2nd September 1994
(C) Joona Palaste


                The Carnival


At carnival time there lived a small family with a mother, two girls and one
boy. They were all going to the carnival.
  "What shall you be in the carnival?" the mother asked.
  "I want to be a slave-girl!" the elder sister said. "And I, too!" said the
younger one.
  "That is a pleasant choice indeed", said their mother, "here are two beautiful
rag-dresses for you." She handed her daughters two beautiful ball-dresses made
from a cloth looking just like old rags. The girls put them on happily.
 "Can we have high-heeled shoes and elbow-length gloves too, mummy?" the girls
asked, so their mother gave them too to the girls, who put them on.
  "And you shall not be complete without a pretty flower in your hair", said the
mother, as she put pretty flowers in her daughters' hair.

Just as the girls were going outside, their mother stopped them.
  "You are going to be slave-girls, aren't you?" she asked. "So you must have
neck-chains, just like real slave-girls." And she handed the girls two sturdy
iron neck-chains, which they locked around their necks.
When the girls asked their mother what they were to do with the key, she
replied:
  "Melt it in a frying pan and pour the molten metal into the keyholes, so the
neck-chains shall never be opened again and you'll be just like real
slave-girls!" So the girls did just that.

"Can I be a slave, too?" asked the son.
  "Now don't be foolish, brother", said his sister, "you know very well there
is no such thing as slave-boys; as long as slavery has existed, all slaves have
always been girls." "And very beautiful girls, too", her sister added.
  "It's not fair", said the son, so her mother comforted him:
  "I will give your sisters to you as real slave-girls after the carnival is
over! That way they will be yours to command and will do whatever you please!"
So the son agreed to that.

As they were going outside to join the carnival, the girls asked their mother
if slavery still existed.
  "Yes, it certainly does", she replied, "although some countries have outlawed
slavery because the girls didn't like it, in this country girl-slavery is still
as legal and lawful as it ever has been."
  When they joined the carnival, the girls were surprised to notice that every
other girl had dressed up as a slave-girl too. All the girls had beautiful
dresses or skirts on, although the individual dresses varied greatly.
  Some girls had silk dresses, while some had just lace and ordinary cloth.
Some girls even had rubber dresses, which contoured their luscious bodies
tightly.

"I think there's going to be a slave-market here soon", said the mother.
  "Can we come to the slave-market, mummy?" the girls asked.
  "Of course, and what's more, you will actually be sold at the slave-market! I
and your brother will buy you."
  So they went to the slave-market. There were hundreds of people there:
beautiful girls and their families. In the centre was a large stage with a man
standing on it.
  "Would every girl dressed as a slave-girl please come here on stage?" asked
the man. The girls climbed onto the stage.
  "Is there any girl here who has not dressed up as a slave-girl?" asked the
man. No girl replied. "So all girls here must be slave-girls! My goodness!"

  "Now let's begin the slave-market!" said the man. As he moved towards the two
girls, he said: "And who wants to buy these little girls here?"
  The girls' mother made a bid, and another person doubled it. The mother
doubled again and bought her daughters back.
  The man moved to a little girl with a pretty mini-skirt. "Now here's a little
beauty", he said. "Can I look under your skirt?"
  The girl nodded, so the man looked under her skirt. "You are a most beautiful
little girl", said the man. "Who will buy her?" The girls' mother made a bid
and bought the girl.
  Next the man moved beside a beautiful teenage girl dressed in a lovely
princess-style silk ball-dress.
  "Here we have a real beauty", he said, "who wants to buy her?" A competent
bid was made, and the mother replied with another bid, buying the girl.
  Then the man moved towards two girls dressed in ordinary ball-dresses. "Who
will buy these two little girls?" Furious competition arose, and the mother won
it and bought the girls.

"We can withdraw from the slave-market now", the mother said to her son, "we
have bought your sisters back and four other girls too. You'll have a lot of
slave-girls now!"
  The boy agreed, and they left the slave-market. The mother and her son held
the loose ends of the girls' neck-chains.
  The son held her sisters and the little girl, while his mother held the
teenage girl and the other two girls.
  As they walked, the girls conversated with each other.
  "I've always wanted to be a slave-girl", said one of them.
  "So have I. I had no idea slavery was still legal", another girl replied.
  "It's a wonderful thing that boys are not allowed to be slaves - it makes you
proud to be a girl, so you can be a slave."
  "Yes. I think girls were actually meant to be boys' slaves. As far as I know,
girl-slavery has always existed."
  And so the mother, her son and their six slave-girls went home.