-- for Theresa
*
A handsome soldier of fortune was walking down the road. He whistled a happy tune and as he whistled he dreamed of all the riches in the world and all the pretty girls.
Suddenly, at a bend in the road, he chanced upon a beautiful maiden. Her eyes were the colour of emeralds and her hair was the colour of night.
"Handsome soldier!", she cried
" Won't you help a young maiden in her hour of need?"
The soldier was indeed, both handsome and (or so he thought) a gentleman, and he replied:-
"How might I assist you, fair maiden?"
The beautiful young girl tapped an old dead tree beside the road:-
"This tree is hollow.", She said.
"If you allow me to lower you down inside with this rope you will find yourself in a large hall. You will see three doors. Behind each door you will find a large dog. If you give each dog a bone he will reward you by revealing to you a secret -- one of the three secrets of the sphinx."
The handsome soldier had never heard of 'The Three Secrets of the Sphinx". The young maiden explained that the city that the handsome soldier was walking towards had a castle and in the castle there lived a queen -- a queen that no-one had ever seen because it was guarded by a giant sphinx! The sphinx would not let any man pass unless he knew the three secrets.
The young maiden went on to explain that it was rumored that any man who discovered the three secrets of the sphinx would find his fortune and discover his destiny within the walls of the queen's forbidden castle.
The handsome soldier thought about what the young maiden had said:-
"And what is it that you require in return for this generosity?"
The beautiful young girl replied:-
"You will find an old cinder box in the hall. You will need it when you see the dogs. I would be very grateful if you could bring it back for me."
And with those words she gave the handsome soldier three bones.
So the handsome soldier found himself being lowered down by a rope into the hollow of the tree and just as the young maiden had said, he eventually came to a large hall. There were three doors to one side. Each one was larger than the one before. And there, lying upon the floor, the soldier saw the cinder box that the young maiden had asked for. He picked it up.
The soldier then went to the smallest of the three doors. He paused for a moment and then opened the door and stepped inside.
What the handsome soldier saw nearly made his hat fall off!
Upon the wall there hung a beautiful silken tapestry and before it, lying on a silken carpet there was a dog; an enormous dog - and its eyes were as big as chastity cages!
The dog looked at the handsome soldier with its huge eyes. The soldier crept forward and from his pocket he took out a bone and gave it to the great dog. The dog blinked once and then, to the soldier's huge surprise, it said:-
"Have you come to learn the first secret of the sphinx?"
Without even pausing to consider, the soldier replied:
"Yes!"
The dog then said:
"Open the cinder box and then look upon the silken tapestry."
When the soldier opened the cinder box there was suddenly a great cloud of dust and the soldier felt very strange indeed. What came out of the cinder box didn't smell like cinders and didn't look like cinders, but then, nothing at all seemed quite the same as it had just a few moments before! The dog's eyes grew wider and wider and began to spin a-round and a-round. And the tapestry upon the wall seemed to have become a viewing glass that drew his eyes to gaze inside... - and what he gazed upon he could not drag his eyes away from!
He saw a pathetic pleading slave with his eyes full of tears. He was pleading for his mistress to release him. He cried that he could not bear the severity of her punishments and that his Mistress deserved a stronger slave!
And, as in a dream the handsome soldier saw a terrifying woman with anger in her heart. Her dress was the colour a burning sky and her eyes were the colour of emeralds and her hair was the colour of night.
To punish her slave for his weakness, she had her cowardly slave all dressed in pretty, sissy things. She had him tied over a whipping bar with his wrists tied to his ankles. He had his dress and petticoats pulled over his back and his pretty knickers, all shapeless, lay around his ankles.
His dress and petticoats looked as pretty as a flower -- a flower with a thousand petals all shaking and dancing -- a flower with a crimson heart:- crimson, because, like some great relentless clock, the slaves Mistress was hammering down with her great cane and painting the centre of that flowery world with bloody shades of pain.
She heard his screams: and each one was a little gift -- a breath of life that brightened for its moment a burning thrill that she nurtured deep, deep down inside of her. And if she got the rhythm right each scream added a little heat where there was a little less before. And so, with greater urgency and force, the strokes rained down and kept there endless rhythm to fire the great engine of her pleasure.
Was it yesterday or was it a thousand years ago that the first great stroke had shaken his world apart? Was it yesterday or was it a thousand years ago that something other than his Mistress and the pain that she gave defined the beginning and the ending of his world. After what seemed an eternity there was no longer any hope -- no promise of awakening - no reprieve. He realized, finally, that there was never any right or wrong - no justice served. There was only ever the will of his mighty Mistress and whatever strength that he had left to endure her gift of pain. It wasn't giving-up -- it was a divine surrender!
And when his Mistress saw the transformation in her slave: when she saw the alchemy of agony transmute all hope into silent acceptance and obedience, it was then -- at that moment, that the blaze of fire that she had tended to herself, spilled over the break and set her world alight with ecstasy.
