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.defects, doubtless contributes tothe stability of Gorean society, a society in which the individual has a place, in which his workis respected, and in which he can plan intelligently with respect to the future.The clanstructures are kinship groups.They function, on the whole, given mating practices, within thecaste structure, but they are not identical to it.For example, in a given clan there may be,though often are not, individuals of different castes.Many Goreans think of the clan as a kinshipgroup within a caste.For most practical purposes they are correct.At least it seldom does muchharm to regard the matter in this way.Clans, because of practical limitations on mobility, areusually associated, substantially, with a given city; the caste, on the other hand, istransmunicipal or intermunicipal.These remarks would not be complete without mentioning HomeStones.Perhaps the most significant difference between the man of Earth and the Gorean is thatthe Gorean has a Home Stone, and the man of Earth does not.It is difficult to make clear to a non-Gorean the significance of the Home Stone, for the non-Gorean has never had a Home Stone, and thuscannot understand its meaning, its reality.I think that I shall not try to make clear what is thesignificance to a Gorean of the Home Stone.It would be difficult to put into words; indeed, it isperhaps impossible to put into words; I shall not try.I think this is one of the saddest thingsabout the men of Earth, that they have no Home Stone."What is your name, little vulo?" asked Tup Ladletender of me."My master has been pleased to call me 'Dina,'" I said."If your master has been pleased to call you 'Dina,'" said Ladletender, "then you are Dina.""Oh, yes, Master!" I said, quickly.I had not meant to imply that my name might not be 'Dina.'Melina was glaring at me."I am Dina," I said swiftly, "only Dina, the girl of my master." Thosefour letters, in Gorean, as in English, were my complete and only designation.Such matters lieentirely within the determination of the Master."Pretty Dina," said Ladletender."Thank you, Master," I said."Do you want her?" asked Melina."She has rough hands," said Ladletender.He pulled my small hands, bound, out from the post, andrubbed his thumbs into my palms.I shuddered."You have rough hands, Dina," he said."I am a peasant's girl, Master," I said.My hands were rough from digging, and washing, andholding tools.I felt his thumbs rotating slowly in my palms.They pressed in.I thrust myself against the post,eyes closed."With lotions," said he, "they may be softened, so that they would be fit to caress men.""Yes, Master," I said.I shuddered to think what his thumbs might have felt like in my palms, hadmy palms been slave-girl soft."Make an offer for the little she-sleen," said Melina.Ladletender touched my neck, and put his finger inside the rope collar, and pulled it Out a hitfrom my neck."You wear a rope collar," he said."It must be rough and unpleasant.""What pleases my Master," I said, "pleases me.""Do you lie to a free man?" he asked."Oh, no, Master!" I cried.To be sure, the rope collar was unpleasant, and for that reason I didnot like it, but, on the other hand, I, a slave, was naturally desperately eager to pleaseThurnus, who was my master.It was his will to which mine must conform.It was he whom I mustplease, fully.There was thus a sense in which what pleased Thurnus pleased me.I was pleased toplease him.Did I not please him I might be summarily slain.I was pleased to please him.Toplease the master is what most pleases the girl."She is trying to be pleasing," said Melina."Would you not like her naked in your furs? She canbe purchased cheaply.""How cheaply?" he asked."Cheaply," she said."Does Thurnus know you are selling her off?" he asked.file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Slave%20Girl%20Of%20Gor.txt (105 of 227) [1/20/03 3:34:31 AM]file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Slave%20Girl%20Of%20Gor.txt"It does not matter what Thurnus knows," said Melina."I am free and companion to Thurnus.I maydo what I wish.""Would you like, pretty Dina," said Ladletender, fingering my neck, "to have a pretty steelcollar, perhaps enameled?"I have never owned a collar," I said."Nor would you then," pointed out Ladletender."Yes, Master," I said, humbled.It was not I who would own a collar, but I, collared, who would be owned.The collar, like myself,would belong to the master.It would be his collar.I would not own it.I would only wear it."This rope is rough and coarse," said Ladletender, fingering the rope collar."Would you not likea smooth steel collar, one slender and gleaming, or perhaps ornamented and cunningly wrought, orenameled, perhaps to match your eyes and hair, one designed in color and workmanship to enhanceyour style of beauty, one perhaps measured or custom-fitted to the beauty of your own slavethroat?""Whatever pleases the master," I said.I knew that a steel collar did immeasurably enhance thebeauty of a girl.I had much envied Eta her collar, though it had been plain.I had seen fewcollars on Gor, but I had learned from Eta that there was great variety among them.They rangedfrom simple bands of iron, hammered about a girl's throat, her head held down on an anvil, tobejeweled, wondrously wrought, close-locking circlets befitting the preferred slave of a Ubar;such collars, whether worn by a kitchen slave or the prize beauty of a Ubar, had two things incommon; they cannot be removed by the girl and they mark her as slave.In the matter of collars,as in all things, Goreans commonly exhibit good taste and aesthetic sense.Indeed, good taste andaesthetic sense, abundantly and amply displayed, harmoniously manifested, in such areas aslanguage, architecture, dress, culture and customs, seem innately Gorean.It is a civilizationinformed by beauty, from the tanning and cut of a workman's sandal to the glazings intermixed andfused, sensitive to light and shadow, and the time of day, which characterize the lofty towers ofher beautiful cities.The same attention, of course, which the Gorean bestows upon his own lifeand world, is naturally bestowed upon his slave girls.They, too, must be perfect.Just as, in ourworld, it is not uncommon to seek the advice of an interior decorator in obtaining and organizingthe appointments of one's own dwelling, so, too, in the Gorean world, it is not uncommon to callin a trainer and beautician to appraise and improve a girl [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]