He greeted Ferry with the greatest of respect, kissing his lips very much as the boy had done. This giant had come from a low-roofed building without sides, the roof being held by a dozen or more posts. From it, others were emerging. They were dressed very much like the large man, though not a few of them were without the slightest thread of covering, men and women alike.
Then, Ferry and the giant having completed their greeting, they turned to me. The giant smiled. “My mistress,” Ferry said by way of introduction, and instantly the other placed his great palms under my arms and lifted me off my feet. Holding me at arm's length as though I were a baby, he said, “She's dressed! You know what that means, my friend?"
Ferry smilingly nodded. “That's why I insisted upon swimming the stream fully clothed,” he said.
Still holding me aloft, the giant said: “She's beautiful! And is she a good fuck?"
This frightened me a little, but Ferry quickly answered, “She is indeed beautiful. And lying deep between her lily-white thighs you'll find a heaven of delight."
"Then,” cried the giant, setting me down on my feet, “I proclaim her my bride for the night.” And slipping the rope from about his hips, he let drop the skin, a simple operation which left him quite naked. Others now came forward. “Take her away,” said the giant, nodding in the general direction of another, smaller building close to the large one.
Ferry followed me and just as we entered the building, a beautifully formed girl stepped before him. She was stark naked.
Raising her arms about his neck and pressing amorously against him, she said, “My dear friend-you forget Nattie?"
Ferry held her close, kissed her lips. “Of course I haven't, Nattie, and since you are without your badge of servitude, I know you are engaged for tonight, but tomorrow,” he continued, “you shall be my bride."
I heard no more. The girls into whose hands I found myself, escorted me into what proved to be a sleeping-room. Many beds were arranged about the outer side, but the center was devoid of furnishings. As I looked about the room, their dexterous fingers soon freed me from my wet garments. Naked from top to toe, I stood there among them. Towels dried me. My hair was combed and dried; hands patted and caressed me. “You are tired after your journey?” asked one of them in almost perfect German. Nodding my answer, another arranged a bed for me, and a moment later I lay full length upon it. The others knelt all about me, smiling and patting my white body and thighs. One went to the lower end of the bed and massaged my feet.
"You are a very fortunate girl,” said another.
"Fortunate?” I asked, smiling. “I do not understand."
"For having been chosen by the king,” she went on. “It is a great honor to be chosen by our king. He is a wonderful man, and tonight he will make you very, very happy-here,” she said, touching my pussy hairs.
I was dreadfully tired, but as they continued to hover about, and not wishing to offend them, I said, “You speak as though you were well acquainted with his charms. Tell me-has he ever cuddled you in his arms for a whole night?"
"Once,” came the quick answer. “He spends at least one night with every girl. If he takes a fancy to some particular one, he chooses her a second time; otherwise he has her but once."
I noted among other things that one or two of them wore the usual skin affair about their hips while the others were stark naked. In answer to my question regarding this, one of them said, “Those of us who are without covering have been chosen for the night. Those of us you see wearing clothing have yet to be chosen."
"Which means,” I said, smiling “that you are going to spend tonight in some man's arms?"
She smilingly nodded. “We spend every night in some man's bed."
"And what do you do throughout the long hours of the day?” I asked.
"They are not long hours,” she answered. “They are all too short. From sunrise to dark we play and sing and dance. Sometimes we swim in the lake, or romp through the woods with our lovers. At night the men light great fires, then we sit about these and sing or dance and make love."
"And do you not ever make love in the daytime?” I asked, interested in this strange, though straightforward, girl.
"Oh, yes. That is one of the many ways we spend so many happy hours together. We are taught to please the men when we are very young."
"And supposing,” I said, looking very naughty, “you are unfortunate enough not to entice a man to your arms; then what?"
She smiled at this. “Then we flirt with them and make them go with us into the woods."
"And what do you do when you are with your lovers?"
"Anything he wishes us to do,” came the ready and innocent answer.
"And am I supposed to do anything with the man who has chosen me for tonight?” I asked.
They all laughed at this. Then my new friend said, “You will find out tonight. A great banquet will be served, and afterward you will entertain us by lying with our king."
I wondered at this. Could it be possible, I thought, that I was to be offered to that handsome giant under the very eyes of all of them? I said, “But I supposed I was to spend the night in his bed with him. I would greatly dislike to have him fuck me before everyone."
They seemed surprised at this. They exchanged startled looks, then one of them said, “Has not your friend told you of what we do? How we live?” And when I told her I knew very little about their ways, she said, “Be not afraid; we consider it a great honor when our king-what do you call it? — fucks us so everyone can see. After that, every man wants to fuck us, and that makes us very happy."
The simplicity of the girl's statement was nothing short of refreshing. Here was a tribe of people who lived for the very joy of living, giving themselves to any man who desired their favors. Nothing was hidden. A passionate, high-strung people living a life of utmost freedom and ease with no other aim in life other than to make love; a people, as near as I could understand it, who gave themselves under the very eyes of brother or sister.
It was, as I was to find out a few hours later, a sort of ritual among these people. Instead of going at the business in secret and making a mockery of the thing, it was looked upon as a high honor.
Very well, I thought, I don't understand it very clearly, but I'll show these people that I, too, can enter into the spirit of the thing with the same freedom as they do. If I'm supposed to accept the embraces of this or any other man, and I'm supposed to accept it in public, then I'll show them that I am not afraid! I shall join in the feasts, I shall sing and dance, I shall flirt with these men and, if I mistake not, I shall teach these handsome girls a thing or two they do not know!
"You had best sleep,” one of them said, handing me a glass of aromatic liquor. I drifted off into peaceful rest.
When I awakened, I found many changes. In the first place, it was dark beneath the roof, but outside, the whole place was lighted by many bonfires.
"You are rested?” asked a low voice close beside me. Turning, I saw the same well-spoken girl I had conversed with earlier in the afternoon.
"Much, thank you,” I answered, patting her hand which rested on the side of the bed.
I stretched languidly. “Have I slept long?” I asked.
"A few hours,” she said. “It is nothing."
I took it for granted that she had remained by my side, and when I asked her this, she said, “I would have stayed anyway, but it was because our king demanded it."
"Why?” I asked, smiling up into her eyes.
She shrugged her shoulders, then: “So no other man would steal what is the king's right."
"Speak plain,” I said. “What you mean is that you watched over me so no man other than your king would fuck me. Isn't that it?"