 FlowersHere are relevant references from the Books where Flowers are mentioned. Following that is my narrative on wearing flowers. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Goreans care for their world. And more than one of even the fierce Warrior Caste has cared for the beauty of small flowers. A few of these flowers are described or mentioned throughout the books. Blue Climber • A vinelike plant with large blue bracts amongst its common leaves, and small yellow flowers Desert Veminium • Is similar to the Thentis Veminium but is purplish Dina • Is a small, tiny, scarlet, roselike flower, lovely, multiply petaled, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves • Grows, usually, on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones • Also known as the slave flower Flaminiums • Is scarlet, large-budded and five-petaled Flower Tree • Has lovely, dangling loops of interwoven blossoms hang from curved branches. The clusters of flowers which, cluster upon cluster, grace the linear, hanging stems, are each a bouquet in itself. The trees are so bred that the clustered flowers emerge in subtle, delicate patterns of shades and hues. Flowers of the Vine Sea • Beautiful flowers, the perfume of which is sweet, pervasive, heavy and quite likely causes psychosis Golden Cup • Its petals will close if it is going to rain Larma Blossom • A beautiful, colorful and fragrant flower Lirillium • A white shrub flower Rence Flowers • Has a flowered head which is a tuft of stamens and narrow petals Scent Tree • Its lavender leaves will curl if it is going to rain Talender • Is a beautiful, delicate, yellow-petaled flower • Grows in broad meadows • Is often associated with feminine love, beauty and passion Teriotrope • A beautiful, colorful and fragrant flower Thentis Veminium • Is a kind of delicate, five softly petaled bluish wild flower • Grows on the lower slopes of the Thentis range • Is common in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Gor Tor Shrub • Known as the bright shrub, or the shrub of light because of its abundant, bright flowers, either yellow or white, depending on the variety • Is a very lovely shrub in bloom Veminia • A beautiful, colorful and fragrant flower Veminiums of Anango • It has sky blue petals Water Flowers • Its blooms are yellow and white • Rises from flat, green pads in shallow ponds White Lirillium • Is a shrub flower There are also mentioned in passing, flowering shrubbery and numerous other references to flowers not named such as the tiny white and yellow flowers of the tundra or the bright flowers of the Farther Islands. While on the topic of flowers, what of wearing flowers? Who would wear flowers in their hair or garlands or as other adornments? Does wearing flowers have any meaning? Or is it simply a personal decision based perhaps, on the mood of the moment? There are three specific occasions where Free Women are shown to wear talenders in their hair. First we find that maidens often weave talenders into garlands which they fix in their hair. Maidens are also described as placing, from their own heads, garlands upon the brows of victors but it is not said these are talenders. It is then shown that unveiled Gorean women might wear talenders in their hair, but note, "with their family or lovers". And lastly, a crown of talenders is often worn by the girl at the feast celebrating her Free Companionship. Talenders are much more often shown as being worn by slaves. Sometimes slave girls, having been subdued, but fearing to speak, will fix talenders in their hair, that their master may know that they have at last surrendered themselves to him as helpless love slaves. During the festival of Kajuralia, Tarl says, "Before we were permitted to serve the wine, garlands of talenders were swiftly woven about our necks." This denoting that slaves would be the ones wearing talenders, not the free. On another occasion, Thurnock had had his slave girl put a flower in her hair, a talender. To put talenders in the neck ropes of a captured free woman tied to the prow of a ship is considered a mockery, indicative of her probable disposition as pleasure slave. Some free women do not approve of slaves being permitted to wear talenders or even being permitted to have representations of them on their frocks. In the thinking of these free women, they feel that a slave, who must love whomever she is commanded to love, can know nothing of love. Slaves are shown to wear flowers other than talenders too. For instance, in the Vosk delta, Tarl says, "On my head my Mistress, Telima, had placed a woven garland of rence flowers." Another slave girl by the name of Lita wore a garland woven of shrub flowers, a white Lirillium. In fact, it is not unusual for slaves to bedeck themselves with flowers, sometimes a garland, sometimes with a mere blossom or two, fixed in the hair. It is said that "Such things can be a thousand times more provocative to a male than the pearls and diamonds of a free woman. Notice, however, that the comparison is to the pearls and diamonds of a free woman, not the free woman wearing flowers. A last example is a conversation between two men: "Surely they should come forth, with gifts, and their daughters garlanded, with songs of welcome, to pacify us," said Callisthenes. "Soon their daughters would wear only their garlands and our chains," said Kliomenes. Reginald laughed. The point being the reference to the free women, having been reduced to slavery would still be wearing flowers. In the final analysis; Would slaves wear flowers or garlands? Most certainly. Would the typical mature Free Woman? While not technically illegal, it would most likely be viewed as 'culturally shocking'. Evidently the wearing of garlands, by both men and women, is something fairly common at festive occasions; suppers, holidays, celebrations, companionings, parties, and such. In the distance, perhaps some forty pasangs away, I saw a set of ridges, lofty and steep, rearing out of a broad, yellow meadow of talenders, a delicate, yellow-petaled flower, often woven into garlands by Gorean maidens. In their own quarters, unveiled Gorean women, with their family or lovers, might fix talenders in their hair. A crown of talenders was often worn by the girl at the feast celebrating her Free Companionship. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Pages 131 - 132 In those days it had been a portion of the Rites of Submission, as practiced in Tharna, to strip and bind the captive with yellow cords and place her on a scarlet rug, the yellow of the cord being symbolic of talenders, a flower often associated with feminine love and beauty, the scarlet of the rug being symbolic of blood, and perhaps of passion. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Pages 204 - 205 lovely, dangling loops of interwoven blossoms which hung from the curved branches of the tree. I knew that the clusters of flowers which, cluster upon cluster, graced those linear, hanging stems, would each be a bouquet in itself, for the trees are so bred that the clustered flowers emerge in subtle, delicate patterns of shades and hues. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 217 Harold left the walk and stepped carefully to avoid trampling a patch of talenders, a delicate yellow flower, often associated in the Gorean mind with love and beauty. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Pages 218 - 219 The atmosphere of the pool was further charged with the fragrance of Veminium, a kind of bluish wild flower commonly found on the lower slopes of the Thentis range; the walls, the columns, even the bottom of the pool, were decorated with representations of Veminium, and many of the plants themselves were found in the chamber. Assassin of Gor Book 5 Pages 163 - 164 Before we were permitted to serve the wine, garlands of talenders were swiftly woven about our necks. Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 225 On my head my Mistress, Telima, had placed a woven garland of rence flowers. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 40 When I entered she dropped her head, saying "Greetings, my Master's Captain." She, too, wore binding fiber on her throat, and a bit of silk. I saw that Thurnock had had her put a flower in her hair, a talender. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 112 The talender is a flower which, in the Gorean mind, is associated with beauty and passion. Free Companions, on the Feast of their Free Companionship, commonly wear a garland of talenders. Sometimes slave girls, having been subdued, but fearing to speak, will fix talenders in their hair, that their master may know that they have at last surrendered themselves to him as helpless love slaves. To put talenders in the neck ropes of the girl at the prow, of course, was only mockery, indicative of her probable disposition as pleasure slave. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Pages 216 - 217 Goreans care for their world. They love the sky, the plains, the sea, the rain in the summer, the snow in winter. They will sometimes stand and watch clouds. The movement of grass in the wind is very beautiful to them. More than one Gorean poet has sung of the leaf of a Tur tree. I have known warriors who cared for the beauty of small flowers. Hunters of Gor Book 8 Page 119 There was a shallow bowl of flowers, scarlet, large-budded, five-petaled flaminiums, on the small, low table between us. Hunters of Gor Book 8 Page 154 I smelled Veminium oil. The petals of Veminium, the "Desert Veminium," purplish, as opposed to the "Thentis Veminium," bluish, which flower grows at the edge of the Tahari, gathered in shallow baskets and carried to a still, are boiled in water. The vapor which boils off is condensed into oil. This oil is used to perfume water. This water is not drunk but is used in middle and upper-class homes to rinse the eating hand, before and after the evening meal. Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Pages 50 - 51 the dina is a small, lovely, multiply petaled flower, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones of Gor; in its budding, though in few other ways, it resembles a rose; it is an exotic, alien flower; it is also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequency, as the slave flower Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Page 61 like the bursting of the tundra into flower, the tiny white and yellow flowers emerging from their snowy cocoon-like buds. Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 437 "What about 'Veminia'?" I asked. The Veminium is a small, lovely Gorean flower, softly petaled and blue. Rogue of Gor Book 15 Page 91 "Surely they should come forth, with gifts, and their daughters garlanded, with songs of welcome, to pacify us," said Callisthenes. "Soon their daughters would wear only their garlands and our chains," said Kliomenes. Reginald laughed. Guardsmen of Gor Book 16 Page 124 There were crowds upon the concourse. Garlanded, white-clad maidens could be seen. At the front edge of the concourse, near the wharves, pirates, in rows, stripped and bound, lay on their bellies. Maidens cast flowers upon them, and some of these maidens, from their own heads, placed garlands upon the brows of the victors. Guardsmen of Gor Book 16 Page 138 I looked upwards, and about the room. The multicolored ribbons were festive; the lamps were lovely; and the flowers, abundant and colorful, mostly larma blossoms, Veminia and Teriotrope, were beautiful and fragrant. Lola had done well. Guardsmen of Gor Book 16 Page 240 "And the flowers," said the girl, "are talenders. They are a beautiful flower. They are often associated with love." "They are very pretty," I said. "Some free women do not approve of slaves being permitted to wear talenders," she said, "or being permitted to have representations of them, like these, on their frocks. Yet slaves do often wear them, the masters permitting it, and they are not an uncommon motif, the masters seeing to it, on their garments." "Why do free women object?" I asked. "They feel that a slave, who must love whomever she is commanded to love, can know nothing of love." "Oh," I said. Kajira of Gor Book 19 Page 48 Indeed, there is even a brand called the "Dina," which resembles the Dina, or slave flower, a tiny, roselike flower. Dancer of Gor Book 22 Page 289 The dina is a small, roselike flower. It is popularly called the "slave flower." The dina brand, or slave-flower brand, is a common one on Gor. "Come to the Veminium!" said the second. The veminium is a delicate, five-petaled blue flower common in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Gor. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 436 "I, too, think it is a tor shrub," I said. The shrub has various names but one of them is the tor shrub, which name might be fairly translated, I would think, as, say, the bright shrub, or the shrub of light, it having that name, I suppose, because of its abundant, bright flowers, either yellow or white, depending on the variety. It is a very lovely shrub in bloom. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 339 "You see that tree?" asked Cabot, pointing. "Certainly," said Lord Grendel. "I would like Lita's garland hung upon it," said Cabot. This garland was woven of shrub flowers, a white Lirillium, and was in width some seven or eight inches. Such things, hung on wands, are familiar targets in rustic archery. A shaft placed within the garland scores, and one which nicks or cuts the wand scores higher, and one which splits the wand scores highest. "Lita," called Cabot, "fling the garland!" Lita removed the garland from her hair and tossed it away from her, and scarcely had it left her hand than the string of the bow of Lord Grendel leaped forward, and then vibrated with that sudden, intense purr, the bow's music, signaling a flight. Kur of Gor Book 28 Page 375 About the slave's head was the wreath of blossoms, this of white Lirillium. It is not unusual for slaves to bedeck themselves as they may, and to do so occasionally with flowers, sometimes a garland, sometimes with a mere blossom or two, fixed in the hair. Such things can be fetching, and it is likely they are not unaware of this. They can treasure simple things, too, a ribbon, a bangle, a bracelet, a string of colorful glass or wooden beads. Indeed, such simple things, as worn by a slave, herself recognized as goods, can be a thousand times more provocative to a male than the pearls and diamonds of a free woman. Kur of Gor Book 28 Page 379 I noted, again, the perfume of the garden, so sweet, pervasive, and heavy. I wondered if it did not have its role to play in this strange place. I could see two other derelicts from where I stood, smothered in flowers. "The flowers are beautiful," I said. "And perhaps deadly," said Cabot. "A slow poison?" I said. "Let us hope not," he said. Two men had thrown themselves from the bulwarks of the great ship, screaming, into the vines below. Men had looted one another's sea chests openly, and then died in the corridors and companionways. Two warriors of the Pani, which groups had not participated in the looting, had slain one another, which, given the custom of their discipline, was unthinkable. "We cannot wait here indefinitely," said Cabot. "We must try to break free?" I said. "Why has it not been attempted?" asked Cabot. "The looting, the danger?" I said. "The looting was done, days ago," said Cabot, "at least of the ships conveniently accessible." "The flowers?" I said. "I think so," said Cabot. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 224 There were trees, and grass, in the small courtyard, and flowers, mostly talenders, and dinas, some veminium. A tiled walk wound its way through the vegetation. Flowering shrubbery was about. Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 645 We continued on our way, occasionally crossing a rivulet of water on a small, railed wooden bridge between flowering shrubs and patches of bright flowers, some of which were terraced amongst steps of rocks. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 159 He was standing, pinching off the tips of new branches on the Blue Climber, a vinelike plant with large blue bracts amongst its common leaves, and small yellow flowers, clinging to the railing of the small bridge in the shogun's garden. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 245 The bridge, entwined with the blue climbers, arched in a lovely manner, for a length of some thirty-five or forty feet over a narrow, decorative pond, on the surface of which bloomed white and yellow water flowers, rising from flat, green pads; below, in the pond, which was shallow, one could see the slow movements of colorful fish. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 584 "I think it will rain today," I said. "No, noble one," he said. "How do you know?" I asked. "The petals of the golden cup are open," he said, "the zar swarm is not aflight, the lavender leaves of the scent tree do not curl." Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 220 "She is quite different from she whom I once knew as Sumomo," said Haruki. "She whom I once knew as Sumomo was a free woman, delicate and refined, as fragile, soft, and exquisite as the petal of a veminium, but, too, petty and unpleasant, cruel and deceitful, arrogant and haughty, impatient and short-tempered, clad in rich garmenture, with silken slippers, with long hair, glistening like dark stars, curled high about her head, fixed in place with a high, black, jade comb." Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 329 As I mentioned, there were nine to be served, five men, including my master, Lysander, and four women. All wore chaplets of flowers, both men and women, which is not uncommon, I learned, in many Gorean cities and towns on festive occasions, holidays, celebrations, companionings, parties, and such. Plunder of Gor Book 34 Page 158 The men at the tables, those attentive, those bemused, those bored, those testing and savoring beverages and dishes, wore dark chaplets upon their brow, these woven from somber dark leaves, muchly different from the tangles of aromatic blossoms worn by many Goreans at festive suppers. Plunder of Gor Book 34 Page 228 The Lady Alexina, with an angry movement of her head, freed herself of her hood and veils. "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 "Welcome, noble friends," called out Decius Albus, hurrying forward, under the shading latticework through which the afternoon sun stroked the laden tables with a melody of light and shade. Certain streets in Ar, in certain districts, are similarly sheltered from the sun, though with vines clinging to the latticework, and then, usually, here and there are stands of fruits and vegetables lining the walls. I was familiar with one such street, the Street of Dinas, near the theater of Elbar, for I had shopped there. Frequently assignations take place in such streets, which, in their way constitute lovely, extended bowers, half lit even in the noonday sun. Some, such as the Street of Dinas, are fragrant with flowers. Plunder of Gor Book 34 Page 525 "Behold," called Ho-Tosk, "the lovely Lais, graceful and lithe, eyes as blue as the skies of En'Kara, lips as red as the scarlet dina, hair as yellow as ripe sa'tarna. How she will please you!" Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 433 Veminium "I may not say, of course," she said, "but I understand that veminiums now bloom in the Garden of the Hinrabians." "It is long since I strolled there," I said. "It is beautiful this time of year," she said. "May you soon be marketed," I said, "and be purchased by the master of your dreams." "Thank you, Master," she said, and then, at my gesture, she leaped up and was lost in the crowd. I arrived at the tall, heavy gate of the Garden of the Hinrabians. To my dismay, I saw several individuals leaving the grounds, and few, if any, entering. "The garden is open," he said. "Walk about, as you will. View veminiums as much as you please." "I take it that veminiums are in bloom," I said. "It is that time of year," he said. "Like many kajirae," she said, "I am fond of beautiful things, like flowers, and I wandered about this morning, to my delight, in the great flower market of Ar, and was struck by the switch only twice." "You were fortunate," I said. Men tend to tolerate unattended slaves, particularly if they are attractive, but free women are less permissive, particularly if they are attractive." "I heard," she said, "that soon masses of flowers will be brought into Ar, some by tarn, from as far away as a hundred pasangs." |       
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