Under the glare of the unforgiving sun I pushed the mad Queen to the center of the city. I knew her arousal must be intense for I felt her juices beginning to coat my hands. Still I did not look at her, but instead pressed on. Oh but her scent...it was like the most exotic perfume!

As I entered the town square the Queen’s subjects stopped dead in their tracks. There was their once proud Queen, now dressed as a cow. Their looks became a ghastly white as Pasiphae smiled up at them as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

Everyone stood and stared as I trundled Pasiphae along. Crowds of people fell silent as we passed through busy street after busy street and all was eerily quiet, save for the merry clang of the Pasiphae’s belled breasts heralding her arrival. I never realized how uneven the city streets were until now, for with each bump Pasiphae’s breasts would swing from side to side, her bells clanging mockingly. Her poor nipples!

More than one of the Queen’s subjects heard the bells before they saw her, and thinking a court jester was nearby turned around eagerly for the fun. Their expressions quickly turned to horror as they saw the bells affixed to the naked breasts of their young queen.

The Queen and I soon arrived at the center of the market square where the crowd was at its thickest. But the crowd hastily made way as they saw their cow queen being rolled by. I quickly neared the center of the market square and as the crowd parted away I saw that Pasiphae’s greatest fear was about to be realized - there before us stood the entire royal court in full session.

Why on this day of all days the King had decided to hold court in the open market was beyond me, but it was an ill omen for Pasiphae, I knew that much. Aphrodite must have seen to it that Minos would be here, just as she had made sure that the Queen’s ladies were absent from her bedchamber that day. Undaunted, I rolled the Queen through the hastily parting crowd. I saw before me all the court’s advisors, every noble, every lady, and all the lords and petty aristocrat that the kingdom of Crete had to offer. They made an impressive display, all dressed in their fine array of family colors, with their banners, crests, emblems and flags proudly displayed for all the pomp and ceremony that riches could buy. I even noticed too that there was a large group of foreign dignitaries visiting today, usually a rare treat for Pasiphae.

And there in the center of it all stood Minos, the proud King of Crete, busy giving yet another pompous speech, oblivious to the tumult that his wife’s bizarre appearance was causing. All were present and in their proper place; all save one, for I could not help but notice the empty throne next to where Minos stood. Pasiphae noticed it too and giggled as we past by it.

As I got nearer I could hear that Minos was lecturing on Pasiphae’s favorite subject - the virtue of chastity and the need to control our animalistic passions. He rambled on as each member of his court, one by one, turned to stare at his wife, their mouths dropping open in horror as they did so.

The sound of bells cut through Minos’ speech at last causing him to pause and turn toward us in anger.

“Who dares interrupt the King?” Minos growled, but then gasped as he saw his wife, seeing her for the cow that was for the first time. I pushed her to the center of the crowd, next to her husband. I left her there, fading back into the crowd, no one taking notice of me thanks to the spectacle that was their Queen. The crowd receded further from their queen, leaving Minos and Pasiphae alone together, in the center of the market square.

“Wha...what in Hades?” He asked, looking at his wife in disbelief. He took a few hasty steps backward. leaving his wife surrounded and alone. “Pasiphae? Pasiphae, is that you?”

Pasiphae smiled pathetically at her husband. Minos looked nervously at the foreign dignitaries. Pasiphae giggled.

“Pasiphae by the gods! What madness has befallen you? What has happened to your beautiful hair...?” But Minos choked on his words having just caught sight of his wife’s very large, and very naked breasts. He gaped like everyone else in the audience. He stood there with the rest of us, staring at his wife’s enormous breasts for a very long, and very painful moment, unable to speak. “By the gods,” he whispered unable to contain her astonishment, “they’re *huge*!”

“Her poor back!” I heard a woman in the crowd whisper sympathically. “I never knew she was so big!” whispered another. It seemed everyone’s attention was drawn to the Queen’s new found enormity. But it was those standing directly behind the Queen that had the most intimate view of her. They said nothing, but their expressions said it all. Lords, dukes, servants, peasants, slaves even, were getting a very intimate view of the Queen. Up until now it had been a view that only Minos had ever seen.

Pasiphae remained disturbingly and docilely still. Her expression was vacant, but one of complete contentment. She hiccuped and at last Minos found his voice.

“She stinks of wine! Don’t tell me the Queen is... drunk?!?!”

None dared answer. All gaped in horror at the sight of their Queen become cow...at least nearly everyone.

The ladies of the court were the first to overcome their shock, and though their mouths had dropped too, I now saw a few of them smiling slyly and casting knowingly glances at each other. Their eyes twinkled with a malicious delight. These were the “cows” that Pasiphae so despised, and her discomfort was their pleasure. If Pasiphae knew that they were here, seeing her like this...

Minos was turning as white as the linen robes he wore and looking like he might become sick.

“Perhaps some foul magic is at work?” He asked hopefully, to no one in particular.

Again nothing but a terrible silence greeted the King’s ears.

Minos took another step backward and tripped over his own throne, falling clumsily onto it. He looked at his wife in disbelief, unable to believe his eyes. “She has clothed herself as a cow!” he said to himself. “Her breasts are ungodly! And her hair! I don’t understand.”

At last one of Minos’ advisors stepped forward. “I think perhaps, your Majesty, that we should free the Queen and take her back to the palace. To the palace - away from the eyes of the court.”

“Yes,” Minos said, seeming to recover himself at last. “Yes...to the palace. Perhaps one of the guards should...”

But Minos never finished his sentence for at that moment a large crack of thunder sounded, though there were no clouds. There was a shout of terror and then I saw him - the instigator of all this evil, the dark one herself. Aphrodite had arrived.

The crowd fell to their knees in supplication as Aphrodite stood in the center of the market square, easily a head taller than any man, with a swirling mist vanishing from about him. She let his sudden appearance wash over the crowd, increasing the level of terror, before turning toward Minos and his court.

“Think again,” she said sweetly, but the sweetness of her voice was only made all the more terrible than if she had yelled or screamed. “The cow is mine now, and she shall remain bound to her self imposed prison until I command otherwise.”

“You dare!” Minos seethed, sitting up rigidly on his throne. “My wife is no cow. Goddess or not, you will treat myself and my wife with the respect due our titles!”

Aphrodite laughed. It was a laugh that sent shivers down my spine and sent many in the crowd into hysterics.

“A year ago, in this very square, a bull was stolen from me,” she announced to the crowd. “And so today, by the rules of fate I am now taking something of equal value that is yours. I have chosen your Queen. I think it only a fair exchange - your cow for my bull.”

“Now see here...” Minos began.

“You would be wise to hold your tongue King Minos,” Aphrodite grinned wickedly and motioned to the oblivious Pasiphae. “As you can see your wife is learning that lesson of silence the hard way.”

Minos looked in horror at his wife’s vacant expression. Her smile was equally vacant, interrupted only by an occasional hiccup. The King sank back in his throne and a playful smile spread across Aphrodite’s face.

“You are an arrogant king, King Minos, to steal a bull from a god. Your arrogance is matched only by that of only your wife. Her vanity has deluded her into thinking herself on par with the gods. I have decided to correct her of this illusion!” Aphrodite looked at Pasiphae lying motionless and staring blankly in her cow. “I think this quite a powerful lesson, don’t you? But then, I think your wife needs to learn the lesson the...*hard* way. Watch as I make her lesson a little more memorable!” With a snap of her fingers the white bull suddenly appeared a few yards behind the Queen. The crowd gasped as one.

It was a huge bull. It was tall, powerful, and all knotted muscle from hooves to horns. It gleamed a brilliant white, sweat glistening from its hide under the glare of the hot sun. It hooves and horns were an obsidian black, darker than the coal of Hades, and it nostrils were great and monstrous. I had seen many fabulous and wonderous sights in my lifetime, but none so fabulous and terrible as the white bull that stood behind the young Queen of Crete. It was the living embodiment of raw, untamed, masculine power. There was also something vaguely...evil about its presence. The crowd moved back to give the foreboding creature as wide a berth as possible.

Aphrodite looked mischievously at Minos. For a long moment the love goddess simply waited for Minos to comprehend what it was that was before him. It took a few moments, but when it came to Minos the shock and dread of it all hit Minos like a battering ram almost sending him toppling from his throne.

“NO! It...but...it’s impossible...” Minos stammered. “You can’t! It would...she could never... “ Minos’ voice trailed away in disbelief. His eyes ran from his wife’s naked breasts to the sinister beast standing several feet behind her. “You cannot mean to...”

“Oh, I mean to do just that.” Aphrodite assured the King.

“But...but...no...” Minos said weakly. “She...she could never...not with a bull. It’s too big! She would never survive it. It would...”

“Crush her? Tear her, rend her to apart? Split her in two?” Aphrodite asked casually. “Yes, a *woman* could never hope to mate with a bull and survive it, but I already told you that your wife is a cow now. And what’s more, *my* cow. You see, I thought this might be a good solution to our little problem of theft. The bull you stole from me can mate with the cow that I stole from you and then we can both let bygone be bygones.”

Aphrodite could see Minos getting sick.

“Oh don’t worry, your pretty little cow will be fine. She has thought of everything! She had this costume made just to make this mating possible. See what a clever wife you have?” Aphrodite patted the cow costume appreciatively. “Though I can’t say that she won’t be sore in the morning.”

“This is monstrous! The bull must weigh as much as a house! She could never bear it! What of the pressure! The power! The size? My wife...she would never...not with a bull! This is terrible! Cruel!” Minos shouted.

“Cruel! When has love ever been anything but cruel?” Aphrodite sneered. “But you need not worry, for your Queen’s punishment is very appropriate and very fitting. Is that not right?”

Minos turned a sickly shade of green. All eyes turned to Minos.

“Tell them.” Aphrodite said.

Minos who shrank back into his throne.

“Tell them,” Aphrodite insisted, this time her eyes blazing a cold white.

“I...I...didn’t want to keep the bull. She did; it was her idea,” Minos explained to the stunned crowd. “I thought we should sacrifice it, but Pasiphae said it was too beautiful to kill and anyway, we could always sacrifice another bull in its place. She didn’t see any harm in keeping the bull and so...”

“You indulged your wife and kept the bull so that she might have a pet,” Aphrodite said, patting Pasiphae contemptuously on her bottom. “And so today you shall watch as your wife is indulge again, only fully this time and right here where everyone can watch, just as they watched when my bull was stolen. A fitting punishment I should think. She thought the bull beautiful enough to steal from a god and so I have seen to it that she has thought of nothing else.” And here Aphrodite gave Queen Pasiphae’s bottom a hard slap that resounded throughout the market. Pasiphae gasped with surprise, and for a brief second the light of consciousness returned to her eyes.

The love goddess shot the white bull a sinister glance. “Bellow!” She commanded and the bull obeyed with an eery call.

It was the first real sign of life I had seen in the Queen since Aphrodite’s arrival. At the sound of the creature’s call Pasiphae stiffened and her head shot up, alert. The bull bellowed again and the Queens jerked from side to side, frantically searching for the source of the bellowing.

Everyone could see the white bull but her.

Then, in her frustration, Pasiphae let out a call of her own, a sort of moan that sounded like “oooo” only different some how. In all my years I had never heard a sound like it come from human lips, and it made it especially unnerving to hear it come from the soft, delicate lips of Pasiphae. It was a low guttural noise, almost...unhuman. The bull bellowed again and Pasiphae pushed herself hard against the back end of her cow, thrusting herself back in the vain hope of catching the bull with her questing sex.

“Oooooo! Oooooo-ooooo!” She bawled again and again, filling the market and my mind with her unholy sound. As I watched the Queen struggle wildly and hopelessly within my dark creation I suddenly realized the true intent of the cow suit - it was not to help her unite with the creature, but to keep her *apart* from it.

Pasiphae’s belled breasts clanged loudly, as her frustration caused her to swing herself from side to side. From the corner of my eye I could see Minos swallow hard and Aphrodite must have noticed it too. She winked at Minos and, kneeling down, he reached under Pasiphae to grab a hold of her where her breasts hung like ripened fruits.

“Very nice,” Aphrodite remarked appreciatively as he massaged the Queen’s breasts. “I see that you have chosen your cow well. Your Queen is excellently endowed, just as a cow should be.”

Aphrodite smiled wickedly at Minos before giving Pasiphae’s breasts one more appreciative squeeze, this one not so gentle and eliciting a slight cry of displeasure from Pasiphae.

“I am glad your wife is so well endowed.” Aphrodite said, patting the Queen’s exposed breasts. “Few women have the capacity to carry as much milk as she will need to carry.”

“Milk? What...what do you mean?” Minos asked weakly.

“Don’t act so surprised, King Minos,” Aphrodite smiled wickedly. “Aren’t you the one who has prayed to me nightly that I might bless you with an heir ?”

“No! No, you can’t mean...!”

“Oh, but I do! And I should think you would be a little more grateful. After all, it wasn’t easy making your wife fertile enough to conceive from a bull. And these,” Aprhodite said, once more giving Pasiphae’s breasts a good squeeze, “I think I did a wonderful job with these, though I admit I may have over did it a little bit. Can’t say I envy her the back pain! Still...they should fill nicely when the time comes which is a good because she will need to carry the milk of a cow.”

Aphrodite reached down and grabbed the Queen’s chin harshly, holding her still that their eyes met.

“The haze you find yourself in shall lift so that you may see and hear me, but nothing more!” Aphrodite commanded.

The light of consciousness grew a little brighter in Pasiphae’s electric blue eyes and from where I stood I could see the Queen’s soft and delicate eyes lock onto the terrible and fathomless gaze of Aphrodite. There was fear but also recognition in the Queen’s eyes. Pasiphae struggled, trying to pull away, but it was no good - the love goddess had her firmly in her grip.

“You know who and what I am?” It was less a question and more a statement.

Pasiphae nodded weakly.
 “Good. Then you also know that something was stolen from me, right here, in this market square, a year ago this very day.”

Pasiphae tried to shake herself free again, but Aphrodite held her tight.

”You remember. And you remember *who* stole from me, don’t you?”

Pasiphae shook her head frantically and opened her mouth to speak....

“Ooooooo!” Came that bizarre noise again, once more sickening my very soul. It must have disturbed Pasiphae too, for her eye’s grew wide in horror and bewilderment.

“I have taken your voice so that you can speak no lies, little cow!” Aphrodite thundered as he tightened his grip. “I am not your husband or one of your slaves that you can whisper sweet lies to. You are before a goddess now! And I know what dark secrets lie within your heart. Did you really think yourself on level with the likes of me that you could play at so deadly a game?”

Pasiphae could not answer. She was frozen with terror as the cold, cruel face of Aphrodite looked on her. There was not a hint of mercy in the goddess’ eyes.

“You know what was taken from me,” Aphrodite continued in a low voice, “and you know too who stole it too. Don’t you?”

I have never before seen such terror as I saw in Pasiphae’s eyes at that moment, and I never hope to again. The Queen nodded slowly, her mouth agape in fear.

“Good. I am glad you can be honest with me,” Aphrodite said. “In turn I shall be honest with you. I have come here to set things right between the two of us. In fact, I think we are going to be great friends you and I! Why, I even brought your white bull as a peace offering.”

At the mention of the white bull the dull light in Pasiphae’s became hungry and eager.

Aphrodite looked casually at the white bull behind Pasiphae. “It is a rather beautiful animal, don’t you think?”

“Ooooooo-ooooo!” She nodded lustfully.

“You feel it keenly, don’t you? You are in heat for the creature.”

Pasiphae did not answer.

“You want it: you want the bull.”

Pasiphae tried to look away.

“You are in love with him, aren’t you?”

Pasiphae did not answer.

“AREN’T YOU!” Aphrodite commanded.

Pasiphae nodded her head slowly and then choked on a piteous cry. Minos shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“But why the tears; is love not a beautiful?”

Pasiphae did not speak a word, she was not able to anyway, but the dark, hungry glare needed no words. It was the look of the deepest, most desperate, and unfulfilled desire.

“Oh, I see. The bull has not returned your affections, has he?”

Pasiphae shook her head sadly.

“You shower him with kisses, you stroke his back, run your hands through his fur, you decorate his field with flowers, and whisper sweet words of love into his ear, but he does not return your affections, does he?”

Pasiphae’s head drooped sadly.

“You forsake your husband’s bed for the field of the bull, returning to your bedchamber only when the first rays of the sun ascend. You have done this each and every night for a year now, haven’t you?”

Pasiphae nodded sadly. I thought that I saw a tear run down her cheek.

“And yet none of your adoring words has moved the bull to passion, have they?”

Pasiphae sniffed as another tear ran down her cheek. She shook her head.

“And yet you wait for him, hoping that in time he will come to you, but he never does. Such a pity. How sad that the bull does not see you as I do, little cow.”
 The Queen could no longer hold back her tears and began crying, her tears falling onto the dry cobblestone ground below. Bizarre as it may sound, the sight of this beautiful Queen lamenting her unrequited loved for a bull stirred me to pity.

“And you have felt no release - no *physical* release - since you first laid eyes on the creature. You cannot orgasm for want of the creature! I know, for I have seen to it. Nothing can give you that release - *nothing* - except that which you stole from me: the white bull!”

Aphrodite gave the Queen a moment as she began to cry harder. She continued...

“But I am not without pity,” she soothed seductively between her sobs. “I could allow you to cool your fire, if you wished it.”

Pasiphae looked up, the light in her eye’s ablaze now, and tears streaking down cheeks. Aphrodite had her full attention. The love goddess, leaned in close so that she speak in an evil whisper.

“I have given you the shape of a cow and I have done something else as well. Something dark, something wicked, something...that I know you will like. I have this day put your body into a monstrous heat so great that it will attract even the attentions of the white bull. Your scent today will be powerful; powerful enough to arouse even the white bull. You need but have the bull catch your scent and...”

“Oooooo!’” Pasiphae did not need to hear another word. Wildly she began shaking her bottom back and worth, desperately hoping to ensnare the bull with her desirable scent. Aphrodite simply laughed.

“Before you give yourself to the white bull, little cow, you should know that theft does not come without a price. Just as I have made your arousal great so too have I made your fertility greater.”

Pasiphae’s eyes shot back at Aphrodite’s in horror.

“The wine that you drank from so greedily today was a potion - a rather powerful fertility potion. It has increased your fertility so that should you mate today, be it with man or beast, you will surely conceive.”

The Queen tried to shout, exclaim, anything, but she could not. She shook her head back and forth furiously, causing her breasts to mock her once more with their happy song.

“Little cow,” Aphrodite said, her voice both hard and cold. “Did you think that you could cheat the sea? My lesson unto you shall be as harsh as your theft was arrogant! It is time that you have done your duty and produced an heir to the throne of Crete. Only it will not be your husband’s seed that impregnates your fair womb, little cow, but the seed of a bull. Your belly will swell large and fat like that of a cow’s, so large will you become afraid that you are about to burst. Your belly will swell like that of your arrogance!”

Aphrodite paused to reach under the cow frame and rub the Queen’s flat belly. Pasiphae tried to scream but no sound came. I had been enjoying the spectacle of the haughty Queen getting her own, but I suddenly found myself growing ill and wishing that Aphrodite would cease her cruel torture.

“And then,” she continued mercilessly, “you will nurse your offspring with your own breasts. There shall be no wet nurse for you - only your cow milk will do. Your bull-child will have a ravenous appetite so you will have to keep your milk up.”

Pasiphae ‘s mouth fell open.

“Do not fret little cow,” Aphrodite said reassuringly. She grabbed Pasiphae’s breasts from beneath the cow. “I will make sure that these magnificent breasts of yours are always kept full with plenty cow milk. *Uncomfortably* full. You are plentiful enough as it is - I am sure that when your milk comes in you will be the envy of every cow in the field!” She gave Pasiphae’s mammories one last cruel, hard squeeze causing her to wince. “Though I am afraid they might droop a bit...”

Pasiphae moaned as Aphrodite let go of her breasts, letting them hang free once more. The love goddess smiled and stepped back to take a look at her handiwork. The Queen was frozen in terror and I too felt sickened by all that I had just witnessed. Haughty and cold the Queen might be, but she was a woman and my Queen, and thus deserving of some pity.

“Your torment has lasted a year now and some of my sister goddesses think that I am being too harsh,” Aphrodite said. “I am inclined to think your punishment a just one, though I would be willing to heed their advice if I thought my lesson to you already learned. I wonder...”

A light of hope appeared in Pasiphae’s desperate eyes as they looked pleadingly up at her tormenter.

“Your eyes seem softened but I wonder has your heart softened as well?”

“Oooo!” Pasiphae nodded eagerly, her bells ringing with each nod.

“I would need proof, wouldn’t I?” Aphrodite thought for a moment. “You would have to promise to put an end to your arrogance, once and for all. If you could do this then I would see no reason to have you mated to the bull. What do you think - could you become kind, pleasant, and humble?”

Pasiphae nodded her head enthusiastically. Relief flooded my being as I saw Aphrodite offering my Queen a last chance at redemption. The horror would end and I could return to Athens!

“You will you be kind? Benevolent? A true servant of your people?”

“Ooooooo!” Pasiphae nodded vigorously.

“Then I lift the curse from your mind and you shall desire the white bull no more! But know that should your arrogance return, my wrath will return as well...” And with that Aphrodite faded from the market square.

At the time I thought the worst was behind me and that I could go home. Little did I know that it was about to become much worse.