Sa-Tarna

He trust an onion and a crust of bread into my hands. "Take this," he said.

"Thanks," I said. I took them and began to chew on them.

"You will learn," he said, "to scramble with the rest of us."
Before we had been ushered into the cell, outside, in a broad, rectangular chamber, two of the mine attendants had poured a tub of bread and vegetables into the feed trough fixed in the wall, and the slaves had rushed upon it, like animals, screaming, cursing, pushing, jostling, trying to thrust theft hands into the trough and carry away as much as they could before it was gone.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 148

"Ost," I said, "will distribute the food."

Ost thrust his hands into the trough, and crammed a fistful of bread into his mouth.

Kron's wrist chains struck him across the cheek and ear, and the bread flew from his mouth.

"Distribute the food," said Kron.

"We chose you," said Andreas of Tor, "because you are known for your honesty."

And amazing to say, those chained wretches laughed.

Sullenly, while the Whip Slave stood by and watched, angry, fearful, Ost distributed the poor fare that lay in the trough.

The last piece of bread I broke in two, taking half and giving the other half to Ost. "Eat," I said.

In fury, his eyes darting back and forth like those of an urt, he bit into the bread and gulped it down.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 152

"Who is the new Tatrix?" I asked.

"Dorna the Proud," said the slave, who tumbled onions, turnips, radishes, potatoes and bread into the feed trough.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 155


The slave put down the tub of vegetables and bread.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 156


Not a piece of steel remained in the arms shed; not a crest of bread remained in the tubs in the commissary huts.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 175


As we flew, many were the fields of charred Sa-Tarna we saw below us.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 215


"Gold is more common here than bread," said Andreas, sitting near us.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 224

Andreas, who was stuffing a piece of bread in his mouth, responded, his words a cheery mumble. "Beneath every silver mask," he averred sententiously, "there is a potential Pleasure Slave."

"Andreas!" cried Linna, and she made as if to slap him for his insolence, but he quieted her with a kiss, and she playfully began to nibble at the bread clenched between his teeth.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 225


On market day I saw a peasant, his sack of Sa-Tarna meal on his back, whose sandals were tied with silver straps.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 248


Beyond the Sullage and the bosk steak there was the inevitable flat, rounded loaf of the yellow Sa-Tarna bread.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 45


"Who are you?" asked the girl, her accent suggesting the Sa-Tarna fields above Ar and toward the Tamber Gulf.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 51


Surely I had enjoyed the scent of flowers and women, of hot, fresh bread, roasted meat, Paga and wines, harness leather, the oil with which I protected the blade of my sword from rust, of green fields and storm winds, but seldom had I considered the sense of smell in the way one would consider that of vision or touch, and yet it too had its often neglected store of information ready for the man who was ready to make use of it.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 56


I supposed there might be tidal waves in the distant Thassa, that crags in the Sardar and the Voltai and Thentis Ranges might be collapsing, that mountains might be falling and new ones rising, that the Sa-Tarna fields might be broken apart, that towers of cities might be I falling, that the ring of black logs which encircled the Sardar might rupture and burst open in a hundred places.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 274


I passed fields that were burning, and burning huts of peasants, the smoking shells of Sa-Tarna granaries, the shattered, slatted coops for vulos, the broken walls of keeps for the small, long-haired domestic verr, less belligerent and sizable than the wild verr of the Voltai Ranges.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 10


I was astonished, for this girl was dressed not as a Gorean, not as a girl of any of the cities of the Counter-Earth, not as a peasant of the Sa-Tarna fields or the vineyards where the Ta grapes are raised, not even as a girl of the fierce Wagon Peoples.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 35


I heard Harold's voice behind me. "I suppose while the bread is baking," he was saying, "there is little to do but stand about and improve one's swordplay.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 244


Accordingly, Kazrak of Port Kar, for years Administrator of Ar, was by vote deposed and banished from the city, being publicly denied salt, bread and fire, as had been Marlenus, long years before him, once Ubar of Ar.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 16


The food at the table of Cernus was good, but it was plain, rather severe, like the master of the House. I had tarsk meat and yellow bread with honey, Gorean peas and a tankard of diluted Ka-la-na, warm water mixed with wine.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 87


"And put bread over the fire," I said, "and honey, and the eggs of vulos, and fried tarsk meat and a Torian larma fruit."
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 106


"Why is it?" I asked Ho-Tu, whom I felt I had come to know somewhat better in the day, "that when others have Ka-la-na and meat and bread and honey you eat only this porridge?"
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 120


Marlenus, because he had lost the Home Stone and because the men of Ar feared him and his ambitions, had been publicly denied bread, salt and fire, exiled from the city and forbidden to return on pain of death.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 142

"He was," said the girl, her voice proud, "the Ubar of Ubars." Her hands were powerful now, and I could feel the thrill in her. "When he was publicly refused bread, salt and fire on the height of the central cylinder, when he was exiled from Ar, not to return on pain of death, do you know what he said?"

"No," I said, "I do not."

"He said 'I will come again to Ar.'"
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 166


The Tarn Keeper, who was called by those in the tavern Mip, bought the food, bosk steak and yellow bread, peas and Torian olives, and two golden-brown, starchy Suls, broken open and filled with melted bosk cheese.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 168

Virginia seemed rather grateful, and knelt quite close to Relius, who sat on the tier; in a moment she felt his arm about her shoulders and thus they watched race after race, or seemed to watch the race, for often I observed them looking rather more at one another. Ho-Sorl, after several races, gave Phyllis a coin, ordering her to find a vendor and buy him some Sa-Tarna bread smeared with honey. A sly look came over her face and in an instant saying "Yes, Master," she was gone.

I looked at Ho-Sorl. "She will try to escape," I said.

The black-haired scarred fellow looked at me, and smiled. "Of course" he said.

"If she escapes," I said, "Cernus will doubtless have you impaled."

"Doubtless," said Ho-Sorl. "But she will not escape." Pretending not to be particularly observant, but watching very closely, Ho-Sorl and I observed Phyllis picking her way past two vendors with bread and honey. He smiled at me. "See," he said.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 216 - 217


Rather he looked about on the ramp until he found the small coin he had given her to buy him bread and honey, which coin she had dropped when the four men had seized her. To her astonishment he gave her the coin. "Buy me bread and honey," he told her. Then he said to me, "We have missed the sixth race," and together we turned about and went back into the stands, finding our seats. Some minutes later Phyllis came to our seats, bringing Ho-Sorl his bread and honey, and the two copper tarn disks change.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 219


"Kajuralia!" cried the slave girl hurling a basket of Sa-Tarna flour on me, and turning and running.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 223


I could see the bread ovens in one wall; the long fire pit over which could be put cooking racks, the mountings for spits and kettle hooks; the fire pit was mostly black now, but here and there, I could see a few broken sticks of glowing charcoal; aside from this, the light in the room came from one small tharlarion oil lamp hanging from the ceiling, near the side where the kitchen slaves were chained, presumably to facilitate the guard check which, during the night, took place each second Ahn; the other lamps in the room were now extinguished.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 271 - 272


Hup, as though shocked, leaped to his feet, turned a somersault, and bounded unevenly to the table, where he put his chin on the boards, trying to nibble at a piece of bread lying there.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 324


To my astonishment bread, and salt, and a small, flaming brand were brought to him.
There were shouts of dismay from those assembled.
I could not believe my eyes.
Marlenus took the bread and broke it apart in his large hands. "You are refused bread," said Marlenus, placing the bread back on the tray.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 404


"I have been refused bread, and fire and salt," I said to Elizabeth.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 406


My weapons shared the boat, with a gourd of water and a fin of bread and dried bosk meat.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 2


The dried bosk meat in the tin, and the bread with it, yellow Sa-Tarna bread, now stale, was almost gone.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 8


There were great quantities of the yellow Sa-Tarna bread, in its rounded, six-part loaves.
We were served by the Kettle Slave, Telima. She poured paga for the men, and Ka-la-na for the women. She tore the bread for us, broke the cheese, ribboned the eels and cut the tarsk.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 114


I and the others, from our pans, were eating one of our four daily rations of bread, onions and peas. We were passing a water skin about among us.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 184


I put down my pan of bread, onions and peas, sliding it under the bench. I might want it later.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 185


I reached under my rowing bench. There, dented, its contents half spilled, itself floating in an inch or two of sea found my pan of bread, onions and peas.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 187


The time that the fortress might still stand was now most adequately to be charted by the depth of its siege reservoir, and by the fish that might swim within her barred sea gates, and the mouthfuls of bread yet stored in her towers.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 219


He wore the robes of his caste, the singers, and it was not known what city was his own. Many of the singers wander from place to place, selling their songs for bread and love.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 225


Upon awakening I was served some bread and cheese in my cabin.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 265


I had two sandwiches, from cold roast beef, on dry bread, a piece of pie left from the afternoon, and a small carton of chocolate milk.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Pages 21 - 22


Now, chained, kneeling in a circle, we passed about, one to the other, a bowl of hot soup; then each of us was given a sixth of a round yellow loaf of bread, which we ate with our hands; then, before each of us, on the grass, the guards threw a large piece of cooked meat.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 65


Then, kneeling, delighted, we were fed bread and roast tarsk, and hot bosk milk.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 88


I began to chew my bread and roast tarsk.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 89

The guards had liked us, muchly, and had apparently expected that they would for, to our delight, they had purchased a small bottle of Ka-la-na wined in a wicker basket, which they had permitted us, swallow by swallow, to share. I had never tasted so rich and delicate a wine on Earth, and yet here, on this world, it cost only a copper tarn disk and was so cheap, and plentiful, that it might be given even to a female slave. I remembered each of the four swallows which I had had. I tasted them even still, with the meat and bread which I had eaten. It was the first Gorean fermented beverage which I had tasted. It is said that Ka-la-na has an unusual effect on a female. I think it is true.

I took the hand of the guard near whom I knelt, and placed it at my waist, slipping his fingers inside the double loop of binding fiber that belted my camisk, that he might hold me.

His fist suddenly tightened the loop, and I gasped, being suddenly drawn toward him.

We looked at one another.

"What are you going to do with me, Master?" I asked.

He laughed. "You silken little sleen," he said. He removed his hand from the binding fiber. I reached out for him. He thrust a huge piece of the yellow Sa-Tarna bread into my hands. "Eat," he said.

Looking at him, smiling, holding the bread in both hands, I began to eat it.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 114


I did not care particularly for the wooden bowls of stew and bread we commonly had at the public pens, but I was hungry and ready to eat even such, and with enthusiasm.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 163


We knelt in a circle, eating from the wooden bowls of bread and stew. We were given no utensils. Our fingers served to pick out meat and bread, and the gravy we drank.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 167


Four caravans had fallen spoils to the fierce, swiftly striking tarnsman of Treve. And his men had fired dozens of fields, destroying Sa-Tarna grains. The smoke of two of these fields had been visible even from the high bridges of Ko-ro-ba herself.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Pages 189 - 190


Sa-Tarna fields ripened in their yellow beauty, and caravans passed with safety.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 198


He thrust yellow Sa-Tarna bread into my mouth. I chewed the bread and, with difficulty, swallowed it.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 256


The food had been good, bread and bosk meat, roasted, and cheese, and larma fruit.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 270


On the tenth day, instead of the pan of bread, with the water, Ute thrust a different pan under the door.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 315


Merchants brought sides of bosk, and thighs of tarsk, and wines and fruits to camp, and cheeses and breads and nuts, and flowers and candies and silks and honeys.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 321


The great merchant galleys of Port Kar, and Cos, and Tyros, and other maritime powers, utilized thousands of such miserable wretches, fed on brews of peas and black bread, chained in the rowing holds, under the whips of slave masters, their lives measured by feedings and beatings, and the labor of the oar.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 13

There was a flash of slave bells at my side and a dark-haired, yellow-silked girl, a paga girl, knelt beside us, where we sat cross-legged behind the small table. "Paga, Masters?"

"For three," said I, expansively. "And bring bread and bosk, and grapes."

"Yes, Master."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 46


She had been ashore to buy some loaves of Sa-Tarna bread.
. . .
Yesterday I had sent Tina for bread.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 65


Yet, yesterday, I had sent her, in the slave strap and bracelets, for bread.
I wanted to see her, for the first time, walk the wharves of Lydius as a slave girl.
She had stolen from me.
I tied a note about her neck, reading, Two loaves of Sa-Tarna.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 66

But now, about her neck, tied with the baker's knot, fastened behind the back of her neck, was a sack of two loaves of Sa-Tarna bread.

"Farewell, Slave!" they called.

Proudly, not looking at them, but with tears in her eyes, she climbed the gangplank.

"I have brought the bread," she told me.

"Take it to the kitchen area," I told her.

"Yes, Master," she had said.

I had not seen fit again, however, to send her for bread.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 66 - 67


The water, many kegs, and the supplies, ranging from hard breads to slave nets, were aboard.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 68


I saw that there was a pan of water within her reach and, on the planking of the hold deck, some pieces of bread and a vegetable.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 75


I put down the lamp on the planking, to one side. The shadows were long and flickering on the boards, those of the watering pan, the bits of food, part of a loaf of bread, those of Sheera and myself.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 76


Marlenus, in Ar, had once banished me, denying me bread, fire and salt.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 109

It was now late in the afternoon. We had eaten some foods we had brought with us, in our pouches, and. too, taken some food, bread and dried meat, which we had found in the huts.

I glanced out of the hut, at the sun. The day was long. The day was hot. I returned to the hut, and sat down.

Arn was chewing on a piece of dry Sa-Tarna bread.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 123


"You banished me from Ar," I said. "You denied me bread, and fire and salt."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 142


It was he who had, long ago, banished me from the city of Ar, denying me bread, fire and salt.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 197


Marlenus had once denied me bread, and fire and salt. He had once banished me from Ar.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 199


Are you always victorious, Marlenus of Ar, I asked myself. I had freed him, he whom I envied, he who had denied me bread, and fire and salt in Ar. He whom in some respects I hated I had risked my life to liberate.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 287


"You are denied bread, and fire and salt," said Marlenus. "By sundown you are not to be within the realm of Ar."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 295


Their food is that of a galley slave, peas, black bread and onions.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 304


It was long since I had tasted the fiery paga of the Sa-Tarna fields north of the Vosk.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 1


"Gather loot!" cried Forkbeard. "Are you waiting for the Sa-Tarna harvest!"
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 42


Like the bond-maids, she had been fed only on cold Sa-Tarna porridge and scraps of dried parsit fish.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 56


Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Pages 63 - 64


The bond-maids did not much care for their gruel, unsweetened, mudlike Sa-Tarna meal, with raw fish.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 65


Choking, the proud Aelgifu swallowed the thick gruel, that of dampened Sa-Tarna meal and raw fish, the gruel of bond-maids.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Pages 66 - 67


In them were growing, small at this season, shafts of Sa-Tarna; too, there would be peas, and beans, cabbages and onions, and patches of the golden sul, capable of surviving at this latitude.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 81

The northern Sa-Tarna, in its rows, yellow and sprouting, was about ten inches high. The growing season at this latitude, mitigated by the Torvaldstream, was about one hundred and twenty days. This crop had actually been sown the preceding fall, a month following the harvest festival. It is sown early enough, however, that, before the deep frosts temporarily stop growth, a good root system can develop. Then, in the warmth of the spring, in the softening soil, the plants, hardy and rugged, again assert themselves. The yield of the fall-sown Sa-Tarna is, statistically, larger than that of the spring-sown varieties.

"Good," said the Forkbeard. He climbed to his feet. He knocked the dirt from the knees of his leather trousers. "Good," he said.
Sa-Tarna is the major crop of the Forkbeard's lands, but, too, there are many gardens, and, as I have noted, bosk and verr, too, are raised.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 102


"Yes, my Jarl," she said, seizing the rope handle of the keg and, leaning to the right to balance it, hurried from the churning shed. Earlier, before he had begun his tour of inspection, Pudding had come to him, and knelt before him, holding a plate of Sa-Tarna loaves. The daughter of Gurt, the Administrator of Kassau, was being taught to bake. She watched fearfully as the Forkbeard bit into one. "It needs more salt," he had said to her. She shuddered. "Do you think you are a bond-maid of the south?" he asked. "No, my Jarl," she had said. "Do you think it is enough for you to be pleasant in the furs?" he asked. "Oh, no, my Jarl!" she cried. "Bond-maids of the north must know how to do useful things," he told her. "Yes, my Jarl!" she cried. "Take these," said he, "to the stink pen and, with them, swill the tarsks!" "Yes, my Jarl," she wept, leaping to her feet, and fleeing away. "Bond-maid!" called he. She stopped, and turned. "Do you wish to go to the whipping post?" he asked. This is a stout post, outside the hall, of peeled wood, with an iron ring near the top, to which the wrists of a bond-maid, crossed, are lashed over her head. Near the bosk shed there is a similar post, with a higher ring, used for thralls. "No, my Jarl!" cried Pudding. "See then," said he, "that your baking improves!" "Yes, my Jarl," she said, and fled away. "It is not bad bread," said Ivar Forkbeard to me, when she had disappeared from sight. He broke me a piece. We finished it. It was really quite good, but, as the Forkbeard ha said, it could have used a dash more salt.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Pages 102 - 103


He examined her with great care, as he had his Sa-Tarna, and his animals, when he had inspected his farm.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 126


after the council, the status of rune-priests had risen in Torvaldsland; this may also have had something to do with the fact that the famine, finally, after four seasons, abated; the status of the thrall, correspondingly, however, such as it was, declined; he was now regarded as much in the same category with the urts that one clubs in the Sa-Tarna sheds,
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 152

"What crop," asked Ivar Forkbeard, who wore a hood, of the platform, "do the Kurii most favor in their agricultural pursuits?"

I saw the ears of the Kur lie swiftly back against its head. Then it relaxed. Its lips drew back from its fangs. "Sa-Tarna" it said.

The men in the field grunted their understanding. This was the staple crop in Torvaldsland. It was a likely answer.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Pages 174 - 175

"I have here," called Svein Blue Tooth, "a bucket of Sa-Tarna grain. This, in token of hospitality, I offer to our guest."

The Kur looked into the bucket, at the yellow grain. I saw the claws on the right paw briefly expose themselves, then, swiftly, draw within the softness of the furred, multiple digited appendage.

"I thank the great Jarl," said the beast, "and fine grain it is. It will be our hope to have such good fortune with our own crops in the south. But I must decline to taste your gift for we, like men, and unlike bosk, do not feed on raw grain."

The Jarl, then, took, from the hands of Ivar Forkbeard's man, the leather-wrapped object.

It was a round, flat, six-sectioned loaf of Sa-Tarna bread.

The Kur looked at it. I could not read his expression.

"Feed," invited Svein Blue Tooth.

The Kur reached out and took the loaf. "I shall take this to my camp," it said, "as a token of the good will of the men of Torvaldsland."

"Feed," invited Svein Blue Tooth.

The two Kurii behind the speaker growled, soft, like irritated larls.

It made the hair on my neck rise to hear them, for I knew they had spoken to one another.
The Kur looked upon the loaf, as we might have looked on grass, or wood, or the shell of a tur

tle.

Then, slowly, he put it in his mouth. Scarcely had he swallowed it than he howled with nausea, and cast it up.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Pages 178 - 179


He had ordered roast bosk and hot milk, and then yellow bread and paga.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 289


At the oasis will be grown a hybrid, brownish Sa-Tarna, adapted to the heat of the desert; most Sa-Tarna is yellow; and beans, berries, onions tuber suls, various sorts of melons, a foliated leaf vegetable, called Katch, and various root vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, radishes, of the sphere and cylinder varieties, and korts, a large, brownish-skinned, thick-skinned, sphere-shaped vegetable, usually some six inches in width, the interior of which is yellowish, fibrous and heavily seeded. At the oasis, because of the warm climate, the farmers can grow two or more crops a year. Larma and tospits are also grown at the oases, in small orchards. Some rep is grown, for cloth, but most cloth comes to the oases from caravans. Kaiila and verr are found at the oases, but not in great numbers. The herds of these animals are found in the desert. They are kept by nomads, who move them from one area of verr grass to another, or from one water hole to another, as the holes, for the season, smaller water sources are used in the spring, for these are the first to go dry, larger ones later in the year. No grass grows about these water holes because many animals are brought to them and graze it to the earth. They are usually muddy ponds, with some stunted trees about; centered in the midst of an extensive radius of grassless, cracked, dry earth. Meat, hides, and animal-hair cloth are furnished to the oases by the nomads. In turn, from the oases the nomads receive, most importantly, Sa-Tarna grain and the Bazi tea. They receive,
as well, of course, other trade goods. Sa-Tarna is the main staple of the nomads.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Pages 37 - 38


Crusts of bread did I throw to the boards before her. It was slave bread, rough and coarse-grained.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 48


When it dropped, the heavy wooden bowl, more than a foot deep and eighteen inches in diameter, tipped, Sa-Tarna grain spilled to the ground.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 137


We had scarcely moved, save to pass about a verrskin of water and a leather pouch of Sa-Tarna meal.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 167


On the dais, with him, were several men, low tables of food, fruit, stews, tidbits of roast verr, assorted breads.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 212


Eta piled several of the hot, tiny eggs, earlier kept fresh in cool sand within the cave, on a plate, with heated yellow bread, for him.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 74


It had not rained in several days. The Sa-Tarna was in danger of drought.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 205


Verr was roasted, and puddings made. Sa-Tarna bread was brought forth and heated. Sul paga poured freely.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 238


We must serve the initial wines swiftly, with the matched breads and cheeses.
. . .
"Hurry!" said Busebius, again appearing at the entrance to the room of preparation. We knew then the wines, and the matched breads and cheeses, were ready.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 300


When the spike was withdrawn I again tried to speak. "Master," I begged. But his heavy hand thrust bread in my mouth, crusts of Sa-Tarna bread, wadding it in.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 320


Seeing the men, sweaty, chained, under the whip, I was affrighted. It was a grim fate which awaited them, the confinement and pain of the benches, the weight of the long oars, the shackles, the whip, the drum of the hortator, the stench, the black bread and onions of the ponderous galleys.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 342


Young men and women of the city, when coming of age, participate in a ceremony which involves the swearing of oaths, and the sharing of bread, fire and salt.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 394


The pagas mentioned by Busebius were all, of course, Sa-Tarna pagas, of various sorts and localities, varying largely in the blend.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 414

"What are you doing here?" asked Bran Loort. "Is it not time to harvest the Sa-Tarna?"

"I thought you might have forgotten," said Thurnus.

"No," said Bran Loort.

Thurnus regarded the young man. "It is certainly a great surprise to me," he said, "to find you here. But, as it turned out, it was fortunate."

"I am pleased," said Bran Loort, "if I could be of service."

"An amazing coincidence," marveled Thurnus. Clitus Vitellius smiled.

"Yes," admitted Bran Loort, puzzled.

"More paga!" called Thurnus. A girl filled his cup. Swiftly again the contents vanished.

"But what are you doing here?" asked Bran Loort, suddenly, shrewdly. "It is time to harvest the Sa-Tarna."

"I am looking for men," he said, "to aid in the harvest."

"I am strong," said Bran Loort. There were tears in his eyes.

"Good," said Thurnus. Bran Loort embraced him, weeping. "Drink a cup of paga," said Thurnus. "Then we must go. The Sa-Tarna grows impatient."
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 416


"I am so happy!" he cried. He then crouched beside me, and kissed me again. "The Sa-Tarna must be harvested," he said.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 418


He sat, cross-legged, behind the low table. On it were hot bread, yellow sugars, slices of roast bosk, the scrambled eggs of vulos, pastries with creams and custards.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 20


Free tarsk and roast bosk were being served, and Sa-Tarna bread and Ta wine, from the famed Ta grapes of the Cosian terraces.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 98


"Master," said Constance, "there is food." She served me the hot bosk meat, the yellow bread, warm and fresh, and the wine.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 349


I thrust it, some bread and fruit, in her mouth, while she had knelt in the position of the pleasure slave.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 197


Though the cell door was locked, I was not chained, on the table was a bowl of cheap wine, some wedges of yellow bread and a wooden bowl containing vegetables and chunks of meat.
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 87


"Here," I said. I crumbled the rest of the bread, which I had not eaten, which had been on the table, into her bowl, mixing it with the vegetables and meat which still remained there.
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 94


From a loaf of dried bread, breaking pieces from it, she fed me.
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 134


I heard a man outside in the street, selling bread.
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 214


"It is a small dish," said the Lady Florence, "the white meat of roast vulos, prepared in a sauce of spiced Sa-Tarna and Ta wine."
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 286


I sat, cross-legged, behind one of the low tables in the room. I chewed on a crust of bread.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 38


I saved a part of the crust of bread I was eating.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 46


I threw her what was left of the crust of bread. It stuck the slave mat before her.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 48


I stepped aside as a string of eight peasants, with bundles of Sa-Tarna grain on their shoulders, made their way down toward the wharves.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Pages 68 - 69


"That is expensive," she said. "There is some bread and dried meat left."
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 115


I sat, cross-legged, behind the small table in the kitchen. Then I rose up and went to the storage box and took out some bread and dried meat. I chewed on it for a time. Then, finishing it, I wiped my mouth.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 117


"There is some food in the kitchen," I said. "I left some of the bread and dried meat. There is some money there, too. You could go to the market. Did you sleep?"
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 119


"Bread, Master?" asked a blond-haired beauty, kneeling down beside me. She offered me a silver tray on which, hot and steaming, were wedges of Gorean bread, made from Sa-Tarna grain. I took one of them and, from the tureen, with the small silver dipper, both on the tray, poured hot butter on the bread.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 191


We had only four ships with us, and three were, substantially, empty. Tasdron had arranged them in Victoria, on the pretense of fetching a consignment of Sa-Tarna from Siba, to be brought to the Brewery of Lucian, near Fina, east of Victoria, with which brewery he occasionally did business.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 272

"I am hungry," I said.

"Peggy," said Tasdron, raising his voice.

Swiftly the girl leaped to her feet and, with a sound of slave bells, hurried to the table, beside which she knelt. "Yes, Master," she said.

"Bring me bread and meat," I said to her.

"Me, too," said Callimachus, seeming to look through her, without really seeing her. She was only a girl who was owned, and must obey.

"Yes, Master," she said. Her lip trembled.

"Me, too," said Tasdron, "and, too, bring forth some cheese and dates."
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 230


"Masters," said Peggy, approaching the table, kneeling beside it, bearing a tray. She placed the tray on the table, and removed three plates of bread and meat from it, a dish of as, sorted cheeses, a bowl of dates, a pitcher of water, a pot of black wine, steaming, and tiny vessels of sugars and creams, and three goblets.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 233


One plate was of meat, another of breads, another of sliced fruits, the fourth of nuts and cheeses. Each of us, with our fingers, would eat as we wished from the common plates.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 257


Too, at the wall, we would be thrown crusts of bread, and scraps of meat and fruit, usually the garbage of the feasts of pirates, our captors.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 291


"The Council of Captains must meet in two days," said Samos. "It is proposed that the Sa-Tarna quay in the south harbor be extended. What division of this will be borne by public expense remains moot. Too, if this license be granted, an exploitable precedent may be set. Already there is talk among the merchants in rep-cloth and the lumber and stone merchants."
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Pages 62 - 63


"Another possibility," Samos was saying, "would be a loan to the Sa-Tarna merchants, at a reduced rate of interest. Thus we might avoid the precedent of a direct subsidy to a sub-caste. To be sure, we might then encounter resistance from the Street of Coins. Tax credits would be another possible incentive."
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 65

We stepped back and he, from a basket, hurled an assortment of scraps, such as crusts of bread and rinds of fruit, into the muddy pit. It was the refuse, the garbage, I gathered, from a meal of the slaver's men.

In the pit the girls regarded the refuse with horror. Then I saw the small, chained hand of one reach forth toward a piece of roll. She picked it up and thrust it in her mouth. Another girl then reached to a bit of fruit. Another then snatched at a gravy-sopped wedge of yellow Sa-Tarna bread. Then, in an instant, in their chains, they scrambled in the mud after the garbage, twisting and shrieking, caught and restricted in their chains, scratching, and rolling and fighting, for the least of the tidbits cast to them by a free man.
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 98

"You are the sort of woman who will wear rags," said Ginger, "who will rejoice if a crust of bread is thrust in your mouth."
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 129


You thus begin again, anew, your struggle to convince a master that there may be some point in keeping you about, that there may be some point in putting a bit of gruel in a bowl, or hollowed stone, for you, or thrusting a crust of bread in your mouth.
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 200


Are they truly prepared to have the soles of their feet lashed or to live on bread crusts for the next five days?
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 258


Who can begin to quantify, or measure, the attractiveness of the female slave? Does she not seem to be the object designed by nature to be at the feet of men? Wars are fought to obtain them. Tributes, in part, are levied in terms of them, along with gold and Sa-Tarna grain.
Blood Brothers of Gor     Book 18     Page 105


There was, on the tray, a plate of fruit, some yellow, wedge-shaped bread, and a bowl of hot, rich-looking, dark-brown, almost-black fluid.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 42


I picked up a piece of the yellow bread.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 59


I put the chocolate down. I began to bite at the yellow bread. It was fresh.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 61


"Those are Sa-Tarna wagons," said Drusus, "bringing grain to the city."
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 104


I was not a cringing, groveling slave, a girl locked in a collar, who must hope that some brute might see fit to throw her a crust of bread.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Pages 118 - 119


"It seems a Sa-Tarna wagon was fleeing before the approaching enemy, seeking to reach the city before being overtaken," said a man. "There was time, happily, it seemed, though the matter would be close, for the wagon to win its race, and sorely, as you know, did we need the grain. The gate was opened to admit the wagon. Surely there would then be time, and time enough, given the distances involved, to close the gate. The wagon seemed to be drawn by two strings of male slaves, twenty in each string, as is common. These men, however, were not slaves. The wagon within the portal, they threw off their harnesses and from beneath the grain drew forth swords. They prevented the closing of the gate. In moments the vanguard of the enemy had arrived."
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 178


I skirted a large cooking area. I could smell freshly baked bread, and the cooking of eggs and meat.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 201


On the first night I had crept forth and, from his pack, after he was asleep, stole some meat and Sa-Tarna bread.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 208

"I am very hungry, Masters," I said. "May I have something to eat?"

"Surely," said the fellow who had carried me up the slope. Then, while the other fellow took his place on the wagon box and started the ponderous draft beast into motion, he gave me two generous pieces of bread, two full wedges of Sa-Tarna bread, a fourth of a loaf. Such bread is usually baked in round, flat loaves, with eight divisions in a loaf. Some smaller loaves are divided into four divisions. These divisions are a function, presumably, of their simplicity, the ease with which they may be made, the ease with which, even without explicit measurement, equalities may be produced. He also gave me a slice of dried larma, some raisins and a plum. Twice he poured me water from a bag into a cup. He indicated the side of the cup from which I might drink. When a cup is shared masters and slaves do not drink from the same side of the cup.

"Do not eat so quickly," he cautioned me, as I tore piteously at the bread. "How long is it since you have eaten?" he asked.
"Since last night," I said, "before the bandits attacked."

He laughed. I continued to bite and tear at the bread. I had hardly eaten in four days. At the inn I had eaten even garbage.
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Pages 216 - 217

"What is the news, Tina?" I asked.

"About what?" she asked.

"About anything," I said.

"There is not much," she said. "There is some fear for the Sa-Tarna crop, because of the great deal of rain. There is going to be a celebration in Ar because of the birthday of Marlenus, the Ubar there. Lactantius thinks that is important."
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 248


I, too, had once been denied salt, bread and fire in Ar, and banished from the city.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 67


The urt, on the whole, most species of which are quite small, large enough to be lifted in one hand, does not pose much direct threat to human beings. They can destroy Sa-Tarna fields and force their way into granaries.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 184

"It is a sack!" she cried. "Only a sack!"

That was true. It was a long, yellow, closely woven Sa-Tarna sack. If there could have been any doubt about it such doubts would have been dispelled by the thick, black, stenciled lettering on the bag, giving a bold and unmistakable account of its earlier contents, together with their grind and grade, and the signs of the processing mill and its associated wholesaler.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 216

"This garment makes me look ridiculous," she said.

"You might look a little silly," I said, "but you do not look all that ridiculous. Indeed, I have never seen anyone wear a Sa-Tarna sack better."
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 217


"Forgive me, Master!" she begged. The other members of the troupe, now, and the slaves, and Lady Yanina, in her gown fashioned from a Sa-Tarna sack, gathered around.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 251

Five days ago I had been returning to the camp of Boots Tarsk-Bit, coming back from a nearby village where I had gone to fetch Sa-Tarna grain, from which the girls, back at the camp, using stones and flat rocks, sifters and pans, would produce flour. This was somewhat cheaper than buying the flour directly, for then one must pay the cost of the peasant women's work or that of its millage. I carried the sack across my shoulders. It was not heavy. It weighed only a little more than an average female. I had been surprised to see Lady Telitsia running towards me down the road. She flung herself to her knees before me. "Run, Master!" she had cried. "Run! There are men at the camp, come looking for you!

"Who are they?" I asked. "What do they want?"

Then, it seemed in a moment, while she cried out in misery, high tharlarion, some twenty of them, thundered suddenly about me, the earth shaking, dust rising in billows about me. I was encircled. "Hold!" cried a man. "Do not move!" Crossbows, in the hands of surrounding, shifting riders, aligned themselves upon me. A great billowing cape, like a flag, swirled behind their leader. I had seen the cape before. I had seen the man before.

"Manacle him," said Flaminius, he in the service of Belnar, Ubar of Brundisium.

Men leaped to the ground. The sack of Sa-Tarna grain was dragged from my shoulders. My hands were pulled behind me. I felt them clasped in steel manacles. One end of a long chain leash was tossed to one of the men near me. I felt it locked about my neck. Flaminius looped the other end of the leash twice about the horn of his saddle.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Pages 258 - 259

"You were bringing grain back to your camp," said Flaminius, looking down at the sack of Sa-Tarna grain lying in the dust.

"Yes," I said.

"Put it on his back," he said to one of his men.

The fellow lifted the sack up and, as I bent down, he put it on my back.

"Tie it there," said Flaminius.

The sack was tied on my back. Flaminius then turned his tharlarion about. The chain on my neck swung in front of me, then looped up to his saddle horn.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 262


"Yes," said the Lady Yanina. Indeed, she had been brought in on a chain by Flaminius at the same time, marched at the stirrup of one of his men, barefoot, her wrists hound behind her, wearing only a sack, that which had been her common garment in the camp, that in which I had put her long ago for my amusement, that which had once contained Sa-Tarna flour. It must have been a difficult moment for the proud Lady Yanina, to have been so returned to her city.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Pages 289 - 290


On such festivals as the Planting Feast it was even she who was sometimes permitted to honor the Home Stone, sprinkling upon it the richest Ka-la-na, and the finest of Sa-Tarna grains.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 394


"Oh, I have begged at the wagons," she said suddenly, sobbing. "It is not a new thing for me! I have begged! I have been on my knees for a crust of bread. I have fought with other women for garbage beside the road."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 17

I gave her some bread from my pack, from a rep-cloth draw-sack, and a bit of dried meat, paper thin, from its tied leather envelope.

"There, there," she crooned to the child, putting bits of bread into its mouth.

"I have water," I said, "but no broth, or soup."

"The ditches are filled with water," she said. "Here, here, little one."

"Why did you come back?" I asked.

"I have heard there are more wagons coming," she said. "Perhaps there will be fewer to follow these."

"You came back because you wanted to see the village again?" I speculated. "Perhaps you wanted to see if some of the men had returned."

"They are gone," she said.

"Why did you come back?" I asked.

"I came to look for roots," she said, chewing.

"Did you find any?" I asked.

She looked at me quickly, narrowly. "No," she said.

"Have more bread," I said, offering it.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 18


"Would you like a little more food?" I asked the free woman. "I have some more."
She looked at me.
"Please," I said.
She took two more wedges of yellow Sa-Tarna bread.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 22

"Here!" cried the driver, laughing, throwing pieces of bread from a sack to one and then another of the women. The first piece of bread he threw to the woman who had been the first to unhood and face-strip herself, perhaps thereby rewarding her for her intelligence and alacrity. He then threw pieces to certain others of the women, generally to those who were the prettiest and begged the hardest. Sometimes, not unoften, these pieces of bread were torn away from the prettier, more feminine women by their brawnier, huskier, more masculine fellows. Where there are no men, or no true men, to protect them, feminine women will, in a grotesque perversion of nature, be controlled, exploited and dominated by more masculine women, sometimes monsters and mere caricatures of men. Yet even such grosser women, sometimes little more than surrogates for males, can upon occasion, in the hands of a strong, uncompromising master, be forced to manifest and fulfill, realizing then for the first time, the depths of their long-denied, long-suppressed womanness. There are two sexes. They are not the same.

"More, more, please!" begged the females.

Then, amusing himself, the driver tossed some bits of bread into the air and watched the desperate, anxious women crowd and bunch under it, pushing and shoving for position, and trying to leap upward, thrusting at one another, to snatch at it.

"More, please!" they screamed.

I saw again a large straight-hipped woman seize a piece of bread fiercely from a smaller woman, one with a delicious love cradle. Then with both of her hands she thrust it in her mouth and, bending over, shouldering and thrusting, fought her way back to where, crouching down, watching for others, she could eat it alone. None could take it from her, save a man, of course, who might have done it easily.

"That is all!" laughed the driver.

"No!" wept women.

"Bread!" wept others.

It was clear that something, in spite of what the driver had said, remained in the sack. He grinned and wiped his face with his arm. It had been a joke.

"Another crust, please!" begged a woman.

"Feed us!" cried another.

"You are the masters!" wept one of the women, suddenly. "Feed us! Please, feed us!"

The driver laughed and drew forth a handful of crusts from the sack, which crusts apparently constituted the remainder of its contents. Then he flung these over the heads of the women, well behind them. They turned about and, running, flinging themselves to their hands and knees in the dirt, scrambling about, snatching and screaming, fought for them.

The driver watched them for a time, amused. Then he turned away, and, stepping among the bundles in the wagon bed, went to the wagon box. This type of box serves both as the driver's seat, or bench, and as a literal box, in which various items may be stored, usually spare parts, tools and personal belongings. It usually locks. He lifted the lid of the wagon box, which lid served also as the surface of his seat or bench, and dropped the empty sack within, and then shut the box. Also, from near the box, in front of it, near where his feet would rest in driving, he picked up a tharlarion whip. He had had experience with such women before, it seemed.

"No more!" he said, angrily. "No more!"

Women now again, pathetic and desperate, robes now wrinkled and dirty from where they had knelt, and crawled and fought for the crusts and crumbs in the dirt, began to approach the wagon. The whip lashed out, cracking over their heads. They fell back.

"More!" they begged. "Please!"

"It is all gone," said the driver. "It is all gone now! Get away, sluts!"

"You have bread!" wept one. This was true, of course. The wagon's lading was Sa-Tarna bread, and also, incidentally, Sa-Tarna meal and flour. It creaked under perhaps a hundred and fifty Gorean stone of such stores. These supplies, of course, were not intended for vagabonds or itinerants who might be encountered on the road but for the kitchens set up at the various nights' encampments.

"Back, sluts!" he cried. "I carry stores for soldiers!"

"Please!" wept more than one woman.

"I see that it was a mistake to have fed you anything!" he cried angrily.

"No, no!" cried a woman. "We are sorry! We beg your forgiveness, generous sir!"

"Please, more bread!" wept others.

He lifted the whip, menacingly. It was a tharlarion whip. I would not care to have been struck with it.

"Get back!" he cried.

Some crowded yet more closely about the wagon. "Bread!" they begged. "Please!" Then the whip fell amongst them and they, though free women, fell back, away from it, crying out in pain, and scattering.

"Tomorrow then," he cried, angrily, "if you wish, there will be nothing for any of you!"

"No, please!" wept the women.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Pages 25 - 27


"You would not get much here," he said, "except Sa-Tarna meal and such."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 30

"Bread! Bread!" cried a woman to one side. There another Sa-Tarna wagon had stopped. The driver, who had apparently been adjusting the harness of his beast, was now again on the wagon box, his reins and whip in hand.

"Away!" cried the driver.

She threw herself before the wagon. "Bread!" she screamed. He cracked the whip and the beast lurched forward, the woman screamed, barely scrambling from its path. I had little doubt that had she not moved as she had she would have been run over.

"They will try almost anything," said my driver, as our wagon rolled past the woman. She was shuddering. She had just escaped death or crippling. "Sometimes they will send their children out beside the road to do the begging. They themselves hide in the brush. Sometimes I throw them some bread. Sometimes I don't. It seems the women themselves should beg, if they want the bread."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 35


"So Tula, the proud, the beauty of our village, now bares her beauty before strangers," he said, "and begs to sell her body for a crust of bread!"
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 42


"Yes," said Hurtha. "I have tasted honor, and seen it, and felt it, but it is not like tasting bread, or seeing a rock, or feeling a woman. It is different."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 49


"Fruits, dried and fresh, candies, nuts, four sorts of meats, choice, all of them, fresh-baked bread, selected pastries," responded he, his arms full, "and some superb paga and delicate ka-la-na."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 80


Had Tula not had some bread earlier?
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 82


"I have no special love for Ar," I said. Once I had been banished from that city, being denied there bread, salt and fire.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 147

"Few men will trouble themselves to steal a dried crust of bread, perhaps even at great personal risk, if a free banquet is set forth for them. To be sure, some men are unusual."

"I am not a dried crust of bread," she said, irritably.

"It is only a figure of speech," I said.

"I am not a dried crust of bread," she said.

"You are a free woman," I said.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 203

"Bread, meat!" called a fellow, coming up beside the cart.

Several of us availed ourselves of his provender. I bought some wedges of Sa-Tarna bread and slices of dried tarsk meat, taking some and giving the rest to Boabissia and Hurtha. I also went to the back of the cart, to the baggage area where I kept Feiqa. I gave her some of my bread and meat. I did not permit her to touch it with her hands, but, reaching between the thick wooden bars, some six inches apart, to where she knelt among the packs and boxes at the back, fed her by hand.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Pages 257 - 258


"He is a patron of the arts," said the fellow. "He has founded parks and museums. He has won the support of the elite in this fashion. I myself favor him for he has remitted certain classes of debts. This has considerably eased my financial burdens. The lower castes are fond of him for he frequently, at his own expense, distributes free bread and paga, and sponsors games and races. He has also declared new holidays. He has made life better and easier in Ar. He is much supported by the people."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 265


There is a funnel at the mouth-end of the tube. It may be used for such purposes as feeding a recalcitrant slave liquids, such as juices and broths. Some tubes come, too, however, with plungers, so that semisolid food, such as slave gruel or hash, or even damp bread and tiny pieces of meat, indeed, about anything the master may please, may be forced into her stomach.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Pages 361 - 362


An organization of great farms, acting in concert, of course, could reduce competition, and eventually regulate prices rather as they pleased, particularly with regard to staples such as Sa-Tarna and Suls.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 304


"Our food, loaves of bread, and fruit, is thrown down to us, at night," said Tupita. "Water, too, in the darkness, is lowered in the bucket. It is then withdrawn."
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 374


I was being fed by hand. Once I tried to catch at, and suck and lick at his fingers, eagerly, surreptitiously, but his eyes warned me to desist. Later he let me finish the food on his plate. I was famished. He had not chosen to fatten me in the confinements of the slave wagon. I had had only some more bread, and a raw vegetable.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 436


Then I drew back from the door, and found a bit of bread in the pan. I also felt a slice of raw vegetable. I at these, and then took some water.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 446


After he had begun to eat he had given me a piece of bread, thrusting it in my mouth as I was, by his command, on all fours near him. After that he had, from time to time, thrown me scraps, tossing them to the crushed leaves. These I must eat without the use of my hands.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 455

"It seems the Priest-Kings are grinding flour," laughed a man near me.

"It would seem so," I said.

This was a reference to an old form of grinding, for some reason still attributed to Priest-Kings, in which a pestle, striking down, is used with a mortar. Most Sa-Tarna is now ground in mills, between stones, the top stone usually turned by water power, but sometimes by a tharlarion, or slaves. In some villages, however, something approximating the old mortar and pestle is sometimes used, the two blocks, a pounding block strung to a springy, bent pole, and the mortar block, or anvil block. The pole has one or more ropes attached to it, near its end. When these are drawn downward the pounding block descends into the mortar block, and the springiness of the pole, of course, straightening, then raises it for another blow. More commonly, however, querns are used, usually, if they are large, operated by two men, if smaller, by two boys. Hand querns, which may be turned by a woman, are also not unknown.

The principle of the common quern is as follows: it consists primarily of a mount, two stones, an overhead beam and a pole. The two stones are circular grinding stones. The bottom stone has a small hub on its upper surface which fits into an inverted concave depression in the upper stone. This helps to keep the stones together. It also has shallow, radiating surface 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.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Pages 17 - 18

"Paga and bread are two tarsks," she said. "Other food may be purchased from three to five tarsks."

"Is the paga cut?" I asked.

"One to five," she said.

This is not that unusual at an inn. The proportions, then, would be one part paga to five parts water. Commonly, at a paga tavern, the paga would be cut less, or not cut at all. When wine is drunk with Gorean meals, at home, incidentally, it is almost always diluted, mixed with water in a krater. At a party or convivial supper the host, or elected feast master, usually determines the proportions of water to wine. Unmixed wine, of course, may be drunk, for example, at the parties of young men, at which might appear dancers, flute slaves and such. Many Gorean wines, it might be mentioned, if only by way of explanation, are very strong, often having an alcoholic content by volume of forty to fifty percent.

"How much bread?" I asked.

"Two of four," she said. That would be half a loaf. The bread would be in the form of wedges. Gorean bread is almost always baked in round, flat loaves. The average loaf is cut into either four or eight wedges.

"What is the other food?" I asked.

"The Ahn is late," she said. "We have nothing but porridge left."

"It is three?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"I do not suppose," I said, "that if one orders the porridge, the bread and paga comes with it?"

"No," she said.

I had not, of course, expected any such luck, particularly after my conversation with the keeper. To be sure, even if perhaps a bit greedy, he was not a bad fellow. He had, for example, put the Lady Temione naked at the tables.

"Bread, paga, porridge," I said to her.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 70

In a few moments she returned through the door bearing a tray. She knelt near the table, put the tray on the floor, unbidden performed obeisance and then, as though submissively, put the tray on the table, and put the paga, in a small kantharos, and the bread on its trencher, before me. Then she put the bowl of porridge, with a spoon, before me. She then withdrew, taking the tray, put it to the side, on the floor, again performed obeisance, unbidden, and then knelt back, as though in attendance. There had been something false in her subservience.

I looked at her, narrowly.

She did not meet my eyes.

I took a sip of paga, and then sopped some bread in it, and then ate it.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 71


I would finish my bread, and nurse the paga for a time, and then retire to my space.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 75


There was no sign now, at any rate, of the porridge in her hair, or about her face, neck, shoulders and breasts. She cast an angry look at me. I was still nursing the paga. I even had some bread left.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 77


I then sopped the last of the bread in the bottom of the kantharos.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 79


I picked up the small, closed tablet on the table, unlatched it and examined the amount. It was correct, bread and paga, two copper tarsks, the other food, an additional three.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Pages 80 - 81


The itemization of that bill, frightful to contemplate, had been ten for lodging, two for the bath and supplies, two for blankets, five for bread, paga and porridge, and the tarsk bit for the use of the Lady Temione, the only particular on the bill which might have been argued as within reason.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 137

She removed it from the fire and covered it, to let it stand for a bit. She then set out two bowls, with spoons, and two trenchers, for some bread.

She served, deferentially.

I considered her flanks, and breasts. They were excellent.

Although her garmenture was assuredly scanty, she was more extensively clothed than many of the women in the camp. There were men here.

She spooned the porridge into the bowls and set the bread, wedges, from a round, flat loaf, on the trenchers, and knelt back. She would wait, of course, until I had taken the first bite.

Considering the size of the besieging force there were not as many women in the camp as might have been expected. I hoped this would work in my favor. The paucity of women, relatively, rent slaves even bringing a copper tarsk a night, had largely to do with the coming and going of the slave wagons, which tended to carry off most of the captures, apprehended refugees, women who had fled from Ar's Station for food, giving themselves into bondage for a crust of bread, and such, to a dozen or so scattered markets, markets such as Ven, Besnit, Port Olni, and Harfax.

I bit into the bread and Phoebe then, too, began to eat, taking a small spoonful of the porridge.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Pages 157 - 158


There was also a narrow paneled opening in the bottom of the door, also locked now; through which, when it was opened, a pan, say, of water, or bread, or dampened meal, might be inserted.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 196


Some women, as you probably know, particularly those without money, stripped themselves and lowered themselves over the wall, surrendering to the first Cosian they met, selling themselves into slavery for so little as a crust of bread or a handful of gruel."
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 199


"I formed the habit of going to the wall with the other women, 'fishing,' as we spoke of it. I made certain, of course, that I went to the same place on the wall at the same time each night. The first few times I put money in the basket. Later, when I increased the amount of money, I received some bread and vegetables. Can you imagine? A silver tarsk for a few suls?"
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 200


"The next time I drew up the basket," she said, "there was a very specific question, concealed in a wedge of Sa-Tarna bread. 'Are you for Cos?' it asked. The next night I lowered the answer, 'Yes.'"
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 201


The head reappeared behind the observation panel and found us in our places. As soon as it left the panel this time I bent down to see if it might be possible to seize her somehow from under the door. But, to my irritation, a pan, into which had been ladled some meal and a piece of bread was thrust beneath the door with a rod. Lady Claudia rushed to the pan and placed the meal and bread in the cell's food pan some five feet in front of her and then replaced the delivery pan half under the door.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 207


"The she-sleen!" cried Lady Claudia. "How I hate her!" She clenched her fists. "I hate her! I hate her!" she said. She pounded her fists on the stone, the blows softened by the intervening straw. Then she looked dismally, angrily, at the bit of meal and the crust of bread in the pan. "Surely it is their intent to starve me!"
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 208


Then we had finished the bit of meal and bread between us.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 210


I looked in the fellow's wallet, which I now wore at my belt. There was, as I had hoped, a crust of bread in it. Such things, in Ar's Station, in these days, might be kept in such places. It might be his secret horde, or day's ration. It was probably worth more to him than gold. I gave it to Lady Claudia and she, with two hands, gratefully, thrust it in her mouth, crumbs at the side of her mouth. "Look in the pouches of those other fellows, too," I said. "They might have some food. If so, eat it. Then come join me."
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 235

"Do you think," I asked Lady Claudia, "that Lady Publia's motivations in the matter of keeping her hair were similar to yours?"

"I suppose so," said Lady Claudia, finishing the bit of bread.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 236


The other helper, too, was distributing food, sausages and bread.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 25


I took a piece of bread from the platter of the second assistant, as he came by again.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 26


"My friend, Plenius," I said, "has, I think, saved some hard bread in his pack, a piece or two. It is old and stale now, but you might find it of interest. Have you ever had such?"
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 347

"Ina," I said, "when Plenius is free, ask him if he would give you a piece of hard bread, for myself and my young friend here."

"Yes, my captor," she said, rising from the sand, and hurrying to Plenius, who was near Labienus.

"She obeys promptly," he observed.

"She will be lashed well, if she does not," I said.

"I see," he said.

In a moment or two Ina returned, and knelt. She had with her a small piece of hard bread. It was one of the last two, I think, which Plenius had had. I was grateful to him for his generosity in giving it to us. It was one of the few things we had in the camp that would be likely to seem edible to our rence lad. It, at least, was not raw.

"Break it in two, Ina," I said, "and give our guest the largest half."

"Yes, my captor," she said.

To be sure, it was not by means of the hard bread that I hoped to detain our young friend in the camp for a time.

"Serve first our guest, Ina," I said, correcting her behavior, for she was apparently preparing to serve me first.

"Yes, my captor," she said.

From her knees she offered the lad the larger of the two pieces of hard bread, which he accepted, and then, similarly, served me.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 348

"Yes," I said. "Will you not sit down and enjoy your bread?"

"I must be going," he said.

I looked at Ina, somewhat sternly.

Quickly she opened her knees, in the sand, trembling.

"Have you ever had a woman?" I asked.

"Perhaps," said he, "I could tarry for a moment."

We sat down and nibbled at the hard bread.

He could not, it seemed, take his eyes from the captive.

She knelt very straight, but did not dare to meet his eyes.

"How do you like it?" I inquired.

"She is beautiful!" he said.

"The bread," I said.

"It - it is interesting," he said.

I saw that the lad was polite. Such hard bread, and such rations, are commonly found in the packs of soldiers. Some fellows claim to like it. Plenius, for example, had been hoarding a bit of it for weeks. On the other hand, perhaps it was merely that he could not bring himself to eat it, that he was hoarding it merely as a last resort against the ravages of imminent starvation. Certainly he had volunteered it for our needs quickly enough. On the other hand, he probably did like it. Indeed, I myself was not unfond of such rations, at least upon occasion. To be sure, I would not recommend them for the pièce de résistance at an important diplomatic banquet, if only to avoid the possible precipitation of war.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Pages 349 - 350

The youth thrust the last of the hard bread in his mouth, took another swig of water from the bowl, put it down, leaped up, and seized Ina by the hair, and then, holding her by the hair, her head at his waist, dragged her, she gasping, into some nearby shrubbery. Before she was quite there I did see her face, once, she looking at me, astonished, wincing, as she hurried beside her young use-master to the place of his choosing.

I myself then finished the hard bread and also the water in the bowl.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 354

"It is nearly ready," she said. She put some bread into the pan, too, for a few moments, to warm it.

"I wonder how many women of high station in Ar know how to cook," I said.

"How would I know of such things, Master," she asked, "as I am not a woman of such station."

"True," I said.

"I need not concern myself with such women," she said. "I need only concern myself with my own duties, which are those of a slave."

"And what are the duties of a slave?" I asked.

"She will learn that from her master," she said. "Typically, she will cook and clean for him, and shop for him, and launder and sew for him, such things."

I smiled to myself. Ina, since her captivity, and her uncompromising subjection to men, had proved eager to perform such labors, and to be found pleasing in the doing of them. In them she found a felicitous and welcome reassurance, a delicious confirmation, of her subjection, Interestingly enough, such labors, too, given their meaning and what was involved in them, were extremely sexually charged for her, rather like the carrying out of a specific task commanded by a master, except on a more regular, pervasive basis. In the almost ubiquitous sexuality of the female obedience and service are arousing. In the performance of her duties she knows she is serving her master. Her day, thus, can be spent in a glow of pleasure.

"But are there no other duties?" I asked.

"A girl's first duty, of course, Master," she said, "is to be pleasing to her Master."

"In what way?" I asked.

"In any, and every way, of course, Master," she said shyly.

"Turn the bread," I said.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 443


Similarly, should the troops wheel to the sides, charging, blades drawn, they might have slaughtered thousands, harvesting the crowds, trapped by their own numbers, like sa-tarna.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 89


It seems there are usually eight tarsk bits in a copper tarsk, and that these are the result of cutting a circular coin in half, and then the halves in half, and then each of these halves in half. An analogy would be the practice of cutting the round, flat Gorean loaves of sa-tarna bread into eight pieces.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 469


"Is there anything to eat?" he asked.
"Some bread," I said, indicating a wrapper to one side.
He attacked the bread.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 491


"Why, then, have you returned?" I asked.
"Because you are still here," he said.
"I, too, am hungry," I said.
He tore off a piece of bread. "Here," he said.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 492


Our lessons were varied. Some were in homely domestic matters, such as the making of bread and the sewing and laundering of garments.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 116


When one buys a woman, even a pleasure slave, one expects, as a forgone conclusion, that she will know how to do such things. Yes, even a pleasure slave, who might, in her more familiar modalities, drive a master mad with passion, may be expected, either out of his sight, or under his supervision, if he pleases, to make bread and repair a rent garment, such things.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 330


Before the divan, but a bit to the right, as I faced it, was a low table, on which there were beverages and fruits, and tiny bowls and plates, filled with an assortment of viands. I felt momentarily giddy with the smell of the roasted meats, the breads and pastry.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 376


The bread might have been an hour from the oven.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 44

"Here is some bread," he said. "Keep position," he said, for she had begun to lift her hands from her thighs.

And so she fed, delicately, in position, from his hand.

In his other hand he held a small metal bowl.

When she had finished the bread, he put one hand behind the back of her head and held the small bowl to her lips. "This is Bazi tea," he said.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 212


The Cosians have robbed him of girls, some say his best, claimedly for taxes, time and time again. He must guard every tarsk-bit, as an urt its last sa-tarna seed.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 229


She had been given bread and tea by Targo in the afternoon. Her hunger then, she supposed, while certainly active, would be less than that of her chain sisters.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 250


It is they, not I, who will decide if I am to be fed or not. It is they who will decide if I will be given a bowl of gruel or a crust of bread.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 292


"We must to our chores," said Portus. "Boil sa-tarna. Call us when it is ready."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 303


Fel Doron passed her again, this time carrying supplies from the kitchen, bread, biscuits, dried fruit, a bulging sack of meal, which supplies he placed in a nearby tarn basket.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 335


She knew it would be done with her as masters wished, as it would be with a verr or a sack of sa-tarna flour.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 339


Ellen was then lowered into the last basket. In it, other than herself, there was only a blanket, a small loaf of bread, flat, and round, like most Gorean loaves, and a small bota, presumably filled with water.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 340


After an Ahn or so, she went again to her knees, holding the blanket clasped about her, and reached out for, and picked up, the small, round, flat loaf of bread which lay on the wicker flooring with the tiny bota. She bit off pieces of the bread while kneeling.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 344 - 345


Ellen did not eat all the bread, but only a little of it. She did not know how long it must last.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 345


Ellen was then, bound as she was, eased, feet first, into a long, burlaplike sa-tarna sack, which was tied shut over her head.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 368


"Have no fear, sleen of Ar," said the subcaptain. "You will soon be slave, branded with the mark of the quarries of Tyros, or perhaps we will mark you for the bench of a merchant galley, where, drawing your oar by day or night, hungry for a crust of bread or a sip of water, you will have time to ponder your foolishness."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 387


A second girl, carrying a large, flat, wicker tray, brought wedges of bread, cut from flat, rounded loaves, and gave one to each slave.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 464


"If you need food we will share some bread, your due in the hospitality of the wilderness, but you must then be on your way."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 566


"Yes, Master!" she said, stumbling, hurrying, running to the wagon, to fetch supplies, pans, utensils, bread, grains, that she might expeditiously set about preparing the men's breakfast.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 669


"Bread," said Selius Arconious, gesturing toward the kitchen.
"Yes, Master!" she said, leaping to her feet and hurrying to the kitchen.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 693


"We have been chained together," he observed, "in this soft, pleasant place. And to the side I see some wine, it seems, some larmas, some grapes, some wedges of soft bread."
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 267

"The bread is good," said Cabot, and he seized up a handful of grapes, as well, from the dish on the grass.
"Strange things are going on in the world," said Grendel.

"The wine, too," said Cabot, wiping his mouth. "What strange things?"

"The fleet has departed," said Grendel.

"The invasion of Gor?" said Cabot, suddenly.

"No," said Grendel. "It is other than that."

"War?"

"I fear so," said Grendel.

"Amongst the worlds?"

"Between two, I think," said Grendel.

"This, and some other?"

"This world would take Gor for itself," said Grendel. "Another would oppose this unilateral seizure of a prize to be reserved for all. Agamemnon, I suspect, will strike first, to rid himself of possible rivals."

"War of Kur upon Kur?"

"There is a history of such things, a long and bloody history," said Grendel.

"Strange," said Cabot.

"And do not humans war upon humans?"

"Yes," said Cabot.

"Is it then so strange?"

"No," said Cabot, thoughtfully. "It is not so strange."

"Serve me," said the blonde to Grendel, and he bent to fetch some wine, some grapes, some bread for her.
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 275


"Bread," said the blonde, and it was fetched for her, again, by the shambling hulk of Grendel.
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 276


To one side, where she could reach it, through the bars, was a small bowl, in which lay a piece of fruit, and a crust of bread.
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 629


"Paga!" called men. "Viands!" demanded others. "Bread, meat!" cried others.
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 667


"We have some provisions," she said, "bread, a bota of ka-la-na."
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 6


She will learn what it is, for the first time in her life, to breathe good air, to look into a blue sky, to see an unpolluted sunset or sunrise, to eat fresh and natural foods, to relish the taste of fresh bread, to be grateful for a piece of meat fed to her by a master's hand, to put her tongue, if permitted, to a wine beyond what she thought might exist.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 32


"In the cupboards of Port Kar, it is said, one is as likely to find gold as bread." It was a saying.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 35


After Pertinax and I had fed, I went to Cecily, and knelt down, and she leaned forward, her hands tied behind her. I had some bread for her. She looked at me. I extended my hand. She kissed it, and licked it, the hand of her master. I then, bit by bit, fed her by hand, and then, when I thought she had had enough, I gave her of the bota. I then stood up, my shapely beast having been fed and watered.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 153


She rushed to it as a vulo to sa-tarna.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 215


"His stroke can descend like lightning, cutting in two a grain of sa-tarna placed on the forehead of a man, without creasing the skin," said another.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 356


Some bread was handed to me.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 364

There was plenty of tabuk and tarsk, and the slaves brought it to the men on steaming platters. Wine was plentiful, and paga, too, and slaves hurried about, with vessels, and botas, to refill goblets. Hot bread with honey was on the table, on wooden trenchers.

I sat near Lord Nishida, and he had offered me a sip of a different fermented beverage, one I had once tasted on Earth, though not of so fine a quality. It was warm, in its small bowl. "It is sake," I was informed. I nodded. There are rice fields on Gor, in the vicinity of Bazi, famed for its teas, but rice is not as familiar on Gor as the grain, sa-tarna. And Pani, as far as I knew, were not found in Bazi, or its environs. To be sure I supposed the rice might be Bazi rice, but I was not sure of that, not at all sure of it.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 409


Racks of these tiers stretch substantially from wall to wall in the hold, with only a tiny walk space between and about them. A panel in each space opens, by means of which a crust of bread may be placed in the mouth of each slave.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Pages 550 - 551


The radiation of her servitude and sexuality permeates her entire existence, even to the smallest, homeliest task she performs, the polishing of boots, the baking of bread, the cleaning of her master's domicile, the laundering of her master's tunic.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Pages 570 - 571


The taverner turned to his man. "Bring bread, and meat, suls, and tur-pah, and fruit, for our guest."
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 5


I could smell fresh Sa-Tarna bread, roast bosk.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 133


Wedges of Sa-Tarna bread were next distributed, and a half larma to each man, useful in prolonged voyages, a precaution against weakness and bleeding. The bread was placed not at my right hand, but insolently before me, half torn.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 198


"More Sa-Tarna!" called a man, and the girls began, again, with the exception of the chastened Alcinoë, to serve. Conversation resumed about the board. Nothing of importance had occurred. "Kneel down, under the table, at my left knee," I said to Alcinoë. She obeyed. She could not kneel straightly, given the height of the table. Bent over, she turned her head, and looked up at me. It was hard to read the expression in her eyes. It was something like astonishment, fear, and wonder, and perhaps something else. Paga was brought to me, and more bread, and a good larma, and another trencher, steaming and well-filled. She knelt docilely under the table, at my knee. The back of her thighs must have stung. There were tear stains on her cheeks. I took my time with the meal. I had little to do for another Ahn, when it would be my watch. "May I speak, Master?" she asked. "No," I told her. Later, I took some Sa-Tarna from the table. "Open your mouth," I told her. She looked up at me in wonder, and obeyed. I thrust the Sa-Tarna into her mouth. "Feed," I said. Her mouth must have been dry. It took her some Ehn, partly choking, to down the bread.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 199


As Tyrtaios made his way forward, he passed a slave girl, making her way aft, a small sa-tarna pannier on her back.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 247


But, too, aside from her delight at being recognized, and summoned, she seemed uneasy, even frightened, perhaps because the sa-tarna in the small pannier on her back might be warm, wrapped in napkins, and bound for an officers' mess.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 248


She rose up, backed away a little, and then hurried aft. I could see the white napkins in which the sa-tarna loaves were wrapped, through the wicker of the pannier.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 250


How could one brace oneself for such an impact? More easily might the talender resist the stamping boot. More easily might the stand of delicate Sa-Tarna turn back the scythe.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 356


"I was roped, raging, and lowered to the wharf, helpless, while they laughed, like a bag of sa-tarna."
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 381


"Our fellows will harvest them like Sa-Tarna, split them like tospits, crush them like dried larmas," said another.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 402


The staple in the Twelve Islands, which is actually far more than twelve, is not Sa-Tarna, but rice.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 406


Commonly a slave is held on her belly, over the left shoulder, her head to the rear, rather as other goods might be conveyed, sacks of sa-tarna, and such.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 465


For example, exquisite Pani ceramics, intricate carvings, and dyed silks, produced in the castle shops of Lord Temmu might bring silver in Brundisium, and be sold for gold in Ar and Turia, and the silver from Brundisium, in Brundisium, of course, might be exchanged for sinew, arrow points, fletching, larmas, tospits, sa-tarna, and such.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 497


Then, at a sharp clapping of Mrs. Rawlinson's hands, we leapt up and hurried to the kitchen, to bring forth the fare, the sweets, the candies, the nuts, the bowls of fruit, the herbs, the bread, flat, circular loaves of bread, which would be divided into eight wedges, the many covered dishes of boiled vegetables and hot meat, the vessels of wine, and such, and placed these on the serving table from which place we began to serve the guests.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Pages 32 - 33


We would bring the gamesters Paga and ka-la-na, and platters of meat and bread, and cakes and sweets, to keep them at the tables.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 61


I felt about and located the food pan, which contained some porridge-like material, and a thick crust of bread.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 63

A thick wedge of dried bread was thrust to my lips, and then forced into my mouth. It gagged me as effectively as leather or cloth.

"You were displeasing," she whispered to me, frightened.

"You did not kneel as requested. Fortunately this fault was committed before you were marked. I advise you not to be so foolish in the future. You have been marked."

I tried to speak, as I was desperate to do, but could not do so, for the bread.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 66


"Golden hair," he said, "sparkling as ripe Sa-Tarna."
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 132

"Squeeze the larmas," said the Lady Bina. "There are biscuits, and honey breads, in the pantry."

"Yes, Mistress," I said.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 234


Had he been outlawed, had he fled? What was his relationship truly, to the Lady Bina? Had others banished him, denying him bread, fire, and salt?
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 204


When he reentered, I lowered my head. He was bearing a goblet of water, and he helped me drink from it. He then left the room again and, when he returned, he had some meat and bread, which he fed to me by hand.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 641


In the dining hall of the inn of Tasdron, I had knelt her beside my table. As my resources had been considerably replenished the previous evening, I had breakfasted well, on larma, vulo eggs, fried sul, roast bosk, sa-tarna, and even black wine, the beans for which, I supposed, derived from the far slopes of the Thentis mountains, and may have been brought west at some risk.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 76


In my turn the stem of the bota was thrust between my teeth, and I drew in, eagerly, gratefully, my ration of water. I then, a bit later, opened my mouth, widely, and a handful of slave gruel, or moist mush, was thrust in my mouth. One swallows it a tiny bit at a time, that one not choke. It is bland, and largely tasteless, but filling, for what one gets of it, and apparently nutritious. It was a far cry from the provenders I had been taught to prepare in the house, ranging from roasted, seasoned bosk and tarsk and fresh plate breads, with honeys and butters, to frosted pastries and decadent, creamed sauces which, in some cities, were outlawed by sumptuary laws. For what it was worth, the free men with the small caravan did not seem much better off. The rations of Gorean warriors, in the field, I am told, are often austere. A small sack of grain, commonly Sa-Tarna, the Life Daughter, is often carried in the pack, or at one's belt. Two handfuls of this, the hands cupped together, may then be dampened in a spring, or stream, and eaten.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Pages 111 - 112


"You have been to the dock, all of you," said Relia. "You have seen the loading of cargoes, the great casks, the bags of sa-tarna and suls, crates of bitter tospits, paga and ka-la-na packed in straw, medicines, salves and unguents, endless streams of supplies."
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 203


Usually we were permitted to feed ourselves, but sometimes we must eat on all fours, head down, not using our hands. This is useful in reminding a girl that she is a slave. Often enough we are given bread and fruit.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 251


We had both brought meat and bread, and there was always the provender of the forest itself, if one can recognize it, and, in some cases, bring oneself to eat it.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 283


It would be doubtless unpleasant to return to one's city, routed and defeated, clad in ashes and rags, to face its councils, to be denied bread, fire, and salt, but better, I thought, that than flight, or falling upon one's sword, for then one might return to war.
Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 31


She is well aware that she is an object, a commodity, and that her value is as quantifiable, objectively, given market conditions and buyers, as that of other objects, or commodities, for example, in terms of coins, tarsks, sa-tarna, rice, or such.
Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 114

"What is a Home Stone?" inquired Haruki.

"It is the meaning, the difference," I said , "that for which men will kill, that for which men will die."

"It is very important?" said Haruki.

"Very much so," I said.

"It is hard to understand," said Haruki.

"It is less to be defined than cherished," I said.

"It is as the garden?" said Haruki.

"Yes," I said "and as Thassa, as fields of Sa-Tarna, as the crags of the Voltai, the skerries of bleak Torvaldsland, the steaming flower-strewn basin of the Ua beyond Schendi, the gleaming stars of the sky."
Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 376


I leaned against the heavy horizontal pole, chest high, inserted through the large, conical stone. It, like its two similar poles, passed through the stone and emerged on the other side. This produced, given the penetrations, the effect of six poles, against which weight might be pressed, this turning the heavy stone. The miller's man, at intervals, from his ladder, would pour the grain, sa-tarna, the "life daughter," into the opening on the top of the stone, and the stone, when turning, would press down upon it, and grind it, the resultant flour, by means of three descending troughs, being gathered in waiting sacks.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 138


For the most part, however, sa-tarna, harvested and threshed, was brought in by peasants, milled, and carried away by peasants. The fee for the milling was in tarsk-bits, but, most commonly, it was taken in kind, a portion of the flour going to the miller, who might then market it as his own.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 140


"Down!" cried a master, "into the grain!" I and the others quickly crouched down, well concealed, for ripened sa-tarna, with its golden, nodding heads, can grow to the chest of a tall man.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 152


"Behold," she said, "my long, fine hair, as gold as ripe sa-tarna, my eyes, blue as the sky, or the veminiums of Anango!"
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 459


Neither Drusus Andronicus nor Tyrtaios, on the other hand, appeared to have shared in that amiable brew, that "gift of the Life Daughter," tawny, high-growing, flowing-in-the-wind sa-tarna, so readily available about. One was of the Warriors, one was of the Assassins. Neither will drink freely, when unaware of what might be at their elbow.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 545

"Sa-tarna", in Gorean, means "life-daughter." It is the major grain crop of continental Gor.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 434

"Even now," said Xenon, "we are in the Metellan district, a shabby district, noted for low trade, coarse goods, and staple markets, for suls and sa-tarna, and where one might discreetly hire, or dispose of, a tharlarion and wagon without being subjected to embarrassing questions."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 175

"Behold the golden sa-tarna," said Thurnock, walking beside me, leading the first tharlarion. "Is it not beautiful?"

"Sa-tarna", in Gorean, means "life-daughter." It is the major grain crop of continental Gor.

"Yes," I said, viewing the large circle of tillage. "But I would prefer that it was not in our way."

Whereas there are certainly rectangular and square fields of sa-tarna, these are commonly found away from villages. Village fields tend to radiate out from the villages, rather like triangles. In this way, the holdings are not isolated and vulnerable. The village, which is usually palisaded, has its Home Stone, and the individual dwellings within the palisade are likely to have their own Home Stones, as well. There is a Gorean saying to the effect that in the holding of his Home Stone even the least of men is a Ubar. Goreans tend to be individualistic but each village usually keeps one or two fields which are seeded and tilled in common. Villagers who might find themselves, through no fault of their own, truly needy, have first call on the produce of such fields. Generally, however, the produce is shared amongst all the villagers.

"I would we had a tarn," I said.

"We do not," said Thurnock, unhelpfully.

"Shall we circle south and west or north and west," I said. Both routes, of course, would take us wide of the most direct route to Samnium.

"I do not know," said Thurnock.

Neither Thurnock nor myself, despite our sense of urgency, considered taking the wagons through the burgeoning fields. One does not trample sa-tarna. Too, we had no wish to be hunted down by an offended, irate, righteous, vengeful mob of Peasants, intent on collecting either our blood or a confiscatory compensation for damages.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Pages 434 - 435