Quotes From pages 104 to 250

There were, of course, some islands beyond Tyros and Cos, some
smaller islands, spoken of, commonly, as the Farther Islands. I supposed, thus,
that the “mariner,” if he were a mariner, must be from one of the Farther Islands.
I was personally unaware of any who had sailed beyond those islands, and
returned.Page 104

“I do not understand what is going on here,” I said.
“Your duties will be explained to you,” said Sullius Maximus.
“What is the name of this ‘mariner’?” I asked.
“Nishida,” he said. “Lord Nishida.”page 105

Several of the fellows on the beach looked uneasily at one another. There was
little, as far as we knew, beyond Tyros and Cos, some small islands, of course,
usually spoken of as the Farther Islands, but nothing else, lest it be the World’s
End, the edge of the sea, supposedly the plunge into the abyss, nothing.
Few ships, as far as I knew, had ventured west of the Farther Islands, and of
those, as far as I knew, none had returned.Page 136

“I am honored,” he said, “to greet a two-name person.”
I did not respond, as I did not understand what he had in mind.
“I am Tajima,” he said. “I am a one-name person, but I hope, one day, to be a
two-name person.”Page 161

“I was told to expect two free men and a slave,” said Tajima, “but I find two
free men, and two slaves.”
“I brought a slave,” I said.
“I am not a slave!” said she whom I had thought of as Constantina.
“Lord Nishida,” said Tajima, “is fond of yellow-haired collar-girls.”
“I am not a collar-girl!” she snapped.Page 161

I wondered if this “Lord Nishida” had put in a request for a yellow-haired
collar-girl, if one had been included in, say, his “want list.”Page 162

“Tell him,” I said to Pertinax, in English, “that it is not he who was the fool,
but you.”
“I am the fool,” said Pertinax to Tajima, in Gorean, “not you. You are not a
fool. It is I who am the fool, not you. I am sorry.” Page 163

“I am not a fool,” said Tajima to Pertinax.
“Of course not,” said Pertinax.
“There is no ship,” said Tajima.
“What?” said Pertinax.
“What!” exclaimed Miss Wentworth.
“No ship,” said Tajima.
“I do not understand,” said Pertinax.
“It is you who are the fools,” said Tajima.
“Where is our money, our gold?” asked Pertinax.
“If it exists,” said Tajima, “it is being applied elsewhere, otherwise than to fill
purses such as yours.”Page164

“If would be better if they were hooded,” said Tajima.
“Yes,” I said.
In moments the hoods were in place.
“Turn them about,” said Tajima.
This was done, both to the left and right, a number of times, as though
randomly.Page 166

The movements of free women on Gor tend to be restricted, and monitored.
One is always aware when they are about. They are precious. One pays attention
to them. Slaves, on the other hand, are generally free to come and go, as they
please, not much noticed. They may have to request their master’s permission to
leave their domicile. Page 172

“Do white women make pleasing slaves?” asked Tajima.
“Yes,” I said.
“That is well,” he said.
“I cannot see Lord Nishida like this,” said Miss Wentworth, indicating her
brief tunic, little now but a rag, given our journey through the forest. “Bring me
something suitable!”page 184
“You may look upon them as you wish,” said Tajima. “These are not contract
women, trained, refined entertainers, or such. They are simple, coarse slaves, no
different from those with which you are familiar. You may note that their necks
are encircled with collars, and may be confident that the collars are closed, and
locked. Too, if you care to examine their left thighs, you will note, just under the
hip, a brand.”Page 186

“We are a formal, traditional people,” said Tajima. “The old ways are
important to us. But we are also an intelligent, adaptive people, and are always
ready and eager to adopt useful devices, pleasant customs, and such.”
“I understand,” I said.Page 187

“Thus, we may very well have come up with them independently, but, if not,
we are happy to learn from others. Those of the high cities are so elegant and
efficient in these matters that it would do us great honor to recognize, if we did,
the perfections which they have developed in their handling of women.”Page 186

“There were three tubs,” I said, “two slaves.”
“One slave to bathe you,” said Tajima, one to bathe Pertinax.”
“We could bathe ourselves,” I said.
“Assuredly,” said Tajima, “but is it not pleasant to be bathed by a naked
slave?”
“Yes,” I said.
“The small pleasures of life,” said Tajima, “are not to be scorned.”
“True,” I said.
“Besides,” said Tajima, “the act is beneficial for the women, as well. It helps
them to understand that they are women, and that, as women, although they are
women, they may prove to be of some value, however humble.”Page 186-187

“What of Miss Wentworth?” I asked.
“Miss Wentworth, as she is a female, may bathe herself.”
“There were only three tubs,” I said.
“Your slave,” said Tajima, “would use your tub, after you had finished.” Page 187

Lord Nishida nodded. I gathered he was pleased.
I noted the interest, too, of the two contract women on the dais behind Lord
Nishida, and to his left. I supposed they had seen few examples of such hair,
given their presumed backgrounds, long, glossy, silken yellow hair, or blond
hair.Page 202

“Then,” she said, “when put to my feet and ready to be brought within, my
head was covered in the sheet, completely, so I could not see my way!”
“That is common,” said Lord Nishida, “when one such as you is to be
presented before a daimyo.”
“What?” said Miss Wentworth.
“A lord,” said Tajima.
“One such as I?” she said.
“Yes,” said Tajima.Page 204

“I do not understand,” she said.
“Can you make tea?” he inquired. “Properly?”
“No,” she said, puzzled.
“Can you arrange flowers,” he asked. “Properly?”
“No,” she said.
“Can you play a stringed musical instrument, a lyre, a lute, a samisen?”
“No,” she said.Page 205

I saw the two contract women exchange amused glances. One giggled,
slightly, she on the right, as one faced them. This displeased Tajima, but the girl
did not seem disconcerted by his disapproval.
Lord Nishida did not see fit to acknowledge the contract woman’s
indiscretion.Page 205

The woman’s name was Sumomo, and Tajima, I would later learn, was
interested in her contract, which he could not afford.
“Perhaps you can dance,” said Lord Nishida.
“No,” she said.Page 205

“Yes,” she cried, “yes, please!”
“One must strive to become worthy of a tunic,” said Lord Nishida. Then he
said to the two fellows who had the blond, distraught slave in custody. “See that
she is cleaned, thoroughly, and then see to her branding and collaring. Let the
brand be the Kef.”Page 216

“You think to bargain with a free man, slave?” inquired Lord Nishida. “Get on
your knees, and lick and kiss his feet, begging forgiveness.”
The guards released the slave, and she knelt, terrified, before Pertinax, and put
down her head and began to lick and kiss his feet. “I am sorry,” she said.
“Forgive me, Gregory.”Page 218

“Master?” she asked, her head lifted to me.
“Slave?” I said.
“Has Master Pertinax inquired after me?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
She put down her head, “Nothing, Master,” she said.
“Perhaps,” I said, “it is his whip you would like to feel?”
Among slaves, a common way for one slave to inquire of another her owner is
to ask, “Who whips you?”Page 225

“You have trainers?” I asked Tajima.
“Several,” he said, “who brought the tarns from Thentis, some from
elsewhere.”
Thentis was famed for her tarn flocks.
“I am not a tarn trainer,” I told him. Page 236

At that moment, from afar off, perhaps two hundred to two hundred and fifty
yards to our right and ahead, there was a terrible roar, surely of a larl, followed, a
moment later, by a harrowing scream.
Tajima seized my arm. “No!” he said. “Do not depart from the wands!”
“Help is needed!” I said, pulling away.
“No,” said Tajima. “It is no longer needed. The kill has taken place. Do not
disturb a larl when it is feeding.”
“Someone was beyond the wands,” I said.
“Now, and again,” said Tajima, “some will flee the camp.”
The roar of the larl commonly startles and freezes the prey. Then the larl is
upon it.
“The camp, I gather, is not to be fled?”
“No,” said Tajima, “it is not permitted.”
“Why do men flee the camp?” I asked.
“They are afraid,” said Tajima. “They do not wish to die, and then they flee,
and then they die.”
“There are secrets here, too,” I said, “and men might flee, to make them
known, to sell them.”
“That, too,” said Tajima. Page 236

Wild tarns are common in the mountains of Thentis.
“Four of my people,” said Tajima, “fled back from the tarns, and two found
they could not approach them.”
“That is understandable,” I said.
“But not acceptable,” said Tajima. “But each has regained his honor.”
“I do not see how honor is involved in this sort of thing,” I said, “courage
perhaps, but how honor?”
“For us, honor is involved,” said Tajima. “But do not fear, for they have
regained their honor.”
“How?” I asked.
“By the knife,” he said. Page 238

There was a larger building, too, which had a plank floor and
an open wall. This, I would learn, was a dojo, or training hall. To one side there
was a tank for water and there were several racks from which hung meat,
probably tabuk, forest tarsk, and forest bosk. The greater forest tarsk, unlike the
common tarsk, can be quite large. Page 243

“Some slaves work in the cots, in the cities,”

I said. “They grow accustomed to tarns.”
“They are rather like stable sluts?” asked Tajima.
“Yes,” I said. I thought of the former Miss Wentworth. She was now,
technically, a stable slut page 246

The man with the sword stood to one side, two hands on the hilt of the
weapon. He regarded me. He did not seem resentful, outraged, or such. Rather,
he seemed puzzled. He had not expected this intrusion, nor had the fellow on the
platform.
The fellow on the platform gripped the knife. I thought blood had drained
from his hand. He looked up, not fully comprehending this disruption. He had
already, I understood, given himself to the knife, and all that remained now was
to finish the deed.
“Allow him dignity!” begged Tajima.
“I will not allow this,” I said.
“Who are you to stop it?” asked Tajima, once again in command of his
emotions. The Pani are an extremely emotional, passionate race, as I would
learn, and the calmness of their exterior demeanor, their frequently seeming
impassibility, even seeming apathy, was less of a disposition than an
achievement. Page 250