Tess Learns The Essence of St. Hilda
by GJ



Dear readers: This story is pure fiction and any resemblance to characters and
events living or dead in real life, is simply coincidence. Enjoy

And so it came to pass, that a newly wed couple, named Little, came to live in
the monastic community of Whitby. The man, a huge fellow called Seamus (hardly
little at all), was accompanied by his bride, named Tess. While certainly not
in her husband's weight class or possessing his level of strength (he was a
forester by trade), Tess was no slouch. She stood to be about 5'10, by today's
standards. It appeared she had 21" arms and roughly 28" quads. Still she would
be considered a light heavy weight by today's standards.

After greeting the Sisters as was the custom of new arrivals, the young couple
began to unload their meager possessions from their wagon. The biggest
possession they had was a huge chest, fashioned from rough-hewn wood by
Seamus. As he was lifting it off the wagon, and handing it to Tess, who was to
carry the whole thing, inside to the still unswept tiny domicile, she slipped
and the precious artifact came crashing down. As a result, the inlaid on the
cover was damaged. Angered by his wife's apparent clumsiness, Seamus began to
deride her, calling her a "worthless cow" and other such things. Then he
slapped her across the face, in a violent fashion, causing severe bruising on
the delicate skin of her cheek. There she lay, sobbing.

Shortly after this ignoble event, Hereswith and several other women (who were
true heavy weights), came upon the scene. By this time Huge Little (ok my
meager try at humor), was busy unpacking the couple's things, never thinking
twice about his injured wife. Hereswith easily lifted the grieving newlywed to
her feet and pulled the young woman to her huge breast for comfort. "There
there, my child, what ill has befallen you on this lovely day of Summer
Solstice?" Then she waited for a reply, but too frightened of her husband's
temper, the young lass responded with, " Seamus, my husband went inside. I
wished to lifted something off the wagon and fell down and hurt myself....That
is all."

Now, Hereswith, a woman of unique proportion and wit about her, sized up the
situation rather quickly. "Well, did not your man come to your aid? What say
he, as he heard you crying in the street? Tess, thinking fast shot back,
Seamus is a bit deaf...he did not hear me. Letting it go for the time being,
the muscle Sister, helped her inside, to tend to her wounds. Apparently Seamus
had left from the small door at the rear of their home. Yet he could be seen
walking back towards the house some distance away, carrying a huge tree , to
repair a broken section of their house.

It was at that time that Hereswith spoke, "Hello Seamus (this in a normal
speaking voice), your lovely bride has been hurt, please come quickly." To
keep up appearances, this wife beater ran to his wife. (Dum da dum
dum....busted). Hereswith now knew his hearing was fine. She formulated a plan
in her mind. She would train Tess in the womanly art of fisticuffs, so that
she would painfully teach her man to love honor and OBEY her. A rather boring
Summer now had an interesting turn of events. When Seamus came near, Hereswith
took the huge tree in one hand, and lifted it like it was a new born babe.
This did not go unnoticed as Seamus understood this was not a woman to trifle
with. His bride, Tess also began to see that men may not be the dominant
gender, as her hulk of a husband often told her, with great frequency.

Weeks passed and now Tess was in training. Hereswith first worked on Tess's
body, having her run many cubits until she was as fast and enduring as any
forest animal. Next she put Tess on a weight training regime using heavy
rocks, tree trunks and other such items. Lastly she revealed to her protege
the secrets of building muscle through proper diet. After several months of
this, Tess now had gained 5" on each bicep and 6" on each quad. She was devoid
of any fat and she was as fit as any fiddle might be.

Next Herewith, began the young woman's fistic training. She would check with
Tess, to see if Seamus was any the wiser, but he was not. Tess, a very clever
woman, began wearing oversized garments and even told her abusive husband that
she had contracted a woman's disease, and was unable to fulfill her wifely
obligations in their martial bed,. Seamus took to drink and carousing well
into the night, rutting with any loose woman he might find. So the women
seemed to have every base covered.

Tess learned how to throw a punch, the science of fistic fighting. In addition
she began to punch very hard powerful blows. They even broke a mighty oak in
half. Tess memorized all the points on a man that might succumb to her now
huge fists( which were as hard as steel). Lastly, Herewith explained that
power is to be used for good, never to be used as a tool for evil purposes.
She explained about an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth( fits in
perfectly...right dear readers?). A scant time later, this once put upon lass
was now a muscle woman who could easily kill any man with a single blow,
should she want to. Now the true test had to be passed.

The chance came, when the annual fistic competition at Whitby, was announced.
Now as previously mentioned ,Seamus was a brute, huge, incredibly powerful
with 34" arms, etc..No man would dare challenge him. ( Get it now dear
reader?) So when the fateful day came, Seamus, now full of mead and cockiness
bellowed with laughter as no one would dare face his killing fists. That is no
one except.....Go ahead and say it dear readers.......his sweet, always-
obeying wife Tess.

She entered the ring in her usual clothes. Her husband, astounded at seeing
her, thought she had come to wish him luck. "Thank you for coming, my sweet
innocent wife but begone, this is a man's venue, no place for a woman at all."
Well, Tess, no long afraid but confident in herself( thanks to Herewith),
slowly removed her over garment to show her true heroic proportions. The women
in the audience as well as the men, well let's say there was one huge
collective intake of breath. So amazing was Tess, in nobility and in power
that they all began to wonder what might occur.

Tess looked into her husband's eyes, seeing for the first time.....respect and
a hint of fear. She raised her huge arms and flexed for the crowd. They went
wild. Then she simply stated her purpose for being there thusly," Seamus, my
husband, for too long I have lived under your yoke of tyranny and this will
end here and now. If you promise, in front of these good people, to love me
and treat me as you should, I will spare you. If not, I will beat you with
these." Then she raised her mammoth fists and positioned them in front of her
now very confused spouse.

Seamus, the mountain of a man could never admit that his wife was his equal or
for that fact, his better, so he casually went to slap her hard in the face,
and end this farce. One problem was evident, Tess was no where near that slap.
Expecting such a move, even trained for it, she slipped under his arm, and
countered with a tremendous punch. It landed on her hapless husband's nose.
CRACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK, blood and snot shot out all over... including on Tess.
She looked on that red as a signal......of power, of womanhood and the end to
subjugation. Bellowing now with severe pain, Seamus yelled, "You broke my nose
you cow, now I will kill you."

He charged at her, knowing that with one punch, he would show everyone who
wore the pants in his family. He ran straight into a right cross and then a
left cross. Now both his eyes were swelling and would close very soon. Tess,
now fully in command and enjoying herself, began to work his mouth, hitting
Seamus with jabs so fast, they could not be counted. Her husband began to have
that glazed look, like he was in need of a nap. To sweeten her newfound power,
Tess offered this: "Dear husband, if you give up now I will leave your teeth
intact. Just say, "Tess you have beaten me, I surrender." Well of course as
you know dear readers, the now bloody mess of a husband would never say that.
Sooooo, Tess began to hit him with power punches , hooks Herewith called them.
Soon, Seamus was as toothless as a new born babe in the manger. He rocked back
and forth, hands at his side, just standing there.

Now Tess, clearly the winner, offered to stop this one sided blood bath with,
"Okay, you are done...everyone can see your blood spurting all over this ring,
your teeth are scattered like acorns on a fall day. I will ask you one more
time, Give up and save yourself from any more harm and humiliation...for you
see... unlike you....I do care about your feelings." This was a crucial point,
and Herewith had gone over it..."You must either beat him to a pulp or get his
admission that you win...either way he will know for the rest of his
life...never, ever to lay a hand on you ....to harm you, and to ALWAYS respect
you BECAUSE you are a WOMAN.

No response, knowing what she must do..she looked over at Herewith. Her
teacher nodded her approval...yes you must do it. Tess sighed and pulled back
her fist. "Dear husband, I am only going to hit you one more time and then it
will all be over." Pulling back that engine of destruction, Tess hit him with
her most powerful punch, an uppercut. Seamus, now unconscious, with a broken
jaw in 9 places, in addition to his other worries began to teeter back and
forth for about a minute. There was silence in the crowd until, the beaten man
slowly began to fall backwards. Tess yelled, "TIMBER", as her now broken-
faced husband crashed through the ring and landed with a such force that he
was buried up to his neck in the rich earth under the ring.

Several months later

Seamus has lost much weight. He could only eat berries and gruel. He now
listens intently to his imposing wife. He has learned to be domesticated and
he now sees, that although she is more powerful then he is, she treats him
with respect. Still, there is that all knowing gleam in her eye that says,
"Don't tread on me." Seamus never did and the couple lived a happy fruitful
life.