Chores by the Books
“I was startled by the sound of slave bells and saw a girl, stripped save for bells and chains, carrying a burden among the wagons.”—Nomads, 28-29
“Even the girl was there who wore but bells and collar, struggling under her burden, long dried strips of bosk meat, as wide as beams...”—Nomads, 34.
“Once, it might be noted, she returned from searching for fuel with the dung sack, dragging behind her, only half full. 'It is all I could find,' she told Kamchak. He then, without ceremony, thrust her head first into the sack and tied it shut. He released her the next morning. Elizabeth Cardwell never again brought a half-filled dung sack to the wagon of Kamchak of the Tuchuk.”—Nomads, 65.
“’There are bosk to be groomed,’ he informed her, ‘and their horns and hooves must be polished—there is fodder to be fetched and dung to be gathered—the wagon must be wiped and the axles greased—and there is water to be brought from the stream some four pasangs away and meat to hammer and cook for supper—hurry—hurry, Lazy Girl!’"—Nomads, 135
“’Have the bosk been tended?’ asked Kamchak.
”’Yes,’ said Elizabeth firmly.”—Nomads, 138.
“When I returned to the wagon I saw the bosk had already been tended, though it was early in the day, and that there was a kettle on an outside fire boiling. I also noted that the dung sack was quite full...
"The pelt of the larl which Elizabeth wore had been freshly brushed.
"Both girls had apparently washed at the stream some four pasangs away, taking the opportunity to do so while fetching water.”—Nomads, 147-148.
“’Get up, Lazy Girl,’ said he, ‘The bosk need watering.’
"Gratefully Aphris of Turia had taken up the leather buckets and hurried away to fetch water.”—Nomads, 156.
“For clothing he permitted her to cut and sew, as well as she could, a sleeveless garment from the pelt of the red larl. She did not sew well and it amused me to hear her cursing at the side of the wagon, bound now only by a collar and chain to the slave ring, time after time sticking the bone needle into her fingers as it emerged through the hide, or fouling the leather-threaded stitches, which would be either too tight, wrinkling and bunching the fur, or too loose, exposing what might eventually lie beneath it.”—Nomads, 64.
“Singing Tuchuk songs we managed to make it back to the wagon.
"Elizabeth had the meat roasted, though it was now considerably overdone.
"’They are both stinking drunk,’ said Apris of Turia.”—Nomads, 138
“Elizabeth and Apris leaped up to tend the pot outside.”—Nomads, 149.
"I then finished the bottle. I flung it into a refuse hole, dug and periodically cleaned by male slaves."--Nomads, 165.
“On the whole it seemed that Kamchak treated his little barbarian slave notably well, considering that he was Tuchuk. This did not mean that she was not worked hard, nor that she did not receive a good drubbing now and then, but, on the whole, considering the normal lot of the Tuchuk slave girl, I do not think she was ill used.”—Nomads, 65.
“Elizabeth Cardwell, on the other hand, I was pleased to see, ran well, breathing evenly, showing few signs of fatigue. She had, of course, in her time with the wagons, become used to this form of exercise. I had rather come to admire her. The life in the open air, the work, had apparently been good for her. She was trim, vital, buoyant. I wondered how many of the girls in her New York office could have run as she did beside the stirrup of a Tuchuk warrior.”—Nomads, 135.
“We were different! I recalled how a guard had once given me his spear, and it had been so heavy, I could throw it only a few feet. He had then taken it from me and hurled it into a block of wood, head deep, more than a hundred feet away. His shield I had barely been able to lift. On Earth I had not thought much of the strength of men. Strength had not seemed important. It had seemed unimportant, irrelevant. But on Gor I realized that strength was important, very important. And that we were weaker than they, far, far weaker, and that, on such a world, if they chose, we were theirs. That night, I had cleaned his leather and sandals, as a slave girl, kneeling to one side, while he conversed with men. When I had finished, I remained kneeling there, waiting for him. When he had finished he arose, and without thanking me, put on the leather and sandals, then gestured that I should precede him to the compound.”—Captive, 106
“…carrying my burden as a slave girl, on the head, balancing it with one hand…” Captive, —92
“....was permitted to carry a jar of wine on my head. Ute had taught me how to do so without spilling it. I enjoyed the men watching me. Soon I could carry wine as well as any girl…” Captive, —92
“Sometimes I would be pleased when, among other girls, they would throw me their leather or sandals to clean. I did so excellently. I did not object, either, at the stream on stones…to washing their garments…My hands were in the cold water, immersing the fabric, and lifting it and wringing it, and pounding it on the rock, and immersing it again, in simple, ancient rhythms.”— Captive, 97
“I learned to iron and sew, and to cook and clean…
“It could perhaps be mentioned that such work, cooking, and cleaning and laundering, and such, is commonly regarded as being beneath even free women, particularly those of high caste…The mere word of a free woman, that she is displeased with the girl’s work, is enough to have the girl beaten. The girls strive zealously in their work to please the free women…The Gorean free woman, often, does only what work she chooses. If she does not wish to prepare a meal, she and her companion may go to the public tables, or, should they wish, order a girl to bring them food from the central kitchens.
“But I found, perhaps surprisingly, that I did not much mind the work of the female work slave. I recognized that it was essential, that it had to be done. I recognized further that there was something farcical in the thought of the Gorean male lending his hand to such small, unimportant work. It would have been like the larl with a broom. I could well imagine the accommodating, solicitous males of Earth in aprons, puttering about with vacuum cleaners and boxes of detergent, but I could not imagine it of the Gorean male. He is so different from the males of Earth, so strong, so uncompromised, so masculine. Before him it is hard for a female not to know herself as a female, and in knowing this, recognizing herself as smaller and weaker, and thus to be given the tasks he does not care to perform.
“Similarly the Gorean free woman does not seem appropriately suited to menial tasks. She is too free, too proud. It is difficult for a collared slave girl even to look into the eyes of such a person. Thus, who is to do such work? The answer seems obvious, that it will be done by slaves. The small, light, unpleasant work will be done by female slaves; the large, heavy, unpleasant work by the draft animal, or the male slave. Why should free persons do such tasks? They have slaves for such work.”— Captive, 317-318
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