Gorean Females
Panther Girls & Talunas
"Panther girls are dangerous." — Hunters of Gor, page 80.
Panther Girls: Feral Free Women of the Forests
Panther girls are free women who have fled the cities; outlaws to Gorean society. 
They fear men, they resent men and most of all, they resent a society controlled by men.
Panther girls, often blonde-haired and blue-eyed, since most arrive from the northern lands which border the forests, are fierce and violent, swift and agile hunters that inhabit the northern forests, living amongst themselves in bands, some small, others quite large, in semi-permanent camps. Besides these camps, each band also has their own dancing circle. They live off the land and make their living from the capturing of slaves and selling them in exchange for weapons and goods, especially candies, for sugar is rare in the forest, except for natural sugars found in certain berries.
Female slaves, the bane of the Gorean Free Woman, are even more hated by panther girls because of their proclivity to dominant men. Female slaves captured by panther girls are often physically abused, kept in slavery to the band of girls for a time, before selling the girl to slavers.
Most assuredly, panther girls despise all women, free included. Perhaps it is they feel that free women, though free, still live under the direct control of men and accept that control, thusly making the free woman too similar to the kajira.
Incidentally, the word that is often seen utilized in chat rooms, panthera, is not once used in any of the books of Gor by John Norman. It's another onlinism plain and simple.
The Prey
Men are the prey of panther girls. It has been known for men to come to the forests to hunt the girls, but it is all too often that the men themselves become the hunted. Men captured by panther girls are made slaves, their heads shaved, raped and abused by these feral women.
It is not touched upon in the books of panther girls having children, but that is most unlikely due to many facts:
- A free woman does not engage in sexual activity with a free man that is not her Free Companion. A free male would not engage in such activity with a free woman who is not his Free Companion, because after all, she is a free woman, and due the respect of a lady. Should a free woman, not his Free Companion, come to him begging for sex, she would then be exhibiting slave behavior and more than like be collared. Gorean men would love nothing better than to enslave a panther girl.
- Bearing children is done between a free male and a free woman who have contracted as Free Companions to continue the family lines, as set forth by Gorean society. Panther girls are outlaws of said society.
- Because panther girls are legally free women, they would have to mate with a free male who also was her Free Companion. Panther girls would reject the notion of Free Companionship because it is something created by a man's world. Since panther girls enslave men for their amusements, to become pregnant in this way would be unthinkable, a free woman impregnated by a slave.
- The way of life of a panther girl is not conducive to bearing and raising children. Can you picture a panther girl, lugging a suckling child at her breast running through the forests, climbing trees, crawling under brush, as she is hunting sleen, panther, or men in one hand, and a bow or a knife in the other?
Talunas: Feral Free Women of the Jungles
Talunas, are sisters-in-kind of the panther girls. However, these bands of white women live in the rainforests of Schendi, and are as extremely fierce as their northern counterparts. Tarl Cabot helped free a tribe of pygmie males that had fallen captive to these women and enslaved in Explorers of Gor. Tarl notes in many of the following quotes, that the talunas are fierce as they are because they are frustrated, starved for the touch of a man.
"The chief says the river is dangerous beyond this point. He says there are hostile tribes, dangerous waters, great animals, monsters and talunas, white-skinned jungle girls." He indicated the blond-haired barbarian, kneeling, her hands tied behind her back, her neck-rope in the hands of Alice, who, in lovely repose, stood beside her. "He thought she might be one," he said. "I told him she was only an ordinary slave." — Explorers of Gor, page 303.
She was slender-legged and dark-haired. She wore brief skins. She ran down to the edge of the water. Her hands were not bound together but, from each wrist, there hung a knotted rope. It was as though she had been bound and, somehow, had been freed. "Please save me!" she cried. "Help me!"
I examined the condition of the skins she wore. I noted, also, that she wore a golden armlet and, on her neck, a necklace of claws. She also had, about her waist, a belt, with a dagger sheath, though the sheath was now empty. "Save me, please, noble sirs!" she wept. She waded out a few feet in the water. She extended her hands to us piteously. She was quite beautiful. I considered the forest behind her. The trees were thick, the brush, near the river, heavy. …
"Please, please help me!" we heard the girl cry. Then we left her behind.
"Master," sobbed Janice.
"Be silent, Slave Girl," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Look!" cried Alice. "There is another!"
Now, on the shore, standing at a post, chains about her body, we saw a blond girl. "Please help me!" she cried, straining against the chains. She, like the first, was dressed in brief skins and, like the first, was ornamented, with an armlet and necklace. Too, about her left ankle, there was a golden bangle. We removed the paddles from the water. …
"I think we have lingered here long enough," said Kisu, looking about. "This is a dangerous place."
"Agreed," I said.
"Do not leave without her, please, noble masters," begged Janice. "Please, Master," begged Alice. "Please, Master," begged Tende.
"What little fools you all are, said Kisu. "Can you not see that it is a trap?" …
"They speak Gorean," I pointed out. "Thus they are not originally of the jungle. The color of their skins alone, white, should make that clear to you. Consider the first girl. The lengths of rope dangling from her wrists seemed rather long for any usual form of binding. Eighteen inches of rope is quite sufficient for tying a girl's hands either before her body or behind. Too, it is common to loop a wrist binding, and use a single knot, rather than tie each wrist separately."
"Perhaps she was tied about a tree," said Janice.
"Perhaps," I said. "But, too, the rope was cut, not frayed. How would it have been cut?"
"I do not know, Master," she said.
"Consider also," I said, "that she retained her belt and dagger sheath. A normal captor would surely have discarded these. What need a captured woman for such accouterments?"
"I do not know, Master," she said.
"Too," I said, "she, like the girl at the post, there on the shore, wore clothing and ornaments. One of the first things a captor commonly does with a woman is to take away her clothing. She is not to be permitted to conceal weapons. Also, it helps her to understand that she is a captive. Also, of course, a captor commonly wishes to look upon the beauty of his capture. This pleases him. Also, of course, he may wish to form a conjecture as to its market value or the amount of pleasure he will force it to yield to him. At the very least it seems reasonable that her ornaments, and in particular those of gold, would be removed from her. One does not expect to find rich ornaments of gold on the body of a captured woman. Surely such things belong rather in the loot sack of her captor. She might, of course, wear them later, as her master's property, he using them then to decorate his slave. Consider, too, the nature and condition of their garments. The garments are not ripped or torn. They show no signs of a struggle or of the abuse of their owner. Too, they are skins, of the sort which might be worn by free women, huntresses, not rep-cloth or bark cloth, not rags, of the sort which might be worn by slaves."
"Their bodies, too," said Kisu, "showed no signs of lashings or bruises. Presumably, then, they were not fresh captures." I nodded. Sometimes a free woman must be taught that she is now subject to discipline. Some women refuse to believe it until the whip is on them.
"Other clues, too," I said, "suggest that they are not what they seem. Consider the girl at the post. Her hands are not fastened over her head, which would lift and accentuate the beauty of her breasts. You must understand that a post is often used to display a girl, not merely to secure her. As it is, we do not even know if her hands are truly fastened behind her or not. We simply cannot see. Too, captors in the forests, natives of these jungles, would not be likely to have chains to secure their captures." …
"How long have you been at the post?" I called to her.
"For two days," she wept. "Take pity on me! Help me, please!"
"Have you any doubts now?" I asked. "Consider her condition. It is prime. Does she truly seem to have been at the post for two days?"
"No, Master,' said Janice.
"Too," I said, "had she been at the post overnight it is not likely that tharlarion would have discovered her and eaten her from the chains?"
"Yes, Master," said Janice.
"I am, too, made comfortable by the thickness of the brush and trees in these areas, both before and now. They seem fit to conceal the numbers of an ambuscade." …
As our canoe moved away we looked back. "After them!" cried the girl. She slipped from her chains and bent to the grass beside her, seizing up a light spear. From the bush about her appeared numbers of girls similarly clad and armed. We saw canoes being thrust into the water. "Perhaps now you will paddle with a better will," I said.
"Yes, Master!" said Janice.
There were now some eight canoes behind us. In each canoe there were five or six girls. In the prow of the first canoe was the blond girl who had seemed to be chained at the post. In the prow of the second was the slender-legged, dark-haired girl whom we had seen earlier. She still had the dangling ropes knotted on her wrists.
"Will they overtake us?" cried Alice.
"It is unlikely," I said. "In no canoe there are there more than six paddlers. In this canoe, too, there are six paddlers, and three of these are men." In less than a quarter of an Ahn we had considerably lengthened our lead on our pursuers. "Do you not recall, Janice," I asked, "in one of the villages long ago, one of the men inquired if you were a taluna?"
"Yes," she said.
"Those behind us," I said, "are talunas." — Explorers of Gor, pages 385-388.They spoke quickly among themselves. It was not in Gorean.
"We are the slaves of the talunas," said one of the men, their leader.
I nodded. I had thought so, from their behavior. It was from the talunas, too, doubtless, that they had learned their Gorean.
"We fish and hunt for them, and make cloth, and serve them," said one of the men.
"Men should not be the slaves of women," I said. "Women should be the slaves of men."
"We are small," said a man. "The talunas are too large and strong for us."
"They may be taken, and made slaves, as any women," I said.
"Help us to rid ourselves of the talunas," said the leader. — Explorers of Gor, page 393.On my belly, quietly, I entered it. Moonlight filtered in through the thatched roof and between the sticks which formed the sides of the hut. She was sleeping within, in her brief skins. Her weapons were at the side of the hut. She lay on a woven mat, her blond hair loose about her head. I examined her thighs, moving back the skins she wore. They had never been branded. She turned, restlessly. She was the girl who had feigned being chained at the post, to lure us into a trap. She was, I was sure, the leader of the talunas. She had given commands in out pursuit. She did not share her hut with another girl. She threw her arm restlessly over her head. I saw her hips move. I smiled. She was a woman in need. She moaned. I waited until her arms were again at her sides, and she lay upon her back. I saw her lift her haunches in her sleep. She was starved for a man's touch. Such women, in their waking hours, are often tense and restless; it is not unusual, too, for them to be irritable; and many times they are hostile toward men; many times they are not even fully aware of the underlying causes of their uncomfortable conscious states; how horrified they might be if they were told that they were women, and desired a master; yet must they not, on some level, be aware of this; would not their hostility toward the male who does not understand their needs or is too cowardly or weak to satisfy them not be otherwise inexplicable; what other hurt could the uncooperative male be inflicting upon them; the more he tries to please them the more they demand; the more he tries to do what they claim to wish the more he finds himself disparaged and despised; can he not see that what they really want is to be thrown to his feet and subjected, totally, to his will? They wish to be women, that is all. But how can they be women if men will not be men? How cruel a man is to deny to a woman the deepest need of her womanhood. Can they not care for them? Can they not see how beautiful they are, and how marvelous?
Swiftly I knelt across her body, pinning her down, pinning her arms to her sides. Almost instantly, frightened, she wakened. The trapped girl's first impulse is to scream. This may be depended upon. As her mouth opened I, with my thumb, thrust the rolled-cloth wadding deep into it. In a moment I had lashed it in place. I then threw her to her stomach and tied her hands behind her back. I then put her again on her back. Her eyes were wild, terrified, over the gag. With my knife I cut the skins from her. "You will not be needing these," I told her. I regarded her. Such women bring high prices. I took her in my arms. Her eyes were frightened. She shook her head fiercely, negatively. But her body, as though in sudden relief, desperately clasped me. She twisted her head to the side, and then, again, looked at me. She shook her head, negatively. But her body thrust itself against me, asking no quarter, piteously and helplessly soliciting its full impalement. "Very well," I told her, "but your body says ‘Yes.'" Her hips and thighs then began to move. She put back her head in misery on the mat. Then, in a moment, there were tears in her eyes, and she tried to lift her head and gagged mouth to touch me. When later I crouched over her she sat up, shuddering, and out her cheek to my left shoulder. I felt the lashings of the gag against my shoulder. — Explorers of Gor, pages 395-396.I plunged through brush, dragging the bound, gagged blond girl, running and stumbling, bent over, by the hair at my side. The talunas, more than forty of them, plunged after us, brandishing their weapons, in hot pursuit. I turned when I heard their sudden cries of surprise, and then of rage, and then of fear. I tied the blond girl by her hair to a slender palm and strode back to the nets.
Some of the talunas lay upon the ground, tangled in nets, the spear blades of the small men at their throats and bellies. More than twenty of them struggled, impeding one another's movement, in a long vine net about them. The first girl I pulled from a net was the slender-legged, dark-haired girl. I cuffed her, and then threw her on her belly and bound her hand and foot. I then drew forth another girl and treated her similarly. Then, in a row, lying on the jungle floor, there were forty-two captives. I then released the blond girl from the palm tree and, tying her ankles, threw her with the rest. I did not bother to ungag her. "Release us," said the dark-haired girl, squirming in her bonds.
"Be silent," said the leader of the little men, jabbing his spear blade below her left shoulder blade. The girl gritted her teeth, frightened, and was quiet.
"Remove their clothing and ornaments," I told the little men.
This was done. The little men then tied a vine collar on the throat of each girl and, by the arms, dragged them, one by one, to a long-trunked, fallen tree. About this tree, encircling it, were a number of vine loopings. The little men then knelt each girl at one of the vine loopings. Pushing down their heads, they then, with pieces of vine rope, fastened both under the vine collars on the girls, tied down their heads, close to the trunk. The forty-three girls then knelt, naked, hands tied behind them, their heads tied down over it. They could not slide themselves free sideways, moving the vine loopings, because of the roots of the tree at one end and its spreading branches at the other. They were well secured in place, their heads over the tree trunk. One of the little men then, with a heavy, rusted panga, probably obtained in a trade long ago, walked up and down near them. They shuddered. They knew that, if the little men wished, their heads might be swiftly cut from them.
"There are the mighty talunas," I said. — Explorers of Gor, pages 397-398.
The Taluna and Their Relationships with Slave Girls
I took two pairs of slave bracelets from the loot of the taluna camp. Girls such as talunas keep such things about in case slave girls should fall into their hands. They are extremely cruel to slave girls, whom they regard as having betrayed their sex by surrendering as slaves to men. Actually, of course, it seems likely that their hatred of slave girls, which tends to be unreasoning and vicious, is due less to lofty sentiments than to their own intense jealousy of the joy and fulfillment of their imbonded sisters. The joyful slave girl, obedient to her master's wishes, is an affront and, more frighteningly, an unanswerable and dreadful threat to their most cherished illusions. Perhaps they wish to be themselves slaves. Why else should they hate them so? — Explorers of Gor, page 407.
How a Taluna Came to Be
"How came you to the rain forests?" I asked.
"I, and Fina, and the others," she said, "fled undesired companionships."
"But now you have fallen slave," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Your entire band," I said, "will doubtless know no nobler fate."
"Yes, Master," she said. She shuddered. "We now, all of us, belong to men."
"Yes," I said.
"You left our vine collars on," she said. "You knew, did you not, that we would beg slavery?"
"Yes," I said.
"But how could you know?" she asked.
"Though you and the others have fought your femininity," I said, "yet you and they are both beautiful and feminine."
"You knew that we were natural slaves?" she said.
"Of course," I said.
"I will no longer be permitted to fight my femininity, will I?" she asked.
"No," I said. "You are now a slave girl. You will yield to it, and fully."
"I'm frightened," she said.
"That is natural," I said.
"It will make me so loving and helpless," she said.
"Yes," I said.
"Can I dare, too, now," she asked. "to be sensuous?"
"If you are not fully pleasing in all the modalities of the slave girl, sensuous and otherwise," I said, "you will be severely punished."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Or slain," I said.
"Yes, Master," she whispered.
The canoe moved into the center of the river. "I do not know how to be a slave girl," she suddenly wept. I thrust her head down. "You will begin," I said, "by learning to be docile and submissive." I then rewound the wadding and, dragging her head up briefly, by the hair, from behind, pushed it into her mouth and lashed it in place. I then again thrust her head down. "Also," I said, "you will consider whether or not, at a given time, your master wishes to hear you speak. If you are in doubt, you may ask his permission to speak, which may then be granted or denied, as he pleases."
She nodded, piteously signifying her slave's assent. — Explorers of Gor, pages 411-412.
Observations of the Phenomenon of a Feral Society
An observation of the Arrogance of the Panther Girl by Tarl Cabot aka Bosk of Port Kar:
Panther girls are arrogant. They live by themselves in the northern forests, by hunting and slaving and outlawry. They have little or no respect for anyone, or anything, saving themselves and, undeniably, the beasts they hunt, the tawny forest panthers, the swift, sinuous sleen.
I can understand why it is that such women hate men, but it is less clear to me why they hold such enmity to woment. Indeed, they accord more respect to men, who hunt them, and whom they hunt, as worthy foes, than they do to women other than themselves. They regard, it seems, all women, whether slave or free, as soft, worthless creatures, so unlike themselves. Perhaps most of all they despise beautiful female slaves, and surely Cara was such. I am not sure why they hold this great hatred for other members of their sex. I suspect it may be because, in their hearts, they hate themselves, and their femaleness. Perhaps they wish to be men; I do not know. It seems they fear, terribly, to be females, and perhaps fear most what they, by the hands of a strong man, will be taught their womanhood. It is said that panther girls, conquered, make incredible slaves. I do not much understand these things. — Hunters of Gor, page 28.
An observation of the Dancing Circles and Camps by Tarl Cabot:
It was, of course, one thing to know this general manner of thing, and another to find Verna's band's camp, or their dancing circle. Each band of panther girls customarily has a semi-permanent camp, particularly in the winter, but, too, each band, customarily, has its dancing circle. Panther girls, when their suppressed womanhood becomes sometimes too painful, repair to such places, there to dance the frenzy of their needs. But, too, it is in such places, that the enslavement of males is often consumated. — Hunters of Gor, page 30.
A Man, Once a Male Slave of Panther Girls, is Brought before Tarl Cabot and Samos:
"As you can see," he said, "I fell to women."
"How came it about?" I asked.
"They fell upon me in my sleep," he said. "I wakened to a knife at my throat. I was chained. They much sported of me. When they wearied of me, I was taken, leashed and manacled, to a lonely beach, at the edge of Thassa, bordering on the western edge of the forests."
"It is a well-known rendezvous point," said Samos. "It was there one of my ships picked him up and others." He looked at the man. "Do you recall your price?"
"Two steel knives," said the man, "and fifty steel arrow points."
"And a stone of hard candies, from the kitchens of Ar," smiled Samos.
"Yes," said the man, through gritted teeth. — Hunters of Gor, page 13.
An observance of Rim, Once a Slave to Panther Girls:
"I thought it was I who was hunting women," said he. "But it was they who were hunting me." — Hunters of Gor, page 14.
An Observance of Tarl Cabot as He Sat in a Meeting with Panther Girl, Sheera and Her Band:
I lifted my eyes to regard the two wretches bound in the frames.
They had been much beaten, and long and heavily worked. The fierce women had doubtless raped them many times.
"Men," said Sheera, "make delightful slaves."
"Panther girls," said Rim, "do not make bad slaves either." — Hunters of Gor, page 29.
An observation Regarding Trade with Panther Girls, by Tarl Cabot:
There was little sugar in the forest, save naturally in certain berries, and simple hard candies, such as a child might buy in shops in Ar, or Ko-ro-ba, were, among the panther girls in the remote forest, prized.
It was not unknown that among the bands in the forests, a male might be sold for as little as a handful of such candies. When dealing with men, however, the girls usually demanded, and received, goods of greater value to them, usually knives, arrow points, small spear points; sometimes armlets, and bracelets and necklaces, and mirrors; sometimes slave nets and slave traps, to aid in their hunting; sometimes slave chains, and manacles, to secure their catches. — Hunters of Gor, page 31.
As Spoken by Verna, Leader of a Band of Panther Girls, Regarding Talena, to Tarl Cabot:
"You have taught her slavery," I said.
"Yes," smiled Verna, "in the forests we have well taught her the meaning of slavery."
I put my head to one side.
"But, too," laughed Verna, "I do not think you would longer find her much enjoyable."
I looked at her.
"We have also taught her," said Verna, "as only panther girls can, the despicability of men." — Hunters of Gor, page 31.
Verna the Panther Girl, Speaks of Panther Girl Philosophy:
She looked up. The moons were now over the trees. She looked down upon me, in her gold and brief skins. "Long ago," she said, "I determined that it would be I who would rule." She laughed, and thrust her foot against the side of my waist. "And it will be such as you," she smiled, "who will serve." — Hunters of Gor, pages 132-133.
Verna Turns Down Marlenus of Ar to be His Free Companion and Ubara of Ar, as Observed by Tarl Cabot:
"The throne of Ubara," he said, "is empty."
They looked at one another.
"Thank you," she said, "Ubar."
"I will have all arrangements made," he said, "for your investiture as Ubara of Ar."
His men gasped. My men could not speak. I, too, was struck with silence.
To be Ubara of Ar was the most glorious thing to which a woman might aspire. It meant that she would be the richest and most powerful woman on Gor, that armies and navies, and tarn cavalries, could move upon her very word, that the taxes of an empire the wealthiest on Gor could be laid at her feet, that the most precious of gems and jewelries might be hers, that she would be the most envied woman on the planet. "I have the forests," she said.
Marlenus could not speak.
"It seems," he said, "that I am not always victorious."
"No," she said, "Marlenus, you have been victorious."
He looked at her, puzzled.
"I love you," she said. "I loved you even before I knew you, but I will not wear your collar and I will not share your throne."
"I do not understand," he said. I had not thought, ever, to see the Ubar, as he stood there, looming over this woman, whom he might, did he choose, seize and own, but standing there numb, not understanding.
"You do not understand," said she, "because I am a woman."
He shook his head.
"It is called freedom," she said. — Hunters of Gor, pages 300-301.
Tarl Cabot Observes the Panther Girls Dance Their Frenzy, and is About to be Raped:
"The moons are now risen," said another panther girl, edging closer to Verna. She was looking at me.
"There is not much time," said Mira. "Soon the moons will be at their full."
"Let it begin," said another girl.
Verna looked down upon me. "You wished to take us as slaves," she said. "It is you who have been taken slave."
I looked up at her in horror. I pulled at the thongs.
"Shave him," she said.
I fought, but two girls held my head, and Mira, laughing, with a small bowl of lather and a shaving knife, shaved the two-and-one-half-inch degradation strip on my head, from the forehead to the back of my neck.
"You are now well marked," said Verna, "as a man who has fallen to women."
I pulled helplessly at the thongs.
"Slave," said Mira.
"What are you going to do with me and my men?" I demanded.
"Bring a whip," said Verna.
Mira leaped to her feet.
"Curiosity," she siad, "is not becoming in a Kajirus."
Mira returned with the whip, a five-strap Gorean slave whip.
"Beat him," said Verna.
She beat me. My body, in the thongs, twisted and leaped under the lash.
"It is enough," said Verna.
Mira laughed, and folded the lash.
It had been a brief beating, lasting only a few seconds. She had been permitted to strike me only some eight or nine times. I was breathing heavily, in pain. They had not wished to injure me. Verna had only wished to administer a sharp, not-too-soon-to-be-forgotten, lesson to her slave.
The girls now knelt about me, in a circle. They were silent. I looked up at the large, white, swift moons. There were three of them, a larger and two smaller, looming, dominating. The girls were breathing heavily. They had set aside their weapons. They knelt, their hands on their thighs, occasionally lifting their eyes to the moons. Their eyes began to blaze. They put back their heads. Their lips parted. Their hair fell behind their heads, their faces lifted to the rays of the moons. Then, together, they began to moan and sway from side to side. Then they lifted their arms and hands to the moons, still swaying from side to side, moaning. I pulled at the thongs that bound me. Then their moaning became more intense and the swaying swifter and more savage, and, crying out and whimpering, they began to claw at the moons.
Mira leaped to her feet and tore her skins to the waist, exposing her breasts to the wild light of the flooding moons. She shrieked and tore at the moons with her fingernails. In an instant, another girl, and then another, and another had followed her example. Only Verna still knelt, her hands on her thighs, looking at the moons. Beneath the moons, helplessly, I sought to free myself. I could not do so. Mira now, the others following, crying out, tore away the scraps of panther skin that had yet concealed their beauty. They now wore only their gold, and their ornaments. Now, moaning, crying out, the she-beasts of the forest, the panther girls, hands lifted, clawing, began to stamp and dance beneath the fierce brightness of the wild moons.
Then suddenly, they stopped, but stood, still, their hands lifted to the moons. Verna threw back her head, her fists clenched on her thighs, and cried out, a wild scream, as though in agony. She leaped to her feet and, looking at me, tore away her skins. My blood leaped before her beauty. But she had turned away and, naked, her head back, had lifted her hands, too, clawing at the moons. Then all of them, together, turned slowly to face me. They were breathing heavily. Their hair was disheveled, their eyes wild. I lay before them, helpless. Suddenly, as one, they seized up their light spears, and, swaying, spears lifted, began to circle me. They were incredibly beautiful. A spear darted toward me, but did not strike me. It was withdrawn. It could have killed me, of course, had its owner wished. But it had spared me.
Then, about me, panther girls, circling, swaying, began a slow stalking dance, as of hunters. I lay in the center of the circle. Their movements were slow and incredibly beautiful. Then suddenly one would cry out and thrust at me with her speak. But the spear was not thrust into my body. Its point would stop before it had administered its wound. Many of the blows would have been mortal. But many thrusts were only to my eyes, or arms and legs. Every bit of me began to fee exposed, threatened. I was their catch.
Then the dance became progressively swifter and wilder, and the feigned blows became more frequent, and then, suddenly, with a wild cry, the swirling throng about me stood for an instant stock still, and then with a cry, each spear thrust down savagely toward my heart. I cried out. None of the spears had struck me. The girls cast aside the spears. Then, like feeding she-panthers they knelt about me, each one, with her hands and tongue, touching and kissing me. I cried out with anguish. I knew I could not long resist them.
Verna lifted her head. She laughed. "You are going to be raped," she said. — Hunters of Gor, pages 136-139.
On the Difference of Panthers and Kajira, on Relationships Between the Two, by Eleanor, Captive Kajira of the Panther Girls:
The girl, clad like the others in the skins of the forest panthers, who had held my leash, and now again held it, she who had bound me, her sleen knife again in its sheath, thrust her face toward mine. It was she who had leaped at me with her knife. She twisted her hand in the metal and leather choke collar. "Kajira!" she said, with contempt. I gasped, choking. I was terrified of her. Verna approached me. I knelt.
"What are you?" she asked.
"Kajira, Mistress," I whispered. — Captive of Gor, page 126.I was nothing with these proud, free, dangerous, brave women, these independent, superb, unfearing, resourceful, fierce felines, panther girls of the northern forests of Gor. They were swift, and beautiful, and arrogant, like Verna. They were armed and could protect themselves, and did not need men. They could make men slaves, if they wished, and sell them later, if they were displeased with them or wearied of them. And they could fight with knives and knew the trails and tress of the vast forests.They feared nothing and needed nothing. They were so different from myself. They were strong, and unfearing. I was weak and frightened. It seemed they were of a sex, or breed, other than, and superior to my own. Among such women I could be but the object of their scorn, what they despised most, only Kajira. And among them I felt myself to be only Kajira, one fit to be tethered and led, scorned as an insult to the beauty and magnificance of their sex. I was other than, and less than, they.
"Hurry, Kajira!" snapped the girl who dragged on my leash.
"Yes, Mistress," I whispered. She laughed. — Captive of Gor, pages 128-129.
Special Note
Because of the differences in publishing the books, depending upon whether published in the U.S. or Europe, depending upon whether a first publishing or a Masquerade Books release, page numbers will often vary. All of my quotes are from original, first-printing U.S. publications (see The Books page for a listing of publishers and dates) with the exception of the following books:
- Tarnsman of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
- Outlaw of Gor (11th Printing, Balantine)
- Priest-Kings of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
- Assassin of Gor (10th Printing, Balantine)
- Raiders of Gor (15th Printing, Balantine)
- Captive of Gor (3rd Printing, Balantine)
Disclaimer
These pages are not written for any specific home, but rather as informational pages for those not able to get ahold of the books and read them yourself. Opinions and commentaries are strictly my own personal views, therefore, if you don't like what you are reading — then don't. The information in these pages is realistic to what is found within the books. Many sites have added information, assuming the existences of certain products and practices, such as willowbark and agrimony for healing, and travel to earth and back for the collection of goods. I've explored the books, the flora, the fauna, and the beasts, and have compiled from those mentioned, the probabilities of certain practices, and what vegetation mentioned in the books is suitable for healing purposes, as well as given practicalities to other sorts of roleplaying assumptions.