'Sappho of Lesbos is the tenth Muse.'
(Plato)
'What else did Sappho teach these girls but love?'
(Ovidius)
"I believe that the extraordinary, wonderful gift to be adept in music, dance, poetry, or making love resides in every human being; thus in every man and woman that exists," Sappho spoke. She was standing in the middle of a circle formed by twelve young girls ranging from fifteen to nineteen years old. All of them wore long stolas, that reached their ankles when standing upright, and were held up by straps and a dark gold fibula on their shoulders. Through the thin white fabric of the stolas, the shadows of forming breasts were visible… with some of the girls somewhat more apparent than with others; and some of the girls couldn't hide two nubs contoured by their nipples through the layer of linen. Dark triangles between their legs were shown through their simple stolas as well. Anyone could see that neither of the young girls was wearing a tunic or similar under their stolas. Nor was any of them wearing a palla or anything else of that kind. Most girls came from very simple or poor families, and weren't used to wearing white material. Most of them were used to dark blue, or brown, for white was preserved for usually the wealthy women only. All girls were bare footed and sitting in lotus position, all their attention directed towards their Mistress.
"Mistress?" One of the youngest girls' voice sounded on the right of Sappho. She turned around to look at the girl intently, smiling. When the older woman had caught her eye, the shy, young girl started speaking again, "I don't underestimate your words, but I cannot believe that I'll ever be adept in making love. I don't even have the faintest idea how to kiss."
Sappho contemplated this for a few minutes. She completely understood the young girl's way of thinking. She'd been thinking the same thing at the age of fourteen, and now most Greeks looked at her as a goddess. No man, or woman for that matter, she had ever been with would ever be able to forget the experience. There had been a lot that she'd shared the bed with, and she must admit that there were few that she still remembered herself. There must have been hundreds. "Dear Cleis. You are a particularly smart girl. In the very beginning, you did not truly think you could ever be good in music, dance or poetry either. Now, you play the lyre like no one else, dance like a goddess and write poetry like I could merely dream about. You have the ability to place words so that they show your emotions rightly. I'd say I'm good with finding the right words, but I'll never be capable of doing what you do. You are extremely gifted, Cleis, just like every other girl here present. Why in the name of Demeter would you, one of the most gifted and talented young women I have known, doubt yourself?"
"How, mistress?" Another girl, a couple of years older than Cleis, spoke from Sappho's left. The older woman now turned towards the blue eyed Altheda, listening intently. "I do not doubt you or your methods, but I just cannot see how anyone could teach anyone else to make love."
"Practise," she answered, getting confused gazes from everywhere in the human circle. Sappho sighed, then easily undid the dark fibula, her own long white toga sliding down and coming to puddle at her feet, presenting her very close to perfect features. A few gasps sounded from here and there as the older woman simply stood there for an instant, then turned around to look at her favorite student. "Parthenia," she spoke, directing her words only to the light brown haired and gray eyed girl in front of her, who looked up at her mistress with great honor. "Would you please stand up and join me here?"
Parthenia, who was over eighteen, slowly got up and walked up to her mistress in the middle of the circle. None of the girls knew what was going to happen, including young Parthenia herself, thus the other eleven looked curiously at their friend and Mistress. Parthenia swallowed as she looked up at the older woman. "Dear Parthenia, have you ever kissed anyone?" The girl's eyes widened, and she did not know whether she should answer truthfully or not, since her Mistress had always told her not to speak about what happened when the other girls were asleep. They would be jealous, Sappho repeated every single time. They would notice she was their Mistress' favorite. "Answer truthfully," Sappho added, looking into the girl's eyes.
Young Parthenia swallowed and answered, "Yes, Mistress." Again, a couple of gasps rose from the human circle around the student and mistress. She looked up at the older woman, whose smile reassured her that it must have been the right decision to say this.
"How many times did we two kiss, dear Parthenia?" Sappho asked, and she could see her student's fear, as more gasps sounded, and louder. "Answer truthfully," she repeated.
The young student swallowed once again, and lowered her head as she replied, "I honestly have gone lost in counting."
Sappho nodded with a small smile around her lips, leaning in to touch lips with her favorite student, before slowly starting to move her lips along Parthenia's, immediately passionate and eager. The Mistress' tongue delved between the young brunette's lips and started playing with its mate, tongues swirling around one another and pushing close to each other. Sappho's experienced hands ran up Parthenia's body, stopping at her shoulder to unfasten the fibula, so that the young student stood naked before her.
Parthenia pulled back abruptly, as her Mistress had never done anything like this before. She felt uncomfortable being naked in the middle of the circle and started shivering lightly. Sappho's hands came to her shoulders, running her fingers gently up and down her arms, calming the young girl with the touch. The older women quietly took the smaller hand in hers and slowly lead it to her breast. "Touch me," she whispered in the young girl's ear before biting the earlobe. Parthenia couldn't help but throw her head slightly back in delight as her Mistress went on to the sensitive skin below her ear and the rest of her neck, carelessly moving to the front. Sappho stopped planting kisses when she reached Parthenia's throat and looked up into these steel gray eyes she liked so much.
Parthenia's hand hadn't moved an inch. Her Mistress' words were directed only at her, but she could not put aside the fact that she was standing there naked with her in the middle of a circle formed by her friends. Friends who would most likely hate her now, because Sappho had told her that they would, because she was really their Mistress' favorite. Perhaps, Parthenia thought, they would look up at her just because of that. No. They would be jealous, and angry because she had never told anyone. They would feel betrayed, and she could not contradict the reason why. She wondered where she would have to sleep on from tonight, as she highly doubted the other girls would still allow her to sleep in the same room.
The Mistress gently brought the two of them down on their knees and started kissing the girl's throat again, this time going further than that and moving on to the inside of her petite breast, licking it and kissing it so lovingly. Parthenia, although she still did not feel comfortable to be watched like that, felt amazing. Something in her Mistress' experienced touches made her feel... She couldn't quite place it, but it sent a very particular feeling through her lower abdomen. A feeling she would want to have forever. It seemed to make her doubts disappear.
Sappho moved on and took the young student's nipple between her lips, sucking on it briefly before letting go. She smiled as this resulted in Parthenia's first sexual moan and a rosy puckered peak harder than steel. Both Sappho's hands retreated and came to lie on Parthenia's hand, which still hadn't moved from her Mistress' breast. The older woman gently started kneading, showing Parthenia how it must be done. Soon enough, the Mistress gradually let go and allowed the young brunette to continue on her own. Sappho leaned backwards slowly, watching her favorite student closely. She could see some kind of confusion and fear in these beloved young eyes, but with just a little help from her side, it would all be fine again.
Mistress Sappho gently caught the girl's wrists, pulling her upon herself. "This is how a man and a woman usually make love," she said, loud enough so that all other students could hear. "You're in the position of the man now, lying between my legs." Parthenia nodded, but did not quite understand. "All men have a pole between their legs, but you should be aware that it's only that rock-hard as it is when he longs for you. Otherwise, it's merely just a piece of flesh. When a man longs for you, his manhood comes upright and becomes a hard pole… one that gives the sweetest pleasure if wanted."
Questions suddenly sounded from everywhere in the human circle. Ismena's worries reached their Mistress first. "What if a man doesn't long for you?" She wondered.
Sappho smiled. "Sometimes, when a man longs for you, he still does not succeeded in making a pole." She chortled seeing more lines of worry upon the young student's forehead. "There are many reasons for that. When he's a little bit scared, for example. When he's been drinking too much. When he's exceptionally heavy." Ismena's brow and others' crinkled more. "There are other ways to make love than this," Sappho stated, then rolled herself over with Parthenia so she was on top straddling the younger student. "See? Now it doesn't really matter if your man is heavy or not. You won't risk getting crushed if you are on top yourself."
"What if it's nothing of that, and what if he still doesn't... succeed in making a pole?" Meteora asked.
"Then you do things that turn him on… that make him lusty, horny, and want to couple right then and there. That's not so difficult. Almost every man wants to couple all the time. So then it's your job to make him want it so much that he does make a pole for you."
"What if nothing you do helps?" Kaethe still worried. "And how do you do that... turn a man on?"
"That's simple," Sappho answered. "I taught you how to dance. Simply dance and undress while you're at it. If that doesn't help, something's wrong with that man."
That didn't quite seem to reassure young Kaethe, but she did not have particularly much time to contemplate, as suddenly Briseis, the youngest of all students spoke. She was getting more confused by the word and didn't understand much of her Mistress' explanations. There was one thing in particular that didn't make any sense to her. "How, mistress, can a pole bring pleasure?" She wondered, not seeing what she thought everyone else already saw. In fact, only a few girls knew what their mistress was talking about.
"Like every man has got a pole, every woman has got a hole," Sappho explained, then held up one finger of her left hand, before making a circle with the thumb and forefinger of her right one to indicate what she was talking about. "Man," she said, holding her left hand higher, "And woman," bringing her right hand on the same level. She simply moved the forefinger of her left hand into the circle she'd made with her right. "See?" She asked. "That's coupling." More understanding seemed to dawn upon the girls now. "When the pole moves in and out of the hole, it usually brings pleasure to both the male and the female."
Sappho turned back towards her favorite student with a smile. She easily moved herself off the younger student and sat on her knees beside her. Parthenia leaned up, but her Mistress kindly pushed her back down. "Making love is sometimes said to be easier for a woman, since the only thing that could happen to make her unable to make love, is being so nervous that she tenses up and unconsciously closes her hole. When a woman wants to couple, the hole just remains open and something juicy spills from her. That juice makes it easier to move for the man." Sappho caught some nervous frowns from around the circle, then added, "Of course, when a woman bleeds, some prefer not to make love, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it can't happen." Again, some non-understanding looks were visible. About four girls had had the menstrual talk already, meaning that only the four of them would understand this time. She let it be, thinking she would explain further when being asked after it, even though she could have anticipated always curious Neola to ask sooner or later.
"So... Actually it's far better if both the man and the woman really want to couple?" Platona piped up, having made the connection inside her head. She looked up at the Mistress questioningly, wanting to know whether she was right or not.
"That's right."
"I still don't understand," Neola, considered the prettiest of all Sappho's students present, quietly admitted.
Sappho smiled faintly to herself. She could have guessed. Neola was still not a woman, like most of her students weren't. They did not understand. Once they had started bleeding like a grown woman, they would. "You have perhaps no idea what hole I'm talking about?" She questioned, and saw more than just Neola's head shake. "You can feel it with yourself," Sappho said. You go down with one finger between your folds and then you will find the hole I'm talking about. Try it," she suggested, and saw some girls quietly lift up their toga and do just like she had told. More understanding came upon the girls, and some even giggled nervously at their own stupidity.
"I really feel it!" Dione even exclaimed at the truth within their Mistress' words. Hedea, one of Sappho's oldest students, sitting right beside young Dione, couldn't help but roll her eyes and mumble something no one could grasp. Ileana, even though she hadn't heard what Hedea had just said either, hadn't failed to notice her rolling her eyes and couldn't stop herself from laughing.
You could easily see which ones had already bled and become a woman: neither of them had reached out for they had already found their secret entrance. They already knew that the same hole the female blood came from was the one to make love and have children with. Parthenia, who still lay motionless at Sappho's knees, was one of them.
Without speaking, Sappho's hands guided the young girl's legs open and she could see the fear in the big gray eyes. The Mistress' lips went between the young girl's legs and she quietly kissed the bud where her inner folds came together. Parthenia's back arched momentarily at the new sensation, and her eyes almost instantly closed. Sappho smiled, planting feather light kisses on her favorite student's inner thigh, making her shiver lightly with anticipation.
"That's her secret nub I was touching," Sappho explained. "It's very sensitive. It usually does not take a woman long to let go when it's being touched in small, fast movements."
"Let go?" Euphemia wondered, not understanding.
Sappho nodded. "When you are being touched on some places, like between your legs, you feel something tingle inside," she said, turning to Parthenia. "Do you feel it already?" She asked. Parthenia slowly nodded, eyes still closed. "When the touching continues, the tingling inside increases in strength. You feel it a lot better and at one point, you go wild with pleasure and let go. The tingling abruptly stops and you see little stars before your eyes. That means you have reached the end of your pleasure."
Euphemia looked back at her shocked. "No, it does not mean that you only feel it once. It means something like..." Sappho started thinking. "Alright, compare it with a bucket that you need to fill. Every touch fills your bucket more. And at one point your bucket is full. You are so happy that your bucket is full that you cannot help but accidentally kick it over. That means you'll have to start all over to reach the same happiness or sometimes a bit of water remains and you only have to add a little more again. Most women start shaking for a little while when their bucket is full, others even spray some of their juice away."
"Really?" It sounded from different sides.
"Really," Sappho smiled, confirming.
"Could a man reach that end of pleasure as well?" Ophira wondered frowning and when her Mistress quietly nodded, she questioned, "How?" She looked up at Sappho curiously, and noticed that she wasn't the only one who had been thinking about that.
"When a man's bucket is full," Sappho started, using the bucket version to make it easier for the younger ones. "He sprays juices out of his pole. When that happens, you might end up pregnant. A woman's juices taste kind of sweet, and a man's kind of salty."
Altheda frowned. "Have you tasted a man's juice? I thought it had to go in the woman's hole."
"Your mouth can serve as a hole sometimes, too," Sappho simply answered, before turning back to Parthenia, again kissing her sensitive nub before sliding her tongue up and down her folds, going faster every time. She occasionally stopped at the girl's nub to suck on it, and soon enough the young student showed a perfect example of 'letting go'. Parthenia's back arched off the underground and she shook violently at her first orgasm.
"Good girl," Sappho whispered in the girl's ear as she gently opened her eyes and found her Mistress'. The older women leaned in to kiss the young student's lips and found easy entry to her mouth and tongue. The two women touched tongues for an instant, until air became a necessity and Mistress Sappho pulled back.
All girls' eyes were now focused on the middle of the circle, as the Mistress' finger slid down between Parthenia's folds, where her tongue had roamed mere instants before. She could feel the girl's muscles tense up, even though the juices were there. "It's all right," Sappho whispered into the girl's ear and felt her relax a little more. "That's right..." she coached, sliding one finger into Parthenia's womanhood. No sign of pain came until the mistress slid another finger inside and the girl's eyes now closed in pain. Sappho could feel her muscles clamping around her finger. "The first time something goes inside, it hurts," Sappho explained. "Mostly you bleed as well."
Gasps sounded again, and Sappho looked up to see some girls curled up in fear at what she had just said. "Making love doesn't always have to hurt," she said. "You can have pleasure without going inside, like I just showed you. And even with going inside, it only really hurts the first time. It might feel uncomfortable the next times as well, but it won't really hurt anymore. After a few times, it only gives you joy."
Everyone seemed to relax a little more again. "Hedea. Ileana," she called, catching the girls' attention. "Would you two come over here for a while?" She asked, and the two girls just looked at each other in confusion before getting up and making their way to the middle of the circle as well. "Would you each hold one of Parthenia's wrists above her head?" She questioned. Both girls nodded and sat themselves down on their knees, each pinning one of their friend's wrists down to the underground with both hands.
Sappho pushed both fingers slowly in further and Parthenia screamed. "Do you want me to stop?" The older woman wanted to know, sounding concerned.
"No, Mistress," Parthenia spoke, a tear sliding down her cheek. Sappho carefully leaned in to kiss it away and kissed her lips again as she added another finger. She could feel Parthenia scream into her mouth as she slid it into her further. Sappho could feel the blood starting to form behind her fingers and as she carefully started pumping, some of it ran down between the girl's legs in a thin line. She wasn't screaming anymore, though. Most of the pain had already passed, and Sappho knew that soon enough she would find the now familiar feeling of pleasure again and the pain would be forgotten.
Sappho quietly shifted her fingers so that she could get access to that one spot she knew got most women to spray their juices. "Inside you, there's a ribble-like spot on the anterior side," she explained. "And when you touch it, it sometimes leads to spraying juice."
All girls listened and watched closely as Sappho's finger tips settled to stimulate the young student's ribble-like spot and soon enough, sooner than anyone would have anticipated – Sappho included – a small stream of juice came exploding out of the girl's secret hole as she retracted. Sappho smiled in satisfaction at Parthenia, who smiled right back, even though her eyes had gone red from crying. It had been an honor to have her Mistress take her virginity.
Soon, young Parthenia's heartbeat exhibited a slow, steady rhythm like before. She closed her eyes as she tried to control her panting. All other girls around her looked on with wide eyes. Sappho merely smiled at these gazes, as she grasped for the teenager's hand. It had been most necessary that she learned these girls about love. At home, parents did not often speak about these aspects about loving. If she hadn't just showed them what making love was about, maybe their inexperience would have driven them into the wrong path of life.
"You are free to go. I will see you all at the big olive tree after sunset, as usual," Sappho said and watched the girls slowly get up and walk away, most likely to their bedroom to talk about what had just been seen.
Sappho carefully helped Parthenia up in a sitting position. "I'm tired, Mistress," she admitted, looking down as she wasn't sure whether this was good or not, nor whether Mistress Sappho would appreciate her honesty. To her utter surprise, Sappho smiled widely as she helped her young deflowered student stand. A line of bright red blood ran down the girl's leg, and she looked at her Mistress worriedly.
"It's normal," Sappho said, nodding towards her leg. She slowly bent down and gathered both their stolas, draping Parthenia's around her and fastening it with her fibula. "And it's normal to feel tired. Making love can be very intense; especially if it's your first time," she said, just wrapping her own stola around her shoulders.
Without thinking, Parthenia turned towards her Mistress and hugged her. Sappho was a bit taken aback by this at first, then smiled to herself. Love was the only thing she wanted to teach, and it could take a lot of different forms.