Sandow's Fig Leaf
By Bald Hairy Man
This is a fantasy about a 19th Century strongman, Sandow. There is no effort to make it historically accurate. If you are offended by stories about Gay men and Gay sex, DO NOT READ. The story is about adults and is intended for adults. If you are not an adult, DO NOT READ.
It is possible I am the first person in the history of the world to make a living making fig leaves. In truth, I never made a living making only fig leaves. I made a range of theatrical accessories until I encountered the great strongman Eugene Sandow. He made me famous. Perhaps not exactly famous, but the rest of my life was spent making costumes for nearly naked men.
Sandow was my friend and sometimes more that friend. He told me his life story and in many ways he was a great man.
Let me start from the beginning. I am Hans Hubner, theatrical outfitter and costumer, originally from Berlin. Later I lived in London, then New York. In that respect I followed Sandow. I was born in 1864, and so was a few years older than Eugene. He too was Prussian and originally his family was watchmakers.
Eugene was a handsome boy, but grew to become a spectacular man. His families were typical provincial, Prussian, lower middle class, very conservative and rather prudish. They had no plan for him other than to go to school and become a watchmaker. That was all fine and good until Eugene's Uncle Wolfram took him to Berlin to see the museums. I suspect his family would never have taken him there on their own. Wolfram was a wealthy, unmarried bachelor and they hoped he would leave some money to them.
Berlin had just changed from being the capital of Prussia, to becoming the Capital of the German Empire. The museums of the city were being expanded to express the power and cultural aspirations of the new Empire. They were undeniably impressive. They were filled with architecture and sculpture recalling that of Ancient Greece and Rome.
Poor Eugene had never seen a naked man before he saw the sculptures of the Altemeuseum. He lived in an urban district of Koenigsburg, a port city on the Baltic. His parents never took him to the country or to the baths to swim. Nudity, even in bronze, was a total shock to him. Needless to say, he questioned his Uncle about this in detail.
Wolfram was a cultured man and he explained these sculptures represented the highest achievement of Ancient culture and, indeed, Western Culture as a whole. Eugene was fascinated. His parents had told him that nudity was sinful and evil, yet here, in the center of the Capital itself, naked sculptures were unashamedly on display.
Eugene also noted the businessmen and shop keepers of Berlin didn't look much like the nude heroes of Greece. Wolfram explained the musculature of the statues was idealized. Real men didn't look like that. Eugene asked why. He was told men simply can't be that muscular or defined. Sandow set out to prove him wrong.
Sandow turned into an avid outdoors man, obsessed with exercise and muscle building. He told me he set out to remake himself in the form of a Greek statue. He found ways to make his body into the living reality that was behind the statues of the ancients. Eugene also believed that the naked body was the ultimate expression of the human body. Naked bodies of men were a problem in the Western world at that time. Sandow and I began a 20-year campaign to find a way to get as close to being naked as possible, without going too far. Thus, I became a fig leaf maker.
Sandow discovered another shocking thing on that visit to Berlin, the cock. He had no brothers, only two younger sisters. He had never seen his parents naked, or indeed undressed. As a young child he imagined his genitals were unique to him and hadn't realized they were common to all men.
Eugene was fascinated by cocks. As a child, he could figure out what a penis was for, but the reason for balls defeated him. He was brought up in a new circumstance. Children living in rural areas on farms naturally get an understanding of reproduction, as do most poor children. When all activities take place in a one room hovel, you naturally learn things. Eugene was from a middle class, urban family. He knew nothing.
Wolfram took care of that problem. Not right away, for Eugene was only 12 when they first went to the museums, but they began to take these little trips to Berlin and other cities monthly and by the time Eugene was 15, Wolfram gently explained all Eugene needed to know.
By age 18 it was clear Eugene wasn't going to become a watch maker. His parents were ready to through him out of the house, when Uncle Wolfram intervened. He had a friend looking for a man servant. Eugene would be perfect for the position. Eugene's parents weren't very interested in this until Wolfram told them it would be with Count Von Hellenburg, an important member of the court. The idea of serving the aristocracy appealed to them.
Eugene had met the Count on one his trips with Wolfram. They had visited the Count's Schloss in Silesia, and had spent several days there. Schloss Hellenburg was a rustic country house, quite small, with a swimming pond. The Count was interested in nudism and there Eugene was nude outdoors for the first time. It was a small party made up of several older men and a cluster of younger men. All were naked as they sat around the pond. All were interested in Eugene's dream of physical development.
Eugene was an extraordinarily handsome young man. He had pale golden hair, clear blue eyes and a tight, muscular body. It wasn't close to the full level of perfection it eventually achieved, but he was handsome.
The older men at the party were all handsome and fit, most were army officers. Most of the younger men were pretty and many were effeminate. Every one of them was handsome or pretty. Sandow stood out for both his physique and masculinity.
Later, Eugene discovered most of the older men were friends or lovers of Uncle Wolfram. Wolfram had no sexual interest in boys or young men, but he suspected Eugene would get his introduction to man sex at the party. Wolfram wanted to be there to help Eugene, if the young man needed it.
Eugene didn't need any help. He was fully aware of the Greek traditions of older men guiding younger men. He later told me about it.
"You understand, my parents told me nothing about sex, other than you shouldn't get a girl pregnant. I knew, right off the bat, a 55-year-old army officer wasn't going to get pregnant." he told me. "I had never seen an adult male's cock before that trip. I was entranced. It's funny, I was embarrassed I was staring at their cocks, VonHellenburg told me he was embarrassed at staring at mine. Neither of us noticed the other's stare."
Perhaps I need to explain something here. For years everyone has joked about the size of Sandow's fig leaf. As its creator. I can tell you, it was needed. Often big, muscular men are modestly equipped. Not so Sandow. He had both meat and the potatoes. We had to tie the cock up to keep it behind the leaf.
I asked him more about the first visit to the Schloss.
"What happened? Did he make an advance?" I asked.
"He told me, he was going to stay up late in his bedroom suite. The door wouldn't be locked." Sandow explained. "After everyone was asleep, I had to go to the w.c.. I just happened to pass the Count's door on the way back. It was ajar." Sandow smiled at that.
"He was waiting?"
"Of course. He was waiting. The Count was very nice. He said he didn't want to embarrass me or to make me uncomfortable, but he loved seeing me nude." Sandow continued. "I told him, I loved being nude and that afternoon had been the best day of my life. I was wearing a robe so I opened it. He was wearing only a robe too. He dropped it. The Count was hard. That was another first for me. I had never seen another man's cock hard before. "
"Shocked?"
"Pleased, actually." Sandow answered. "It was good, long and thin, but I was pleased my own was bigger. I asked him, if I could touch it. He said, yes of course. As I stroked his, he touched mine. He asked me if it felt good. I was going to say yes, but he dropped to his knees and began to suck my cock."
"Were you shocked then?"
Sandow laughed. "Not really. I have told you, I was an innocent. I had no preconceptions as to what was normal or expected. If he had begun to cluck and wave his arms like a chicken, it would have been normal as far as I knew! It was surprising to have a nobleman sucking at my cock, but it was his rank that surprised me, not the action itself. The Count was a first rate cock sucker. It was my turn to surprise him. If he had liked me soft, he was in love with me hard."
"It was good then?"
"How bad can cock sucking be?" Sandow replied laughing. "He sucked me until I shot off. There was no spill at all. He got up and said it was beautiful. I'm afraid I shocked him by getting on my knees and sucking him. He lost desire for sex for a while after an orgasm, I'm always ready to go again. Let me tell you that is a very useful trait to have!"
Apparently that was the real beginning of the party at the Schloss. Sandow told me the guests got more uninhibited the next day. Even his Uncle relaxed some. Everyone in the group liked man sex, so Sandow learned a lot.
Sandow discovered he liked to be naked in a group. There was a strong element of an exhibitionist to him. He enjoyed being nearly naked in a crowd. He also didn't mind sex with an audience. Eugene discovered the Count had a peep hole in his bedroom so some of the other guests could watch. Most people would get insulted or enraged to find this. It just excited Sandow.
The next two years were spent body building. Eugene had no real duties at Count von Hellenburg's Schloss, he just worked on his body. Barbells, weights, swimming, hiking, gymnastics and callisthenics were Eugene's daily duties. He was a hard worker and by the time he was 20 his body was beginning to reach its mature form.
There had been many musclemen and strongmen before, but these were huge blokes with no muscular development. Sandow looked like a Greek god. Every muscle was developed and expressed. He was strong, but graceful and elegant. He didn't play the caveman or Attila the Hun, the brutish barbarian invader. Sandow was a Greek god.
The Count committed suicide in1889. Word of his sexual interests got out and that was too much for the German officers' corp. It was the end of a good period in Sandow's life. He always spoke of the Count as a gentleman and benefactor. Fortunately, by that time Sandow was ready to launch his career. Sandow immediately got modeling jobs at a university art school.
However, the Count moved in lowbrow circles as well as aristocratic ones and among his many friends was Otto Gruneburg, an impresario and producer. Otto had met Sandow at the Schloss and been dazzled as had all of the Count's friends.
Gruneburg could see Sandow's potential. There were scores of circus and side show carnivals which all included a strong man. Gruneburg understood Eugene could do a lot more than that. He wanted to introduce him into more elevated circles. The impresario had connections to the theater world in London and New York. Gruneburg knew if Sandow could make in London or New York, he would be accepted everywhere. Sandow had no desire to stay in Germany. He knew the United States was the place for him.
This is when I met him. Grueburg needed a costume that would emphasize his physique. When I first met Sandow, I was impressed. He was an exceptionally handsome man. I was working from my small apartment and we talked. He explained he wanted to be as close to being nude as possible. We talked for an hour before he stripped to show me his physique. I had only just heard of him and had no idea what he looked like under his clothes. I couldn't believe it.
All my ideas vanished. No leotards or tights could hope to show the detail of his musculature. His skin was pale, but the picture of health, a creamy pink. The hard muscles and delicate color made a dramatic contrast between masculine and feminine. I was trying to figure out how to costume him and didn't notice Sandow hadn't stopped stripping, now he was totally naked. He was standing and I was sitting. His genitals were at my eye level.
I just stared at them like an idiot. He had the genitals of a Greek statue, but at twice the size. Well formed orbs framed the cock. The head was fully shrouded in the foreskin, the cock head was clearly outlined. His genitals were fully relaxed, but the cock head was so large it stretched the foreskin. I could see blue veins. His body was hard and defined, his balls looked firm, like apricots held in a tightly stretched skin. The cock alone was soft.
Sandow must have noticed my interest, he pulled the skin back and exposed his head. It was pinkish red and the size and shape of a large strawberry, with a wide slit. There was a bead of pre cum glistening on the slit. He took a step nearer.
"It would take quite a fig leaf to cover that!" I said.
"If only it would. That's exactly what I want." Sandow said. "A fig leaf would be perfect." I continued to stare at his cock, transfixed. His cock responded to the attention. It began to firm up and rise.
"Wouldn't you be more comfortable nude?" he asked. Of course I wasn't more comfortable, but there was no way I could continue to stare at his cock.
"You are so handsome, I am embarrassed." I stammered.
"Nonsense! The male body is a beautiful thing." he insisted. I began to take my clothes off. I am a throughly average man. I am thin and already balding, with a close-cropped beard and hairy body. I felt like a monkey man next to Sandow's smooth, alabaster skin.
"You are never fully naked, are you?" he said. "With that fur coat you are wearing, you are always dressed in something!" He was smiling. With one hand he stoked the hair on my chest. With the other he fondled my balls. He weighed them in his hand. "Jewish?" He asked, noticing I was circumcised.
"No, the skin was too tight as a child." I said.
"Your cock is so well proportioned when you are erect." he said. "Mine appears to be bloated, too large and ungainly. It is only perfect when I am soft."
"Has anyone ever complained?" I asked. He laughed.
"Never once." he replied. "I think that you and I can work together well. Working with a naked man doesn't bother you?"
"Not at all." I answered. "I am looking forward to it." My career was launched.