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 Caste of PortersHere are relevant references from the Books where the Caste of Porters is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban I missed the shrill, interminable calls of the vendors, each different; the good-natured banter of friends in the marketplace exchanging gossip and dinner invitations; the shouts of burly porters threading their way through the tumult; Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 67 Most of the people seemed poor, fishermen, sawyers, porters, peasants. Marauders of Gor Book 9 Page 33 "In the garrison there are one hundred men and five officers," said Sucha. "There are twenty men who are ancillary personnel, a physician, porters, scribes and such." Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Page 256 The driver cracked the whip and called out to the tharlarion. "Do not make so much noise," he was cautioned by the porter. "People are sleeping." The porter then went to the tharlarion and pushing at it and striking it, urged it forward. The great beast grunted and threw itself forward, against the harness. The wagon was drawn through the gate, water from the ruts dripping from its wheels. To my dismay I then saw the porter close the gates and thrust the great beam across, through its brackets, behind them. This he secured in place with a lock and key. He then accompanied the teamster to the stables. . . . The porter was engaged in a discussion, and not a particularly amiable one, with the driver. The driver had apparently criticized the porter for not being at the gate, and the porter, in response, was being officiously careful about checking the driver's ostrakon of payment. "I am not sure that is the mark of Leucippus," said the porter. "It does not look much like his mark." "Awaken him, then," said the driver "and certify that it is so." "I do not care to awaken him at this Ahn." "I am to be on the road by dawn." "You will have to wait." "I do not have time to wait!" In the end the porter opened the gate and let the man proceed. Kajira of Gor Book 19 Pages 209 - 210 The public buildings, the law court and the "house of the Administrator," the locus of public offices, were similarly structured and adorned. Commemorative columns stood here and there about the edges of the square. We entered through the vertical posts, passing the porters' station there. Dancer of Gor Book 22 Page 281 "You are not a female," said the voice from behind the door, a small, narrow door cut in the left panel of the gate, the eyes peering out from a small sliding hatch in the door. "Show that you have money." I lifted up a copper tarsk. The fellow inside lifted up a small tharlarion-oil lamp to the opening. I held the coin where he could see it but I did not put it through the aperture. "Not enough!" he said. I then held up a silver tarsk. The door opened. I entered. He locked the door behind me. I then followed him through a high, shedlike tunnel, walled with wood, about forty feet long, to the interior gate. There he turned about. "Something for the porter," he said. "You are paid by the keeper of the house," I said. "Times are hard," he said. "And it is late. I have opened the door late." "That is true," I said. I put a tarsk bit into his hand. "Times are hard," he said. I put down my pack. I took out a knife and pushed it a bit into his gut, pushing him back against the inner gate. He turned white. I lifted up his purse, on its strings, and, with the point of the knife, opened it. There were several coins within it. I could see in light of the small lamp he carried. "Times are not as hard as you thought," I said. "How much would you like?" I asked. "A tarsk bit is quite sufficient," he said. "You have it," I said. "Yes, Sir," he said. "Thank you, Sir." He put the tarsk bit from his hand into his purse, as I held it, and then took the purse gingerly from me, and, sensing he was permitted, dropped it, on its strings, so that again it hung from his belt, on his left. If one is right-handed, one normally lifts the purse with the left hand and reaches into it with the right. The weight of the purse, on its drawstrings, closed it. "What are the numbers involved, and your speculations as to the outcome?" "It is you who wear the scarlet," he said. "I am only a poor porter." In Gorean cities it is often the case that many streets, particularly side streets, little more than alleys, are too narrow for wagons. Local deliveries in such areas are usually made by porters or carts. The plan was to attempt the ascent to the arsenal, to determine its feasibility. If it proved feasible it was then intended for others to follow, and join the leaders, others who would, amongst themselves, bring up tools, and rope, that the gate might be forced, and the stored weapons brought down, to waiting others, who would then act as scouts and guards, bearers and porters. "No," said Lord Yamada. "Examine every man in my domain, whatever his rank, exalted or lowly, warrior or peasant, merchant or Ashigaru, fisherman or porter, whatever he may be, and bring to me any who bear on his left shoulder the sign of the lotus." |       
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