collar for all the jewels on Gor!" I held her. In time, she slept. I, too, then,
slept. It wa t~vo Ahn before dawn. In one Ahn Ottar and the Forkbeard would be
up, arousing the men. The serpent, the afte noon before, had been readied. This
morning, at daw~ the serpent would leave the small wharf, dipping oars, gli ing
through fog on the inlet, the result of the cooler la winds moving over the
somewhat warmer water ol the e croaching Torvaldstream. Ivar Forkbeard, not
wisely perhaps, was determined to attend the Thing. He had there, his opinion,
an appointment to keep, with Svein Blue Toot a great Jarl of Torvaldsland, who
had outlawed him. Chapter 10 A Kur will address the Thing Roped together by the
wrist, on the turf of the thing-fair, we grappled. His body slipped in my hand.
I felt my right wrist drawn back, at the side of m head, his two hands closed on
it. He grunted. He was strong. He was Ketil, of Blue Tooth's high farm, champion
of Torvaldsland. My back began to bend backward; I braced myself as I could,
right leg back, bent, left leg forward, bent. The men about cried out. I heard
bets taken, speculations exchanged. Then my right wrist, to cries of wonder,
began to lift and straighten; my arm was then straight, before my body; I began,
inch by inch, to lower it, toward the ground; if he did retain his grip; he
would, at my feet, be forced to his knees. He released my wrist, with a cry of
fury. The rope between us, a yard in length, pulled taut. He regarded me,
astonished, wary, enraged. I heard hands striking the left shoulders; weapons
struck on shields. Suddenly the champion's fist struck toward me, beneath the
rope. I caught the blow, turning, on the side of my left thigh. There were cries
of fury from the watchers. I took then the right arm of the champion, his wrist
in my right hand, my left hand on his upper arm, and extended the arm and turned
it, so that the palm of his hand was up. Then, at the elbow, I broke it across
my right knee. I had had enough of him. I untied the rope from my waist and
threw it down. He knelt on the turf, whimpering, tears streaming down his face.
The hands of men pounded on my back. I heard their cries of pleasure I turned
about and saw the Forkbeard. His hair was wet; he was drying his body in a
cloak. He was grinning. "Greetings, Thorgeir of Ax Glacier," said i. "Greetings,
Red Hair," said he. Ax Glacier was far to the north, a glacier spilling between
two mountains of stone, taking in it's path to the sea, spreading, the form of
the ax. The men of the country of Ax Glacier fish for whales and hunt snow
sleen. They cannot farm that far to the north. Thorgeir, it so happened, of
course, was the only man of the Ax Glacier country, which is usually taken as
the northern border of Torvaldsland, before the ice belts of Gor's arctic north,
who was at the thing-fair. "How went the swimming?" I asked him. "The talmit of
skin of sea sleen is mine!" he laughed. The talmit is a headband. It is not
unusual for the men of Torvaldsland to wear them, though none of Forkbeard's men
did.. They followed an outlaw. Some talmits have special significance. Special
talmits sometime distinguish officers, and Jarls; or a district's lawmen, in the
pay of the Jarl; the different districts, too, sometimes have different styles
of talmit, varying in their material and design; talmits, too, can be awarded as
prizes. That Thorgeir of Ax Glacier had won the swimming must have seemed
strange indeed to those of the thing-fair. Immersion in the waters of Ax Glacier
country, unprotected, will commonly bring about death by shock, within a matter
of Ihn. Sometimes I wondered if the Forkbeard might be mad. His sense of humour,
I thought, might cost us all our lives. There was probably not one man at the
thing-fair who took him truly to be of Ax Glacier; most obviously he did not
have the epicanthic fold, which helps to protect the eyes of the men of Ax
Glacier against extreme cold; further, he was much too large to be taken easily
as a man of Ax Glacier; their diet does not produce, on the whole, large bodies;
further, their climate tends to select for short, fat bodies, for such,
physiologically, are easiest to maintain in the therostatic equilibrium in great
cold; long, thin bodies, of course, are easiest to maintain therostatic
equilibrium in great heat, providing more exposure for cooling. Lastly, his
coloring, though his hair was dark, was surely not that of the far north, but,
though swarthy, more akin to that of Torvaldsland, particularly western
Torvaldsland. Only a madman, or a fool, might have taken seriously his claim to
be of the Ax Glacier country. Much speculation had coursed among the contest
fields as to the true identity of the smooth-shaven Thorgeir. Prior to his
winning the swimming he had won talmits for climbing the "mast", a tall pole of
needle wood, some fifty feet high, smoothed and peeled: for jumping the
"crevice", actually a broad jump, on level land, where marks are made with
strings, to the point at which the back heel strikes ther earth; wlking the
"oar", actually, a long pole; and throwing the spear, a real spear I am pleased
to say, both for distance and accuracy; counting the distance and the accuracy
of the spear events as two events which they are, he had thus, prior to the
swimming, won five talmits. He had done less well in the singing contest, though
he much prided himself on his singing voice; he thought, in that one, the judges
had been against him; he did not score highly either in the composition of
poetry contest nor in the rhyming games; "I am not a skald," he explained to me
later; he did much better, I might mention, in the riddle guessing; but not well
enough to win; he missed the following riddle; "What is black, has eighty legs
and eats gold?"; the answer, though it might not seem obvious, was Black Sleen,
the ship of Thorguard of Scagnar; the Forkbeard's answer had been Black Shark,
the legendary ship of Torvald, reputed discoverer and first Jarl of
Torvaldsland; he acknowledged his defeat in this contest, however, gracefully;
"I was a fool." He grumbled to me. "I should have known!" Though I attempted to
console him, he remained much put out with himself, and for more than an Ahn
afterward. In spite of his various losses, he had, even in his own modest
opinion, done quite well in the contests. He was in excellent humor. Perhaps the
most serious incident of the contests had occurred in one of the games of bat
and ball; in this contest there are two men on each side, and the object is to
keep the ball out of the hands of the other team; no one man may hold the ball
for more than the referee's count of twenty; he may, however, throw it into the
air, provided it is thrown over his head, and catch it again himself; the ball
may be thrown to a partner, or struck to him with the bat; the bat, of course,
drives the ball with incredible force; the bats are of heavy wood, rather broad,
and the ball, about two inches in diameter, is also of wood, and extremely hard;
this is something like a game of "keep away" with two men in the middle. I was
pleased that I was not involved in the play. Shortly after the first "knock
off", in which the ball is se
rved to the enemy, Gorm, who was Ivar's partner,
was struck cold with the ball, it driven from the opponent's bat; this, I
gathered, is a common trick; it is very difficult to intercept or protect
oneself from a ball struck at one with great speed from a short distance; it
looked quite bad for Ivar at this point, until one of his opponents,
fortunately, broke his leg, it coming into violent contact with Ivar's bat. This
contest was called a draw. Ivar then asked me to be his partner. I declined. "It
is all right," said Ivar, "even the bravest of men may decline a contest of
bat-and-ball." I acceded to his judgment. There are various forms of ball game
enjoyed by the men of Torvaldsland; some use bats, or paddles; in the winter,
one such game, quite popular, is played, men running and slipping about, on ice;
whether there is any remote connection between this game and ice hockey, I do
not know; it is, however, ancient in Torvaldsland; Torvald himself, in the
sagas, is said to have been skilled at it. Ivar Forkbeard, or Thorgeir of Ax
Glacier, as we might call him, had won, all told, counting the swimming talmit,
six talmits. He was much pleased. In the morning talmits would be awarded
personally by the hand of Svein Blur Tooth. "Let us, this afternoon," said Ivar
Forkbeard, "give ourselves to strolling." That seemed to me not a bad idea,
unless a better might have been to flee for our lives. In the morning we might
find ourselves chained at the foot of cauldrons of boiling tharlarion oil. But
soon I, following the Forkbeard, together with some of his men, pressed in among
the throngs of the thing. I carried my short sword. I carried, too, the great
bow, unstrung, with quiver of arrows. The Forkbeard, too, and his men, were
armed. Blows are not to be struck at the thing, but not even the law of the
thing, with all its might, would have the termerity to advise the man of
Torvaldsland to arrive or move about unarmed. The man of Torvaldsland never
leaves his house unless he is armed; and, within his house, his weapons are
always near at hand, usually hung on the wall behind his couch, at least a foot
beyond the reach of a bond-maid whose ankle is chained. Should she, lying on her
back, look back and up she sees, on the wall, the shield, the helmet, the spear
and ax, the sword, in its sheath, of her master. They are visible symbols of the
force by which she is kept in bondage, by which she is kept only a girl, whose
belly is beneath his sword. Most of the men at the thing were free farmers,
blond-haired, blue-eyed and proud, men with strong limbs and work-roughened
hands; many wore braided hair; many wore talmits of their district; for the
thing their holidy best had been donned; many wore heavy woolen jackets,
scrubbed with water and bosk urine, which contains ammonia as it's cleaning
agent; all were armed, usually with ax or sword; some wore their helmets; others
had them, with their shields, slung at their back. At the thing, to which each
free man must come, unless he work his farm alone and cannot leave it, each man
must be present, for the inspection of his Jarl's officer, a helmet, shield and
either sword or ax or spear, in good condition. Each man, generally, save he in
the direct hire of the Jarl, is responsible fot the existence and condition of
his own equipment and weapons. A man in direct fee with the Jarl is, in effect,
a mercenary; the Jarl himself, from his gold, and stores, where necessary or
desirable, arms the man; this expense, of course, is seldom necessary in
Torvaldsland; sometimes, however, a man may break a sword or lose an ax in
battle, perhaps in the body of a foe, falling from a ship; in such a case the
Jarl would make good the loss; he is not responsible for similar losses,
however, among free farmers. Those farmers who do not attend the thing, being
the sole workers on their farms, must, nonetheless, maintain the regulation
armament; once annually it is to be presented before a Jarl's officer, who, for
this purpose, visits various districts. When the war arrow is carried, of
course, all free men are to respond; in such a case the farm may suffer, and his
companion and children know great hardship; in leaving his family, the farmer,
weapons upon his shoulder, speaks simply to them. "The war arrow has been
carried to my house," he tells them. We saw, too, many chieftains, and captains,
and minor Jarls, in the crowd, each with his retinue. These high men were
sumptuously garbed, richly cloaked and helmeted, often with great axes, inlaid
with gold. Their cloaks were usually scarlet or purple, long and swirling, and
held with golden clasps. They wore them, always, as is common in Torvaldsland,
in such a way that the right arm, the sword arm, is free. Their men, too, often
wore cloaks, and, about their arms, spiral rings of gold and silver, and , on
their wrists, jewel-studded bands. In the crowd, too, much in evidence, were
brazen bond-maids; they had been brought to the thing, generally, by captains
and Jarls; it is not unusual for men to bring such slaves with them, though they
are not permitted near the law courts or the assemblies of deliberation; the
voyages to the thing were not, after all, ventures of raiding; they were not
enterprises of warfare; there were three reasons for bringing such girls; they
were for the pleasure of men; they served, as display objects, to indicate the
wealth of their masters; and they could be bought and sold. The Forkbeard had
bought with him, too, some bond-maids. They followed us. Their eyes were bright;
their steps were eager; they had been long isolated on the farm; rural slave
girls, the Forkbeard's wenches, they were fantastically stimulated to see the
crowds; they looked upon the thing-fields with pleasure and excitement; even had
they been permitted, some of them, to look upon certain of the contests. It is
said that such pleasures improve a female slave. Sometimes, in the south, female
slaves are dressed in the robes of free women, even veiled, and taken by their
masters to see the tarn races, or games, or songs-dramas; many assume that she,
sitting regally by his side, is a companion, or being courted for the
companionship; only he and she know that their true relation is that of master
and slave girl; but when they return home, and the door to his compartment
closes, their charade done, she immediately strips to brand and collar, and
kneels, head to his feet, once again only an article of his property; how
scandalized would have been the free woman, had they known that, next to them
perhaps, had been sitting a girl who was only slave; but there were no disguises
in Torvaldsland; there was no mistaking thatthe girls that followed the
Forkbeard, or "Thorgeir of Ax Glacier," were bond; to better display his pets,
and excite the envy of others, the Forkbeard had had his girls drop their
kirtles low upon their hips, and hitch them high, that their beauty might be
well exhibited, from their collars to some inches below their navels, and, too,
that the turns of their calves and ankles might be similarly displayed; I would
have thought that they might have groaned with humiliation and attempted to hide
themselves among us, but, instead, ev
en Pudding and Thyri, they walked as proud,
shameless bond-maid; the exposure of the females navel, on Gor, is known as the
"slave belly"; only female slaves expose their navels; from a vendor, the
Forkbeard bought his girls honey cake; with their fingers they ate it eagerly,
crumbs at the side of their mouths. "Look!" cried Pudding. "A silk girl!" The
expression "silk girl" is used, often, among bond-maids of the north, to refer
to their counterparts in the south. The expression reflects their belief that
such girls are spoiled, excessively pampered, indulged and coddled, sleek pets,
who have little to do but adorn themselves with cosmetics and await their
masters, cuddled cutely, on plush, scarlet coverlets, fringed with gold. There
is some envy in this charge, I think. More literally, the expression tends to be
based on the fact that the brief slave tunic of the south, the single garment
permitted the female slave, is often silk. Southern girls, incidentally, in my
opinion, though scarcely as worked as their northern sisters in bondage, a
function of the economic distinction between the farm and the city, are often
worked, and worked hard, particularly if they have not pleased their masters.
Yet, I think their labors less than those often performed by the wife of Earth.
This is a consequence of Gor's simpler culture, in which there is literally less
to do, less to clean, less to care for , and so on, and also of the fact that
the Gorean master, if pleased with the wench, takes care that she is fresh and
ready for the couch. An overworked, weary woman, despondent and tired, is less
responsive to her master's touch; she does not squirm as well. The Gorean
master, treating her as the animal she is, works and handles her in such a way
that the responses of his passionate, exciting, hot-eyed, slim-legged pet are
kept honed to perfection. Some men are better at this, of course, than others.
There are scrolls, books, on Gor, which may be purchased inexpensively, on the
feeding, care, and training of female slaves. There are others who claim, as
would be expected, that the handling of a slave girl, in order to get the most
out of her, is an inborn gift. Incidentally, for what it is worth, though the
southern girl is, I expect, worked less hard then the northern girl, who is
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