fly

This story, written by Shizuka Kawamura, won the award for 'Best Story.' It is well written and the tale is touching. Even though this story and the others were written last summer, I recall this one very often.

A long, long time ago, all human beings could fly in the sky. It was a very natural thing.

[All thumbnails are linked to images of the full page.]

One day, a girl was born to a village. Her name was Sora.

'Sora' means 'sky' in Japanese.

Unfortunately she couldn't fly, because she didn't have wings. People of the village were afraid of her. But since she was born, only good things happened in the village. Because of that, they called her 'The Happy Angel' and valued her.

However, rumor of her spread quietly over the world. Other villages wanted her and fought over her. The people of her village, struggled to protect Sora.

Sora knew that the fighting was because of her. She wanted it to end, so she took her own life.

All the human beings regretted the death that they had caused.

The sadness did not disappear for some years.

When the sadness lifted, the people realized that they had forgotten how to fly, and naturally their wings were lost.

The people accepted their loss obediently. And from that time, humans have never remembered how to fly.