The Fertility Charm

Story by Hinny Mule on SoFurry

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My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee!

The Fertility Charm

By William W. Kelso

It was hot, I was dirty, and I was bored as Hell. I had thought an archaeological dig would be more interesting then this BS. When I got the offer to help at a dig in Italy about four hundred miles from Rome I thought it would be the vacation of a lifetime. Plus I would get college credits towards my degree AND it was an all expenses paid deal too. If I had know I'd end up smack in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with even the nearest dinky village over twenty miles away I'd have smiled and said "No fucking way!". As it was I'd been here almost a month, had been to Rome for one weekend which I spent in the hotel taking showers and enjoying the AC, then it was back to BORING.

The dig was at an extensive Roman Villa on a site that had been occupied for thousands of years, some artifacts were even pre-Roman. The place had been a very extensive farm with a large central Villa, huge barns, and numerous kinds of outbuildings. One had been a spring house, and when the spring went dry that was most likely the reason the site had been abandoned. Without a regular dependable water source the place couldn't maintain itself. Just because I was a first year student the other newbie's and I had the fun task of excavating the stables and other outbuildings. Oh joy. Hours a day of fun in the HOT sun digging up old animal bones and the occasional bronze harness buckle or tool. In the meantime the senior students and our dear professor got to find all the gold and silver goodies and mosaics and other neat stuff. Since we were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere we lived in tents and had basic; very basic, sanitary facilities. The only shower was a canvas bucket with holes in bottom, and about all it did was spread the dirt and sweat around more evenly. I was HOT and BORED and PO'd all at the same time. I was not a happy camper, nor was I very good company I'm afraid. When I'm miserable I expect everyone else to be too.

I was working in an exploratory trench we'd been sinking to check a new possible building site most of the day. We'd rigged a tarp for shade, but the damn wind blew it down so often we gave up and were working in the sun. The back of my neck probably added whole new meaning to the word "redneck". I do burn easily, much to my ongoing misery, and sun block doesn't work on me for some reason. I was really starting to hate this place and my chosen profession. Maybe I could switch my degree to something more interesting, like basket weaving. For all my faults and bitching; which is a hobby of mine, I was always very careful to follow the correct procedures. I made my own little "find" almost by accident. It was later in the day and I was carefully scraping and brushing away dirt when the angle of the sunlight changed and illuminated a side of the trench that had been in shade most of the day. I saw something glint and took a closer look. Very carefully I dug around it and it fell into my hand. It was a small silver phallus, not an uncommon find at Roman sites as they were really into that fertility stuff. As it was I collected the things, and looking around I noticed no one else was nearby so I stuck it in my pocket. It certainly wasn't a major find, and I'd be damned if I was going home without at least one decent souvenir, after all I found it so it wasn't like I was stealing or anything. Plus it had no historical significance.

Later that evening while I was alone in my tent I took a closer look at it. It was a nice one. About two inches long, made from silver, and very detailed. It was a typical fertility charm, an erect penis with testicles, but it did not have the usual wings or a loop to hang it from a cord or chain. As old as it was those might have been broken or worn off years ago. Most I'd seen were bronze or copper, so a silver one was fairly rare. I bet the poor slob who lost it all those years ago had a good cry. It also had some worn characters on the sides, definitely not Latin and I had no idea what they might be. Etruscan? Older? Well, it was mine, whatever period it's from. It would be the nicest, and oldest, in my collection. What Professor Butthead didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Well to top it off I found out I had the weekend watch this time around. While everyone else either went to Rome; or the nearest decent town, I got to stay and guard everything all by my lonesome. Major rat ass bummer. And my only company was some rather large smelly brown shaggy Nanny goats that liked to wander into camp and eat anything they could get a hold of. I spent half my time chasing the nasty things away. And I wasn't even supposed to touch or try and clean any of the more major finds since I wasn't "experienced" enough, so I had almost three days of pure boredom in the hot Italian sun to look forward to. Whoopee. If a bunch of Roman Legionnaires showed up and started sacking the place at least it would be interesting.

I'd had to keep my little find hidden as I'm sure the other students and teachers would have noticed if they saw me playing with a small silver dildo. But at least now I had the chance to take it out and clean it better and take a really good look at it. I used a gentle soap and water mixture and soon it was as nice and shiny as when it had been new. It had amazing detail, right down to the veins on the shaft. The inscriptions were a little clearer too, but I still couldn't figure out what kind of language they were. I checked books on Latin, Etruscan, and Greek and zip, no matches. I had a feeling the charm was a lot older then I had originally thought.

I had been wearing gloves while I was cleaning it, and when I was done I took them off. And as I held the silver charm in my hand it seemed to get much warmer and all of a sudden I felt a tingling that started in my hand and before I could react it had traveled to my crotch and suddenly I got a rock hard erection! With a yell I dropped the charm and jumped up, looking at the bulge in my shorts. Man was THAT weird! At first I tried to reason that it had been the result of my not having gotten laid in weeks, but it had been so sudden and unexpected. Usually I had to fantasize at least a little bit. My erection had begun to fade, so out of curiosity I picked up the charm again, it got warm, there was the tingle, and I got hard again. Whoa. Magic? And the longer I held it the harder and more rampant I got. And it felt GOOD.

With a grunt I dropped my shorts and boxers, sat down on the edge of my cot and started to masturbate, I couldn't help it. It was hot and I was sweating and the tingling slowly increased and so did the pleasure, oh GOD it felt good! I was nice and slick from the copious amount of pre dribbling from my cock and with each stroke it felt better and better and finally I had no choice and came, and it was a massive gut wrenching orgasm. I fell back on the bed with a gasp, it had been the most pleasurable orgasm I'd ever had, either with a partner or by jacking off. I still had the charm in my hand and the tingling started again and before I even realized it I gave a guttural moan and started jacking off again, and there was no soreness or any sign I was going limp. Oh Jesus it felt SO good! It took longer this time, but when I finally came for the second time it was even more pleasurable then the first time. I managed to drop the charm on the bed even though it was strangely hard to let go of it, and laid back and rested, completely spent. It had felt incredible; I had never felt that much sheer sexual pleasure before. I picked the charm up, but dropped it again when the warmth started. What had I found? An artifact that really was magic? It had to be something like that. I also knew it was mine; no WAY was I going to share this with anyone! I closed my eyes and fantasized about being able to hump a chick nonstop for hours. I also somehow knew if I had the charm picking up ladies would be easy. Oh yeah!

But for now I was worn out and spent, so I laid back down and finally fell asleep.

As I slept I tossed and turned and the charm eventually rolled under my back, and since

I didn't have a shirt on it was pressed against my bare skin. I gave a moan as the warmth and tingling started again and soon was rampant and rock hard. It didn't wake me up though, but it sure affected my dreams. I dreamed I was in a harem or something making love to woman after woman, all of them screaming in pleasure as I fucked them, but I couldn't come no matter how hard I tried. But finally I did come, for real though. I woke up just as I exploded, ejaculating all over my stomach and chest and I screamed from the agonizing ecstasy. It was the first time I'd ever cum in my sleep and it scared the Hell out of me. Talk about a wet dream, I was drenched! But even as I stopped spurting the tingling increased and with a moan I started to jack off even though I'd just had a massive orgasm, and after what seemed like hours later I came again as I just couldn't stop what I was doing. I didn't want to stop; it felt so good I can't even began to describe it. With a gasp I sat up and held myself as I spurted again, and broke contact with the charm. It took over an hour for my erection to fade, and even without the charm I had to fight to keep from jacking off again, and I know I could have with no trouble. I went to the so-called shower and cleaned myself off as best I could, but I still reeked of sex and as I walked back to my tent a couple of the goats came closer and took good whiffs. "Beat it!" I yelled, and they ran off baaing in indignation at my rudeness.

Gingerly I picked up the charm using a rag and put it in a small box. I was sorely tempted to use it again, but figured I'd better wait until I'd have a chance to recover as after all I'd had full blown orgasms four times in just a few hours, a new record for me. Didn't want to hurt myself, but the strange thing was I felt no soreness or even any real sense of release. I just felt horny, and I reached down and fondled myself and felt a stirring, and I could also swear

I was a little larger! Wow, nice! With a tired sigh I went back to bed as it was dark now, and had the most incredibly erotic dreams I'd ever had in which I had nonstop sex with eager willing partners, one after another, and when I woke up the sheets were damp with pre.

I must have gotten another erection during the night at some point.

During the night several of the goats had approached the tent, drawn by the tantalizing scent coming from it. It was the scent of a male in rut, but what kind of male they didn't know, but even though it wasn't breeding season they began to go into estrus in response to that powerful blast of pheromones. They bleated softly as their need increased.

I got up and headed over to the cook tent for some breakfast, and had to chase off some of those stupid goats. I did notice they didn't smell as bad as they had before, but were still pretty ripe. I chucked a few pebbles at them and they got the message and split. I got a big bowl of Captain Crunch, a couple of pints of milk, and a banana for breakfast. The official breakfast of teenagers, forget the champions. As I ate I reached down and fondled myself, I was getting really horny again. After yesterday; if it really had happened, I should have been a eunuch for a least a couple of days. As I satisfied one hunger I realized there was another one I'd have to do something about. I cleaned up the eating area, we had strict rules about that in order not to attract vermin or insects, or goats, and for once I agreed with some of the numerous rules for everything you could think of. Rules that made sense I had no problems with.

I went back to my tent and opened the box with the charm in it. I just looked at it for awhile, rubbing my crotch. Finally I picked it up with a glove on and put it in a pocket. I wanted to see if it would work again, or whether it had just been some wild dream caused by the heat and boredom. But not here, it was too damn hot and muggy in the tent, so I decided to go to a nearby olive grove where there was shade from the sun, and the breeze would give some relief from the heat. I took a large beach towel and a couple of rags and toilet paper for cleaning up after and headed out. As I walked I didn't notice some of the goats following me at a distance, wary of more thrown stones, but with their nostrils flared to catch more of the heady scent coming from the strange male.

I reached the grove, found a nice shady spot under an ancient olive tree with soft grass to sit down on, spread the beach towel, and took off my shorts (I'd left my boxers back at the tent) and sat down. I reached in my pocket and took out the charm, and almost instantly the tingle became intense and I got a full blown erection in seconds. Oh Gods, it hadn't been a dream after all, and soon I was grunting in pleasure as I stroked myself. I wanted to fondle myself too with my other hand, but the problem was if I put the charm down the pleasure would start to fade and I didn't want that to happen as it just kept getting better and better the longer I held the charm. I put it on my thigh, but it kept rolling off as I arched and bucked as I stroked away. Once it rolled into the grass and I panicked a little when I wasn't able to find it right away. Finally, frustrated after it had fallen off my thigh or stomach a few more times, I found the solution. I popped it into my mouth and sucked and tongued the warm metal and it was even better than ever as the tingling became increasingly intense and I had one, two, three massively pleasurable orgasm in a period of less than an hour. The third one made me scream in ecstasy, and with a gulp I swallowed the charm! "Agggh, gack!" I rolled to my hands and knees and tried to cough it up, but no luck. Damn it, I thought, just fucking great! I felt the warmth and tingling slide down my throat and into my stomach. It had never occurred to me, what if it was radioactive? I'd better go see if the medical kit had some sort of purging drug or something to make me puke.

I stood up, and then suddenly bent over as a cramp hit my guts. It didn't really hurt, but it was uncomfortable. Another one hit, so I sat down and held my stomach. Looked like

I was going to puke after all! But instead of throwing up the cramps continued, and I could feel the tingling warmth moving! The charm was traveling through my guts and while it was very uncomfortable, and I bent over gasping, it didn't really hurt that much. It moved lower and lower inside of my guts until it came to rest at the base of my penis and if I thought I'd been aroused before it paled in comparison to what came next. I could feel it there, the nice soothing warmth, and then the tingling began to increase again. With a moan I lay back down and began to masturbate again and despite my efforts my lust kept increasing and

I soon orgasmed, then again, and again. Ohh God! It wasn't helping any! I just seemed to be getting harder and harder and the pleasure became almost unbearable. I gave a sob of lust, desperately stroking and fondling myself and I could feel heat radiating from my genitals. What have I done to myself! I thought in panic. I gave a squeal as another massive orgasm rocked my body, but there was as much pain as pleasure now. Oh God, I have to get it OUT of me! But HOW? The jacking off was doing no good at all now, and the growing lust and need was driving me crazy. I writhed back and forth trying to keep masturbating, but my throes were too violent and I gripped the beach towel and screamed through clenched teeth. I looked up at myself and was shocked to see I was definitely larger now, both my penis and testicles. My penis was a good ten inches long now, and my balls were swollen and aching, taught and shiny, and they completely filled my scrotum now, there was no loose skin left. Then I came without touching myself, a massive plume of cum spraying from me as I screamed in agonizing ecstasy, and a few minutes later I climaxed again with another scream. Ohh God, please make it stop! It hurts!

I managed to stagger to my feet, had to get to a doctor who could cut this damn thing out of me. I had to get back to the camp and call for help! I walked a few feet; bent over cradling my aching throbbing loins, and came again and fell to my knees gasping and sobbing. It hurt, it hurt so good! It was close to a mile to the camp, I could never make it, not like this. I looked around in a daze hoping I would see someone who could help, a passerby or that crazy old farmer whose land we were on, but I was alone. With a moan I bent over and held myself, grunting as my penis bobbing up and down, throbbing with lust. With a moan I started to masturbate again even though it was useless, but I had to try as it was all I could do. I needed some other way to find the relief I needed, to try and satisfy my still growing lust, I needed to find a woman, BAD! I bent over and gave a soft scream as another massive orgasm wracked my body and cum sprayed though my clenched hands. Oh please, please make it stop!

The goats watched the strange male as he made sounds of lust and pain, then got up and started staggering around in distress. They were confused and wary, but also increasingly aroused by the intoxicating scent that was pouring off of him in increasing strength. The scent finally overcame their natural caution, and they approached the male hopefully.

I remained bent over for some time, sobbing and gasping as I came again and again whether or not I was stroking myself. Most of the time my hands were balled into fists with my fingernails digging into my palms until they bled as the pleasure grew more and more intense, and I bit my lip trying to keep from screaming out loud every time I had an orgasm. Only one thing existed for me now, the aching growing need in my loins. Any thought of getting help, of trying to reach the camp, were gone. I was completely helpless to my still growing lust. Then I heard a soft sound, and raising my head with tears of agony streaming from my eyes I came face to face with one of the large Nanny goats. It flared its nostrils, looking at me, and said "Baaaa?" I just stared for a minute, not really aware, but then I noticed its scent; it was rich and musky, not a stench at all. I gave a moan and another wave of lust washed over me and I whimpered. Please, I thought, oh please help me. Then the goat turned and presented its rump to me and I had a clear view of the swollen wet rubbery lips of its sex and realized that was where the rich scent was coming from. I gave another whimper as I felt myself approaching orgasm again. Oh God, not again!

With a sobbing moan I stood up, hobbled over to the goat, and mounted her with a powerful thrust, not even realizing what I was doing. All I knew was I HAD to try and satisfy that aching need, no matter what. It made NO difference to me if my "lover" had four legs or two at this point. With a deep grunt I grabbed the goat behind its hind legs and with powerful lunges I penetrated it to the hilt, and giving guttural moans I began desperately humping it. Its vagina was hot, wet, and slick and a perfect fit, and oh it felt so incredibly wonderful. Grunting deeply I humped the goat desperately and soon came; and it was marvelous, giving a loud gasp of release, "Oh Thank you, thank you." I sobbed in a shaky voice. Deep in my bowels the charms characters glowed briefly, the form had been chosen.

I dismounted from the goat; my lust at least temporarily bearable, and realized what I had just done. Oh Jeez, I'd just screwed a damn goat! But it had felt so good, so very good. And already the tingling was increasing again and I moaned as my lust returned tenfold, and looking around realized there were other goats, lots of them. The need peaked again, and with a sob I approached and mounted another willing goat, and it felt so very wonderful.

I grunted in pleasure as I serviced the goat, and it took longer this time, and the pleasure was even more intense then with the first goat and the pain was gone. I came with a squeal of pleasure and dismounted, then moved on to the next goat to try and satisfy my lust.

I knew it was wrong, but I needed the release so very badly and they could help me. They were perfectly willing and seemed to need me too, bleating and squealing their own pleasure as I fucked them.

As I dismounted from the third goat I realized something was wrong; or even more wrong, and that something had changed. And that something was me. I looked at my penis in disbelief, it had changed color and was now a dark red and a ring had formed at the base, plus the head was narrower and more pointed and my testicles were now covered in white hair. Oh God, what the hell? The warmth was spreading from my loins to the rest of my body and I felt feverish, but also strangely elated, it felt so good. Another wave of lust washed over me and unable to deny that need I mounted another goat, gripping handfuls of its hair as I thrust into its slick embrace, and throwing back my head I groaned and squealed as I had yet another incredibly powerful orgasm, oh it was fantastic! With a guttural grunt I dismounted and looked down to find I had a now well developed penis sheath at the base of a dark red glistening penis that was now longer and more slender, and dirty white fur or hair had grown to cover my stomach and lower chest and the insides of my thighs. I knew that I should stop and try to get some help: that this was horribly wrong, but another wave of intense lust I could not deny washed over me and with a sob I mounted yet another goat.

Some two hours later I dismounted from another goat and stood shakily swaying as I still wasn't used to having cloven hooves instead of feet. I'd kicked off my socks and tennis shoes as they no longer fit. From the waist down my body was now entirely animal, legs that bent the wrong way ending in cloven hooves, my body almost completely covered in dark brown and dirty white hair and still I was rampant and insatiable. I stood breathing heavily, flaring the nostrils in my wet back nose to scent the next goat that was ready for my services. At this point I no longer cared about what was happening; my only desire was the females. My head had started to change, my face pushing out into a muzzle and as my nose grew more sensitive I responded even more to the female's powerful estrus as I went into rut. A part of me knew what was happening to me; that it was impossible but oh so very real, but could do nothing. Somehow I knew the change was irreversible and would not stop and that trying to satisfy my lust would only make it happen faster, but I was helpless to deny that still growing need. I gave an eager snorting bleat and mounted and serviced another goat and the change kept progressing steadily, but I was no longer in any condition to even notice.

As I serviced the goats; grunting then bleating in pleasure, the hair crept up my body and thickened, I reached a point where I could no longer stand upright as my hips and legs changed pushing me into a four legged posture and I felt a short tufted tail sprout from my spine. My testicles swelled until I could feel their weight swinging as I serviced my mates. The rest of the change didn't take much longer, the hair crept down my arms and my fingers grew together and became hooves. My arms straightened and I could no longer bend them as much. Slowly my neck lengthened and thickened as my eyes moved to the sides of my head as my nose and face pushed out all the way into a muzzle. And still I serviced goat after goat, moaning and gasping, then bleating and squealing. I could feel the weight of my horns as they grew and curled, my large hairy ears flicking back and forth. My sounds faded from human to animal, and now all I could do was grunt and bleat as I kept servicing the females. It was late evening when the change finally finished and my lust started to fade to a bearable level.

And then I had to come to grips with what had happened to me. The only part of me that wasn't entirely animal now was my grey eyes; they remained to reflect the human soul now trapped in the body of an animal. And finally the warmth faded and the tingling became fainter then stopped. I kept humping as I stared over the head of my "lover", then I bit her on the back of her neck and with a guttural squeal I orgasmed one more time and dismounted from the Nanny. I looked down at my front hooves, and turning my head looked at my hairy back with the tail sticking up. Oh God, I thought, oh my God. "BAA-AAAA!" I said, trying to talk, "BAA-AAAA!!" I reared and tried to stand up, shaking my head, "NAA-AAA!!!" This can't be real, this is impossible! I thought as I panicked, rolling my eyes and bucking and prancing on my hind legs, desperately trying to be human again. "A-A-NAAAAAA!" Nooooo, oh God Noooo!

I wandered for awhile in a daze, this can't be possible! As I roamed aimlessly my new harem followed their Billy, they had accepted him as their mate. He was young, strong, virile, and had satisfied them quite well, and where he went they would unquestioningly follow. I found a stream and lowering my head took a deep long drink as I as horribly thirsty. Oh, that was much better. Then I saw my reflection in the water, a brown hairy muzzle with wet rubbery nose topped by large curved horns with grey human eyes staring out of the large animal head, and as I looked tears started running down its muzzle. "Naaa!" I bleated softly, "Naaaa" The Nannies came down to drink too, and I caught a good whiff from one I hadn't serviced yet, and nature took its course. I mounted her, and grunted and bleated with pleasure as I serviced the squealing female, the feel of my hardness sliding in and out of her was the most wonderful feeling in the world. She was slick and wet and ripe and her own sounds of pleasure drove me to greater effort and I gently bit her on the back of her neck t to help pin her, and soon I came with a deep grunt of pleasure. And as I dismounted the human part of me realized, you've done it again, just how many times does it take to satisfy you for Christ's sake? From the ache in my loins both the Billy and the man knew it would take a lot more and neither was very upset. The scent of the females was too enticing to resist for very long.

I eventually ended up back at the camp and stuck my head in my tent, for what reason I really don't know. Perhaps it was an attempt to hold on to an old life that was gone forever. My human memories were intact, and I knew what had happened, but somehow it just didn't seem that important. I poked around for awhile longer, and getting hungry I ate several pages from a book, but it tasted like crap. Next I found my way to the cook tent attracted by the smells, but was frustrated by the lock on the fruit bin. No hands, no key, no fruit. Noticing the Nannies were grazing in the thick grass along the road leading to the camp I decided to join them. Lowering my head I looked suspiciously at the grass, then took a sniff and it smelled good. I started pulling up large clumps of grass and eating it, and it felt perfectly "natural" and it was good too. The remnants of my khaki shirt were irritating as they were binding, so I managed to tear what remained of it off with my teeth, there! That was better. Now back to grazing. We stuffed ourselves on the sweet grass for awhile then finally feel asleep, exhausted by a strenuous day of mating, tired but happy.

When morning came I woke up and realized again what had happened to me and panicked a little at first, but my first whiff of a female in heat calmed me down as there were more important things that needed doing. Today the couplings were more leisurely and enjoyable as I serviced my mates, the horrible lust had faded and been replaced by my now natural desire for a female in estrus. The day went by in a hot daze of sexual pleasure, and I was so intent on servicing a Nanny that at first I didn't hear the sound of the approaching vehicles as the rest of the dig crew returned from their weekend break. One honked its horn and I heard some whistles and catcalls as they passed the herd and I realized I was the reason for those calls. The sight of a Billy "getting some" had resulted in the appropriate responses from the young men, much to the disgust of the women. I finished with a grunt of pleasurable release and dismounted. Then I trotted towards the camp, and I hoped, help.

But I had no luck at all. I couldn't talk, couldn't write, couldn't do anything to try and tell anyone what had happened to me. All I could do was stand there and bleat frantically. Soon they were looking for me though, but the "old" me. I was touched by their evident concern when they couldn't find me; even Professor Barker seemed genuinely worried. But they finally drove me off as they got tired of the annoying goat that kept following them around and bleating at them, plus the Nannies that were following me. Some well thrown rocks and kicks finally even drove me off. I stood and watched, bleating sadly, as they kept searching for me. I'm right in front of you! I thought, please, oh please see me! But all they saw was an annoying stinky animal.

It's been over two weeks now, and as I usually do I just stand and watch the camp. The police have come and gone, their search finding only the scraps of my towel and clothes, the Nannies ate the rest. Foul play was suspected, but never proven, and the mystery of the "missing" American student went unsolved. The rest of the crew, disheartened and frightened, was shutting down the dig and packing up to leave. I made one last desperate attempt to communicate with them, but all I got was a warm beer sprayed in my face by Bruce, that asshole thought it was funny. As they drove away I stood in the road and watched, tears running down my muzzle. Please don't leave me like this, I thought, please don't go. I ran after them for a short way, bleating shrilly. Please!

Finally I stopped trying to follow, and watched until the dust faded. Then I turned and looked at my mates; who were all looking at me, concerned by my odd behavior. I thought about going to a town or city and trying to find help, but why would anyone else understand what a goat was trying to tell them? Plus I felt oddly protective of the females that had chosen me as their mate and herd Billy. One of the Nannies came up and gently nuzzled at my face and I returned the affection. In my own way I realized I loved them. No, I realized, for better or worse I'm stuck here, but at least I won't be alone. And my nose told me there were still Nannies that needed my services, and flaring my nostrils I started looking for a receptive mate.

The charm, its magic completed, came loose and entered back into the new animal's digestive tract, and in time would be passed. The one that had created it in order to enslave humans in animal form was long dead. He had become rich and powerful by changing slaves and peasants into animals and breeding them. He had finally died and the charm had been lost. The last man he had changed into a boar had still been carrying the charm inside him when he was butchered for food and the charm had been thrown out with the offal. It had been over 1500 years since the charm had last been used, but its magic was inexhaustible.

The old farmer was very surprised, but pleased, to find the new Billy when he came to round up his goats for the winter. A fine big healthy specimen, the Billy had evidently done his job well as all the Nannies were pregnant, even though that was odd as the season wasn't right, but the old farmer didn't care. The Billy was a very smart one too, and took good care of his herd. Under his watchful eye no Nannies had been lost to wild dogs or other predators. The Billy had the strangest grey eyes unlike any the farmer had ever seen; the intelligence in them was disturbing. But he was an affectionate beast, and the Nannies followed him loyally.

The farmer had put a bell on the Billy and dominant Nanny, and was leading them back to the farm, the rest following contentedly. As he walked he kicked a pile of dried droppings and noticed the glint of metal. Curious he stopped and poked around with the toe of his boot until it revealed a small silver item. He picked it up and looked at it, he'd seen the fertility charms before, but most of his people considered them evil and idolatrous. But since it was silver some tourist would pay money for it. It was hot from the sun and as he put it in a pocket he thought he felt a slight tingle. He looked up to find the Billy looking at him, and it shook it's head from side to side and said "NAAA-AAA!" almost like it was trying to tell him something. But it was getting late, so he took it by one horn and led it to its new home.

THE END

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