They bound the girl to the bull with ropes and garland of roses.\u00c2\u00a0 She was beautiful and naked and exposed to sun and eyes alike, her head resting just at the top of the bull\u2019s head so that her hair hung across its horns and eyes and nostrils.\u00c2\u00a0 She didn\u2019t cry or scream, but she wore a mask of fright so frightful I nearly cried and screamed for her.<\/p>\n
When they sent the bull, it came straight to me, as though the beast knew where to go and who I was.\u00c2\u00a0 The beast was strong, and sturdy, but tired, and it bowed its head to me by bending its front two legs, presenting the girl.<\/p>\n
I reached out with a hand so the bull could sniff me, not unlike a dog, and then I touched its forehead and then I touched hers.\u00c2\u00a0 At first, the girl did not smile, her expression remained rigid and unchanging.\u00c2\u00a0 She was a sacrifice, as the bull was a sacrifice, both of which I gladly accepted.<\/p>\n
I removed the garlands first, the roses and their thorns, and twice drew my own blood but none fresh from the girl.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u2019d suffered enough.\u00c2\u00a0 She quavered beneath my touch.\u00c2\u00a0 I was gentle.<\/p>\n
I untied the ropes, carefully, so as not to cause further abrasions to either girl or beast.\u00c2\u00a0 She slipped silently into my arms.\u00c2\u00a0 I carried the girl to my bed and laid out, like a sumptuous feast, incredibly enticing, soft, fragile.\u00c2\u00a0 I covered her nakedness with satin and, kissing her briefly on the lips, I whispered, \u201cYou\u2019ve nothing left to fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
I left her to sleep.<\/p>\n
The bull awaited my return, still prostrate, snorting and pawing the ground, anxious for the burden it had lost.\u00c2\u00a0 Again, I touched its forehead, whispered calming nonsensical sounds to the beast, and led it to my enclosed pasture, where I kept my heifer.<\/p>\n
Mine was a small farm, far beyond the outskirts of any town, nowhere near the cities, far enough from the capitals of either warring country to be on either side at any given time.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn\u2019t care.\u00c2\u00a0 Far enough, too, to have not been the bull\u2019s destination, or the girl\u2019s, but I didn\u2019t care about that, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"