My grandmother's two slaves didn't speak her language. The three of them having to work together like they did, learned to communicate in a "pigeon English" in a relatively short time. Her compassion for enslaved men led her to free them once her farm had been established.

Big Mama would also learn that the "The Prince" never fully recovered from the inhuman condiditons he suffered in the "Middle Passage." He was one of those survivors who were either maimed or suffered disease. And he also never really got use to the harsh Maryland winters.

He more than made up for his inability to do the hard physical work because of the skills he had acquired as the son of a king. His great hunting ability enabled him to secure meat even during lean times. He had a tremendous ability to foretell the weather, and an uncanny sense of timing as to when it was best to plant the heaviest. He knew to plant when the weather was good, and to cut back when it was not. He even devised a way to channel water to irrigate the farm that made it flourish in a way that none of the surrounding farmlands could match.