Tal Goreans,
Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column.

Tarl Cabot, presently operating under his Red Savages cognomen of “Tatankasa,” “Red Bull, ” is perforce living as a slave among the Kaiila tribe, this being the only way Canka could find an excuse not to kill him for breaking taboo by freeing Cuwignaka, Canka’s brother, from where he was staked out to die. (Complicated, isn’t it?) On the whole life is not too bad, although a young Kaiila named Hci is making life as unpleasant as he can for both Tarl and Cuwignaka, whom he despises. At present it is festival time and there are a great many sub-tribes present, and we have seen some of the festivities already. But when last seen, Tarl was nobly refusing to add to the woes of a female slave, Winyela, who had been sent to him for a dose of slave discipline, and instead was hoping to borrow another woman, Wasnapohdi, who belongs to his friend, the slaver Grunt.

Chapter Eight

Unfortunately, though Grunt would be delighted to oblige Tarl, he is unable to, as Wasnapohdi is busy with other duties for an indefinite period. He and Tarl chat for a while, mostly about the Yellow Knives, a rival tribe who appear to be on the verge of making peace with the Kaiila. Grunt does not trust the Yellow Knives, though he does not explain why; and Tarl notes with interest that Grunt makes some gestures with his broad-brimmed hat, which he continues to wear indoors for some reason. Then Tarl returns to fetch Winyela from where he has been charitably letting her sleep, and to take her back to her Master.

Chapter Nine

Tarl and Winyela, lately Millicent Aubrey-Welles of Earth, talk on such typical matters as slavery, discipline, and love. From her demeanour it seems entirely possible that she regrets not being put to disciplinary use by Tarl, but he stands by his resolution to refrain from adding to her punishment. However, Winyela is an accomplished little tease and in due course she does manage to induce Tarl to accede to her desires; but it costs her a dose of the quirt for her presumption, and he thoroughly controls the manner of her discipline in the usual Tarl fashion. For all that she thoroughly enjoys this, and is fond of Tarl, it is Canka whom she loves, and pleads for Tarl’s advice on how best to please her Master. He, of course, has some suggestions, and they don’t include anything like fetching him his pipe and slippers.

Chapter Ten

On being returned to Canka, Winyela, who had formerly believed that he loved her too much to punish her if she was deficient in her duties, demonstrates that she has learned her lesson by fetching his whip on her hands and knees. Impressed by this, Canka makes his thanks to Tarl, and then his excuses for absence, prior to a joyous reunion in private.

Chapter Eleven

Cuwignaka remarks, a day later, that Canka is much impressed with his improved slave, and they appear to be getting on famously. He himself would like a slave, but he does not wish to borrow or buy one, and as he has previously refused to go on the warpath against the Fleer tribe, because he had no quarrel with the Fleer, he would consider it not quite comme il faut to go to war merely to win himself a slave. There is, of course, such a thing as girl raiding, just as there is kaiila raiding. They each have their own exploit symbol, that of the kaiila raid being a “c-cedilla”, somewhat indicative of a horse’s hoof, and that of the girl raid being a straight vertical line between two parentheses, which I trust requires no explanation. But Cuwignaka has one particular girl in mind, and Tarl grasps at once that he means the haughty Bloketu, which is a goal he affably advises Cuwignaka to put from his mind.

Preparations for the festival continue. Canka has made Tarl a present of a slave quirt, which allows him free use of all open slaves during the festival, and Cuwignaka speculates that Canka is about to free him as well. Meanwhile he himself plans to enter a certain dance, which involves the pole cut during a ceremony that featured Winyela, during the last instalment of these Booknotes. All seems to be going very well.

Chapter Twelve

Tarl is not slow to put his beaded quirt to use. Displaying it to the boys who guard the herd women, Tarl is able to secure the services of one of the herd for himself. These slaves are the least and most beastlike of Gorean slaves, being kept and treated almost exactly as if they were animals, even to being forbidden speech without explicit permission. The one Tarl has chosen for himself was once a Merchant, who spied a business opportunity in the Barrens and foolishly tried to palm worthless goods off on the uneducated savages. She is now to all intents and purposes worthless goods herself, having been sold three times for a steadily decreasing price before being relegated to the herds.

During the course of the ensuing conversation, Tarl expertly establishes that she is, in spite of a reputation for great frigidity, a thoroughly passionate and submissive woman in denial of her inner slave. Of course, Tarl is quite used to dealing with denial, and he is more than capable of dealing with this instance of it; and he proceeds to do so with his usual expertise. By sundown the nameless girl is helplessly responsive and in need of a master of her very own, and though Tarl returns her to the herd, he speculates that she will not remain there very long.

Chapter Thirteen

The focus now shifts to another girl, Winyela, who is the topic of disagreement between Canka and his chief, Mahpiyasapa. The chief commissioned her specially from Grunt, who was bringing her to him when they were intercepted by Canka; and now Canka claims her by right of capture and is obdurate in his refusal to give her up. This is a nuisance, as she was meant to be a gift to the Yellow Knives, but though Canka is prepared to offer a generous gift in her stead, he is not to be budged on the matter of the girl herself. Mahpiyasapa does not attempt to press the point by force, but it is highly doubtful that he is pleased.

Tarl later enjoys a good dinner prepared by Winyela for Canka, Cuwignaka and himself. He ably deduces from the vegetable content of the stew that there are Waniyanpi close at hand, and he is curious to renew his acquaintance with the strange vegetable-farming egalitarians. In particular he would like to know what has become of Lady Mira of Venna; but Cuwignaka is more interested in finding out what he can of Hci’s intentions for the coming gift-giving, as he suspect Hci may be up to something, and as for Canka, all his attention is given to his slave.

Chapter Fourteen

Meeting the Waniyanpi, Tarl is introduced to Radish, a sour-faced woman who seems to be some kind of leader (although, as Pumpkin, whom Tarl already knows, confirms, all Waniyanpi are supposed to be Sames). Radish takes an instant dislike to Tarl, but Pumpkin requires little prompting from Tarl to defy her wishes, and he chats amiably with him. Tarl, of course, thinks that the Waniyanpi philosophy came from the hinder end of a bosk, particularly its emphasis on meekness, passivity, and gender equality; and he spends a little time pointing out to Pumpkin the obvious aspects of gender inequality, such as Pumpkin’s considerably greater strength than a female. But he is not too disposed to spend too much time casting his pearls before swine, as he wants to see Lady Mira, now known as Turnip.

When he speaks to her in the presence of other Waniyanpi, she is careful to speak well of her present lot, in a loud and carrying voice for the benefit of everyone within earshot, or at any rate Radish. Divining what the problem is, Tarl carries her a discreet distance away, where she can beg piteously to be taken away from what she views as a community of the insane. Whatever her faults, Turnip at least is a biologically sufficient Gorean, and the Waniyanpi’s consistent harping on their foolish and unnatural philosophy is unbearable, especially as she dare not contradict one word of what she is taught on pain of being put out into the Barrens to starve. She begs that Tarl at least will use her as a slave, but he decides, on balance, it is better to be cruel to be kind, as she must return to the sexless Waniyanpi compound, and “It is better, perhaps, for one who is to live on porridge never to know the taste of meat and wine.”

Chapter Fifteen

Cuwignaka suspected that Hci might have a trick in mind for the coming gift exchange, and indeed he does. Hci gives twenty kaiila to Canka, knowing full well that Canka, though well off in his own right, does not have anything of comparable value to offer in exchange. He suggests that Canka give him Winyela, and of course Canka refuses, as Hci knew he would having already refused to give her up to Mahpiyasapa. Instead Canka is obliged to offer Hci his own kaiila back as an exchange gift, in order to save any face at all; but he embarrasses himself much in so doing.

At this point the quick-witted Cuwignaka comes into play. He asks to be allowed to speak to Canka, and Hci sneeringly agrees that this is a sister’s right. (Cuwignaka, as formerly noted, is officially considered a woman on account of his supposed cowardice.) Acting on his suggestion, Canka agrees to hand over Winyela after all, for the immense price of the twenty kaiila, and it is now Hci who must back down or lose an enormous amount of wealth, as well as be the butt of much laughter. Canka would have been deemed mean had he failed to present Hci with a gift commensurate with his own, but as he has given over exactly what Hci claimed to want, the joke is now on Hci for his poor trading skills. Crossly, Hci prepares to depart with his dearly-bought girl - one whom he does not want, at that - but now Canka turns the tables by giving him the twenty kaiila, and it is Hci’s turn to save face by returning the slave.

This will not muchly improve Hci’s demeanour, but for now he must suck it up, and Cuwignaka does not truly fear reprisals, for all has been conducted within their ways and he is confident that Hci will honour them. Tarl is sceptical as to Hci’s integrity, but Cuwignaka makes haste to reassure him; no man of their people would lie or betray their ways, or else his shield would betray him - it would refuse to protect him in battle.

Chapter Sixteen

Tarl meets the herd girl he had the use of a little while ago. She is now an owned slave named Oiputake, “Kiss,” and is becoming a valued one, thanks largely to his lesson. She is delighted at the change in her fortunes and equally delighted with her master, thinking herself very fortunate to be kept under the unyielding discipline of a strong man. Tarl for his part is indulgent of her prattling, no doubt finding it a flattering endorsement of his judgment of her capacity, and when it becomes plain that she has a more practical reward for his help on her mind, he is nothing if not obliging, although he sees to it that matters are conducted very much on his terms - not that she feels herself badly done by.

As they are discussing the general situation, though, Oiputake turns out to have some important information. Tarl remarks on the presence of the Yellow Knife “civil chiefs” being entertained within the camp, but Oiputake gainsays him; they are not the civil chiefs, whom she has seen earlier in her slavery, but war chiefs.

This is, of course, serious stuff, and betokens some dirty work afoot; but it remains to be seen exactly what form the dirty work may take and when. So a shadow falls across the festival, just when things were going well; Canka happy with his slave, Tarl on the point of being freed, and Cuwignaka about to enter the sacred dance. Readers anxious to know what will eventuate - to say nothing of whether Tarl ever will get back to the serious business of contacting Zarendargar “Half-Ear,” the Kur general now under sentence of death - are issued with the customary invitation to rejoin us next month.

I wish you well,

Socrates