A little about Tabuks Ford

Tabuks Ford

The books provide numerous details about the Peasant village of Tabuk's Ford. This village is located approximately four hundred pasangs generally north and slightly west of the city of Ar. It is also located approximately twenty pasangs off the Vosk Road to the west. "Tabuk's Ford receives its name from the fact that field Tabuk were once accustomed, in their annual migrations, to ford the Verl tributary of the Vosk in its vicinity. The Verl flows northwestward into the Vosk." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.135) It does appear that the founding of the village though caused the Tabuk to change their migration route. "The field Tabuk now make their crossing some twenty pasangs northwest of Tabuk's Ford, but the village, founded in the area of the original crossing keeps the first name of the locale." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.135)

Tabuk's Ford is a large village, surrounded by a wooden palisade, and containing some forty families. "Tabuk's Ford is a rich village, but it is best known not for its agricultural bounty, a function of its dark, fertile fields in the southern basin of the Verl, but for its sleen breeding." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.135) There are several sleen pens in the village as well as a sleen training pit. Because of its fame in sleen breeding, Goreans from all over come to the village to seek their animals.

Peasants, being the most common of the Gorean Castes, span nearly the entirty of known Gor. From the lands of Torvald to the Jungles, you will find the Peasants most everywhere.
"Even the Caste of Peasants regarded itself as the "Ox on which the Home Stone Rests" and could seldom be encouraged to leave their narrow strips of land, which they and their fathers before them had owned and made fruitful."
- Outlaw of Gor

Most of the Gorean Peasants resided outside the Cities of known Gor. For their crops would provide the majority of the food source.

Peasant Villages
There are multitudes of different styles of Villages but there is one feature all carry. That being in the shape of a spoked wheel. Though the homes/huts my vary, that one feature was consitent.
“We had made our camp here, in the burnt, roofless, half-fallen ruins of one of the huts. It had given us shelter from the wind. The village had been deserted, perhaps, judging from the absence of crockery, household effects and furnishings, even before it had been burned. It stood like most Gorean villages at the hub of its wheel of fields, the fields, striplike, spanning out from it like spokes. Most Gorean peasants live in such villages, many of them palisaded, which they leave in the morning to tend their fields, to which they return at night after their day’s labors.”
- Mercenaries of Gor

The huts themselves, though seldomnly describe, were known to vary from locale to locale. Various being of the hut or tepee style. Moving along to the adobe style longhouse, found mostly in the Northern Villages.
"It was high, and conical, and floored with rough planks, set some six or seven feet on poles above the ground, that it might be drier and protected from common insects and vermin. The entrance was reached by a flight of rough, narrow steps. The entrances to many of the huts in the village, similarly constructed, were reached by ladders."
- Slavegirl of Gor

“The hut in the summer is light and airy. The frame of such a hut is constructed of Ka-la-na and Tem wood. The roof is rethatched and the walls rewoven every third or fourth year. In the winters, which are not harsh at this latitude, such huts are covered on the outside with painted canvas or, among the richer peasants, with ornamented, painted bosk hides, protected and glossed with oil.”
- Slavegirl of Gor

Besides such huts, villages will have a number of other structures such as barns, equipment sheds and feed sheds. "These structures were generally painted yellow and trimmed with blue. These colors tend to be cultural for Goreans with respect to housings for domestic animals. Blue and yellow, too, of course, are the colors of slavers. There may be a connection here, for the slave is, of course, regarded as a domestic animal. To be sure, in barns and such the color yellow usually predominates, whereas in the colors of slavers, exhibited in such places as in the blue and yellow canvas covering slave wagons or in the blue and yellow of the tenting of slave pavilions, the blue and yellow is, or tends to be, more equally distributed, almost invariably occurring in stripes." (Fighting Slave of Gor, p.228) In the winter time, the animals may not remain in their barns and pens. "Secondly, it is not unusual either for many peasants to keep animals in the houses, usually verr and bosk, sometimes tarsk, at least in the winter. The family lives in one section of the dwelling, and the animals are quartered in the other." (Mercenaries of Gor, p.22)

Peasant Villages are known in the books themselves. Though they are rarely mentioned save for that of Tabuk's Ford. A few of the lesser known Villages are as follows.
Clearus - This is a village in the realm of Tor.
Kurtzal - This village is north of Tor. It is little more than a loading and shipping point on the Lower Fayeen.
Minus - This is a village under the control of Ar.
Rarir - This tiny village is located south of the Vosk and near the shores of Thassa.
Rorus - This is a village on the route to Rarir.
Teslit - This is a small village on route to Holmesk, halfway to the Vosk.
The quantity of good quotes from the books is limited. Lesser quotes are about the same as well. I have attained what I could from each in my little knowledge of quote referrences. Though the Peasants are the largest Caste upon Gor they are probably one of these least mentioned as well.

Peasant Clothes & Caste Colors

Peasant clothes are generally very simple garments, though dependent as well on the wealth of the Peasant. Rep-cloth and the wool of the hurt are the most common fabrics. For example, peasant women may wear a rep-cloth veil. They are also likely to wear only a single veil, rather then the multiples used by many women of the cities. One peasant's tunic was described as white, likely bleached, and sleeveless, of the wool of the hurt and falling to the knees. Some peasant garments may be hooded as well. Few, if any, of their garments appear to bear bright colors and many are mentioned as being white or bleached.
So, what is the Caste color or colors of the Peasant's Caste? Many might say it is brown as that is what is listed on many websites. But, is it correct? Has anyone ever seen a quote from the books that states the Caste color is brown? I have never seen such a quote and I have yet to find anyone who can provide such a quote. This appears to be an online myth without substantiation. We can speculate as to the Caste color but the books apparently lack a definitive quote. Some might think it is brown because Administrators wear brown robes, which are said to be the humblest garment in the city. Would not a Peasant be of the humblest caste? But then we also know that Peasants use yellow and blue for their barns and such. Could their colors thus be blue and yellow, similar to the Slaver Caste? Or could their Caste color be white, or off-white, as there are multiple references to them wearing bleached garments. We can only speculate.

Weapons of the Peasant

Within most villages there are not any Warriors to protect the residents. A village may gain the protection of a nearby town or city, but such assistance may not always be present when it is most needed. Cities generally do not leave garrisons at every village within their region. And the fierce independence of many villages makes it beneficial for Peasants to be able to defend themselves. To that end, many male Peasants are proficient with two weapons, the staff and the long bow. Such weapons enable them to adequately defend themselves against many different threats.
The staff, sometimes referred to as the great staff, is commonly six feet or more in length and two to three inches in width. Besides its utility as a weapon, staves can serve other useful functions as well. "With respect to the staff, it serves of course not only as a weapon but, more usually, and more civilly, as an aid in traversing terrain of uncertain footing. Too, it is often used, yoke like, fore and aft of its bearer, to carry suspended, balanced baskets." (Magicians of Gor, p.245) A staff can be an excellent, nimble weapon in the hands of a skilled Peasant. There are even some skilled Peasants who are capable of being an equal opponent against many swordsmen. Thurnock of Port Kar, one of Tarl Cabot's men, is such an individual. He also taught Tarl how to wield a staff. Thurnus, the Caste Leader of Tabuk's Ford, is another highly skilled Peasant with a staff.

Slaves of the Peasants

When Peasants purchase slaves, they do not seek the usual beauties that sell well in urban markets. Peasants purchase slaves primarily as work slaves. Thus, they often choose larger girls, girls who are likely to be able to endure hard work in the fields. Some of these kajirae may end up as village slaves, not personally owned by any single Peasant. Each day, they generally serve a different hut. "Many and various, and long, are the tasks of a peasant village. Upon slave girls do most of these tasks devolve. We must do them or die." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.202) Such slaves may engage in a variety of work such as toiling in the fields, drawing plows, carrying water, gathering wood, milking verr, gathering vulo eggs, watering and feeding the sleen, and cleaning the sleen cages. "I had well learned toil, and misery. It is not easy to be a peasant's girl." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.194) Such girls commonly wear rope, rather than metal, collars and are kept under a harsh discipline.
"Peasants, incidentally, are famous for being strict with their slaves." (Vagabonds of Gor, p.70) Peasants are not tolerant of laziness, insolence or arrogance in their slaves. Their punishments can be quite drastic at times. "One of the penalties which may in a peasant village be inflicted upon a lying slave girl is to throw her alive to hungry sleen." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.242) Even when the slaves have their meals, discipline may be instituted. "In the middle of the morning we return to the hut of Thurnus, where pans of slave gruel have been put out for us, beneath the hut. The gruel must be eaten, and the pans licked clean. In the manner of peasant slave girls we kneel or lie upon our bellies and may not use our hands." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.202) It is not en envious position.
Despite their many labors, the slaves of Peasants may also have to serve the pleasure of their owners, just like any other slave. Some villages may even possess a public rape-rack. "With a cry of misery I was thrown onto the beams of the rack. My left ankle was thrust into the semi-circular opening in the lower left ankle beam and the upper left ankle beam, with its matching semi-circular opening, was dropped, and locked, in place. My other ankle was similarly secured in the separate matching beams for the right ankle. The rape-rack at Tabuk's Ford is a specially prepared horizontal stock, cut away in a V-shape at the lower end. My wrists were seized and my hair and I was thrown down on my back, wrists held in place, and my head, too, by my hair, in three semi-circular openings. A single beam, with matching semi-circular openings, on a heavy hinge, closes the stock. It was swung up and then dropped in place, and locked shut. I was now held in the stock, on my back, by my ankles, wrists and neck. I could move very little." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.230)
Why use slave girls for the labors of a village? A primary consideration appears to be cost. "Ten days ago Thurnus had used me for plowing. He did not own bosk. Girls are cheaper than bosk." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.202) Buying slave girls is probably also cheaper than hiring free labor to do the same type of work. Slaves are a one time cost, except for basic maintenance such as food and shelter. A free laborer would often require an ongoing wage, which would be hiring than the maintenance cost for a Kajira. Now, the great farms use male slaves to work their lands but it seems that most Peasants prefer to use female rather than male slaves. Why is that so? Male slaves should prove stronger and be able to accomplish more work than kajirae. But, they do not provide the same pleasures that a kajira can in other areas. And there is always a danger with male slaves, the fear of revolt. It is thus much safer to own kajirae than male slaves. Peasants probably do not want the constant worry of an uprising on their lands. A great farm can afford more security, and probably uses larger numbers of male slaves who can thus be chained together in large groups, helping to reduce potential problems.