Taurus

Inspiration: Picture from the PS4 Game 'Wild", sent by Lynn de Jong, a friend from my writers group.



Looking down on my beautiful little newborn, I remember the bloody mess of his conception. Some people say childbirth is messy, it was nothing compared to blood and rain streaming all over me on the day he was conceived.

It had been raining for months. I came back from a long ride with my mate, looking for dryer grounds for our horses and cattle. We make a good team. Mino is very good at guiding a horse with his mind, he is strong and very willful. My mind tends to wander easily, but I have a sharp eye and a good sense for balance. So I am the perfect scout, standing on the back of the horse Mino is guiding.

That night when we came home, it had stopped raining for the first time in three weeks. The sky was pink in the light of the late afternoon, promising more rain tomorrow. We were in a gloomy mood when we were met by the elders. Mino almost lost it when he heard the elders had picked me for their ancient ceremony. We all had heard the tales of the ceremony of course, but it was never performed in our lifetime.

‘How can you pick her? She is hardly a virgin! We have been together for months now.’
‘Exactly,’ the elder answered, not wanting to dwell on that fact. ‘But she has never been with a bull has she? So technically that makes her a virgin for our purpose. She is perfect, standing strong on her feet and not too squeamish.’ And so it was decided, it had to be me.

On the day of the ceremony the weather gods seemed to agree with it, sending us more rain and even storm and thunder, making a real spectacle of it. First the bull was led to the cow, which he rejected. Then he was led to me. I was covered in cow dung and maybe something else, the bull liked that. It hurt like hell. I think I was bleeding, I was certainly screaming, but never lost my balance. I was standing strong and proud. After the bull did what he had to do, the elders slit his throat, catching the blood and pouring it all over me, like fertilizing me twice. I just stood there, till the rain had washed off all the cow dung, all the blood, all my tears. When it was done, Mino wrapped me in a blanket and took me home.

‘It looks just like its father, you can’t keep it,’ Mino says, looking down on the baby. How can he say that? The baby is perfect. Yes, he has his father’s eyes, his father’s nose, and his father’s chin. He even has his father’s lovely hairy ears standing proudly on his head. But he is human in every other aspect. Since his conception the rains have stopped, our land has dried, our cattle is healthy again.

‘Oh but I am! I am keeping him, look at him, how beautiful he is, a gift from the gods.’
Mino just grumps, turning his head away.
‘Hey, I am naming him after you, Mino! You will help me raise him, won’t you? You’ll be such a good father, he’ll need your strong mind for guidance. Please Mino? I’ll have to name him after his other father too. The elders insist. His second name will be Taurus. But please Mino, yours will be first.’


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