Renegades of Gor Read Free Page B

grooves through
    which the grindings may escape between the stones, to be caught in the sturdy
    boxlike mount supporting the stones, often then funneled to a waiting
    receptacle, or sack. The upper stone has two holes in it, in the center a
    funnel-shaped hole through which grain is poured, and, near the edge, another
    hole into which one end of the turning pole is placed. This pole is normally
    managed by two operators. Its upper portion is fitted into an aperture in the
    overhead beam, which supplies leverage and, of course, by affording a steadying
    rest, makes the pole easier to handle. The principle of the hand quern is
    similar, but it is usually turned with a small wooden handle. The meal or flour
    emerging from these devices is usually sifted, as it must often be reground,
    sometimes several times. The sifter usually is made of hide stretched over a
    wooden hoop. The holes are punched in the hide with a hot wire.
    Most Goreans, incidentally, do not attribute lightning and thunder to the
    grinding of flour of Priest-Kings. They regard such things as charming myths,
    which they have now outgrown. Some of the lower castes, however, particularly
    that of the peasants, and particularly those in outlying villages, do entertain
    the possibility that such phenomena may be the signs of disunion among
    Priest-Kings and their conflicts, the striking of weapons, the rumbling of their
    chariots, the trampling of their tharlarion, and such. Even more sophisticated
    Goreans, however, if not of the Scribes or Builders, (pg.19) have been noted to
    speculate that lightning is the result of clouds clashing together in the sky,
    showering sparks, and such. Few people, I suppose, see the unity of such
    phenomena as lightning and the crackling in the stroked fur of a hunting sleen.
    In the wagon ahead, briefly illuminated, I saw, swinging from its strap, slung
    over a hook on the rear axle housing, a narrow, cylindrical, capped “grease
    bucket,” the handle of the brush protruding though a hole in the cap. Such
    accessories are common on Gorean wagons. The “grease” in such a container is
    generally not mineral grease but a mixture of tar and tallow. Applied with a
    brush it is used, as would be mineral grease, were it more commonly available,
    to lubricate the moving parts of the wagon, in particular the axles, and where
    the rare wagon has them, metal springs, usually of the leaf variety. Some Gorean
    “coaches,” and fee carts, not many, are slung on layers of leather. This gives a
    reasonably smooth ride but the swaying, until one accommodates oneself to it,
    can induce nausea, in effect, seasickness. This seems to be particularly the
    case with free women, who are notoriously delicate and given to imaginary
    complaints.
    It is interesting to not that this “delicacy,” this pretentious frailty, or what
    not, and such “complaints,” usually disappear as soon as they have been
    enslaved. That is probably because they are then where they belong, in their
    place in nature. Too, looking up from their knees at their master they may
    realize he has little patience for such things. Similarly, circumstances can
    apparently make a great deal of difference. For example, it has been noted that
    the same person who makes a disgusting spectacle of herself as a free person
    traveling one way on a leather-slung fee cart is likely on the return journey,
    if then a slave, perhaps tied in a sack, or placed hooded, and bound, hand and
    foot, on the floor of such a cart, between the feet of the passengers on
    opposite benches, is likely to remain orally continent, even desperately so. If
    she does not, of course, she, within the sack or hood, heard the consequences of
    her own actions, after which she is likely to be kicked or struck while still
    inside the sack, or beaten while still in the hood, after which the sack might
    be hung over the back of the fee cart or she herself bound vulnerably on her
    stomach, her upper body over its rear