can go to The Temple and it can be a proper
mating."
59 When we told The Village Speaker, he did not know what to say, but
agreed that if my mate's manhood was covered when they knew each other,
he would be a woman, and therefore, there would be no shame. He agreed
to the mating, and so, for all these years only the five of us have
known. The four of us swore to keep the secret until my mate dies.
Then, we may speak the truth of it to the world.
60 He does not want to be a curiosity, Lord, he simply wants to live
out his days in peace, as strange as they are, and not have every man
look at him and every woman wonder."
61 Brown Goat smiled. "I think," he remarked, "I understand his
feeling. I know when people look at me. Now, there are six that know
the secret." He continued, "and it will be kept. I will tell your
father that all is well, that the stories are just stories; that his
daughter does not live in shame. But tell me," he continued, "how have you managed to keep it a secret
....I mean, when he's .....?"
62 "Sometimes we change clothes to walk around outside. The servants
think it's me that's pregnant. We're almost the same size, and nobody
ever notices. Other times we just stay hidden. It's kind of amusing
sometimes, when he sneaks off to feed the babies, and when we're both
doing it together, it seems funny. And when he's pregnant, and making
love to me...well, you can understand, Lord, it's STRANGE!"
63 Brown Goat laughed. "I hope," he remarked, "you are keeping
journals!"
64 "We ALL are!" she told him. "The Healer INSISTED on it. He said the
information will be priceless!"
65 "Strange," pondered Brown Goat, "in one land a man is born who has
neither, in another land one is born that has both! Some things are so
wondrous!"