Ninth Month
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Passage Hand
1
2
3
4
5
Year 10,174 Contasta Ar


Forgiveness



"Forgive me, Master," she whispered.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 211



Throughout the books slaves are shown to beg for mercy, forgiveness and pity. In looking through all the references I see no difference in the situations where one word could not have been used in place of another. What I mean is, there is not a particular occasion where forgiveness is always begged and a different situation where mercy is always begged.

This is how the dictionary defines these words:
Forgive:
To excuse for a fault or an offense; pardon.
To renounce anger or resentment against.
To absolve from payment.
Synonyms of forgive are: pardon, excuse and condone.
These verbs mean to refrain from imposing punishment on an offender or demanding satisfaction for an offense. The first three can be used as conventional ways of offering apology. More strictly, to forgive is to grant pardon without harboring resentment.

Mercy:
Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency.
A disposition to be kind and forgiving.
Alleviation of distress; relief.
Leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice.
A disposition to be kind and forgiving.

Pity:
Sympathy and sorrow aroused by the misfortune or suffering of another.
Signifying kindly concern aroused by the misfortune, affliction, or suffering of another.
Pity often implies a feeling of sorrow that inclines one to help or to show mercy.
What is interesting is that each definition uses at least one of the other words in helping to gain a better understanding of its meaning.

Here are a couple more quotes to help emphasize this:
I sensed the man standing behind me, on a ramp. "I was bitten," I said. "I was bitten!" I twisted on the wood, trying to see him. "Have mercy, Master!" I said. "I was bitten!"
"It was not the time permitted for screaming," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said. "Forgive me," I begged, "Master."
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 318

I feared I was to be cut to pieces. He struggled, it seemed, to control himself. 'Forgive me, Master!' I wept. I crawled to him, my head down. 'Forgive me, Master!' I wept. I kissed his feet, fervently. He pulled away, in anger. He moved to the side. He kicked me twice, in fury. I returned to him on my belly, and showered my hair upon his sandals, and then again kissed his feet, again and again. 'Forgive me, Master!' I wept, an errant slave, one who had done wrong, pleading for mercy and forgiveness.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 312
To sum this up, aside from subtle differences, it does not matter which word a slave uses to beg a Free Person not to punish that one.

There are literally hundreds of instances where slaves begged for mercy or forgiveness or pity. I have referenced some on these pages.

I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them.
Arrive at your own conclusions.

I wish you well,
Fogaban





Supporting References

"Forgive me, Master," said Elizabeth Cardwell.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 60


Suddenly the girl howled and fell to her knees before Elizabeth, kneeling trembling to the whip. "Forgive me, Mistress," she cried. "Forgive me!"
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 74


"Forgive me, Master," said Sura, not raising her head.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 319


I regarded her, sternly. Her hand lifted before her mouth. Fear showed suddenly in her eyes. Would I have the red-haired girl beat her?
"Forgive me, Master," she whispered.
She fled back two paces, and put her head down, trembling. The Gorean slave girl does not dare walk beside a free man. She had forgotten. She had not been long on Gor.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 211


"Forgive me, Master," she whispered.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 13


"You are a runaway slave girl," he said.
She wept, but did not break the position of the slave dance. "Too," said he, "at the oasis you cried my name." These were serious offenses.
"Forgive me, Master," she cried. "I love you!"
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 214


Toward the beginning of the fourth group I saw another girl I remembered. She turned away, trying to hide her face. I stopped the kaiila. Sensing that I had stopped, she fell to her knees and faced me, her head down.
"Forgive me, Master," she whispered.
"Look at me, Slave Girl," I told her.
She looked up, frightened. It was Zaya, the red-haired girl, who had served sugars with the black wine in the palace of Suleiman Pasha. She had testified against me at Nine Wells.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 344


"Have I not, Lehna," inquired the Lady Sabina, sternly, "taught you proper deportment? Have I not instructed you in dignity? Is this how you betray my trust?"
"Forgive me, Mistress," wept the girl.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 115


"You speak Gorean with an accent," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said. "Forgive me, Master," I begged.
"Do not change," he said. "The accent becomes you. It marks you as different and makes you more interesting."
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 176


"Yes, Master," she said. On her knees she suddenly grasped my legs, weeping, looking up at me. "Forgive me, Master," she cried.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 20


"Do you think you could make me kneel to you?" asked a girl sitting on a platform, with chained neck and ankles, her knees drawn up, chewing on a larma fruit. She smiled at me, over the fruit. Then she turned white. "Forgive me, Master!" she cried. She had seen my eyes. She knelt before me on the boards, trembling, her head down. Would she be permitted to live?
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 54


"Were you given permission to speak?" asked the praetor.
"No, no," she wept, stammering. "Forgive me - Master."
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 59


"Forgive me, Mistress," I said, hastily, to Lola. "I will clean this up immediately."
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 78


"Watch your tongue, Girl," I said, angrily, "lest it be slit."
She shuddered, and put down her head. "Forgive me, Master," she whispered.
Rouge of Gor     Book 15     Page 112


"Forgive me, if I have displeased you, Master," she said, nervously. She eyed the whip. At my least whim she knew it could be used upon her.
Guardsman of Gor     Book 16     Page 188


"It is early," whispered the girl next to me.
"You were not given permission to speak," I told her.
"Forgive me, Master," she said.
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 8


"Forgive me, Master," she whispered. There was a drop of blood at her chin.
I myself did not blame her for crying out. She had been frightened. She had been startled. Too, her weeping had been uncontrollable. She had been only a blubbering slave. I wondered if he would kill her.
"Forgive me, Master," she begged.
He looked down at her, angrily. Then he withdrew the lance point from her chin.
Relieved of its pressure she put herself to her back in the dirt before him. She looked up at him, frightened. "Please, forgive me Master," she begged.
"You are well tied for the pleasures of Yellow Knives," said Cuwignaka scornfully, looking down upon the supine, exotically bound suppliant.
"Forgive me, Master," she begged. "Please."
Blood Brothers of Gor     Book 18     Page 224


"Yes, Master," I said. "Oh!" I said. "I did not mean that! Forgive me! It slipped out. I did not mean it."
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 133


"Then bring her to my chambers," said Samos.
"Yes, Captain," said he who was first of the two guardsmen.
"Master!" protested Linda.
Samos looked at her, and she lowered her head. "Forgive me, Master," she said.
"I shall try to be pleasing, Master!" Rowena avowed, frightened.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 36


"Forgive me!" she begged the free woman. "Forgive me!"
"Address her as 'Mistress,'" I said. It is customary for Gorean slaves to address free women as "Mistress" and free men as "Master."
"I beg your forgiveness, Mistress!" wept the girl. "Forgive me, please, I beg it of you!"
"She is new to the collar," I apologized to the free woman. "I think that perhaps even now she does not yet fully understand its import. Yet I think that perhaps she understands something more of its meaning now than she did a few moments ago. Shall I kill her?"
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 20


"You have been asked a question," my master reminded me.
"Forgive me, Master," I whispered.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 153


She then turned again, on her knees, to face Aemilianus "I am a slave!" she cried, prostrating herself before him, her chained wrists under her thighs. "Forgive me, Master!" Have mercy on me, Master!"
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 375


"I love you! I love you, my Master!" she cried.
He then struck her with the back of his hand, striking her to one side, and she fell, turning, to her knees. She looked up at him from all fours, blood at her lips.
"Were you given permission to speak?" he asked.
"Forgive me, Master," she whispered. She then crawled to his feet and, putting her head down, kissed them. "A slave begs the forgiveness of her Master," she said.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 27


"Forgive me, Master!" she said. "I will try to improve my behavior, Master!"
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 209


She lifted her head, tears in her eyes. "I have not been pleasing," she said. "Forgive me, Master. Let me begin again. I beg to be permitted to begin again. Let me prove to Master how good a slave I can be."
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 214


"What have I done?" I cried.
"Stupid slave!" cried a man.
"Lying slave!" cried another.
Again and again the lash fell.
"Forgive me, Masters!" I cried, writhing bound under the last. "Forgive me! Forgive me, Masters!"
"It is enough," announced the man in the chair. "She is new to her collar, and yet naïve."
"She must learn quickly," snarled a man.
"Kneel, slave," said the man in the chair.
I struggled to my knees and knelt before the dais. I put my head down to the floor before the first step of the dais.
"You are a pathetic spectacle, Earth girl," said he in the great chair.
"Forgive me, Master," I said. "Forgive me, Master!"
"In the future," said he, "you will be concerned to be more pleasing, will you not?"
"Yes, Master," I said. "Yes, Master!"
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 231


One of my first lessons in the pen was to have been bound hand and foot, and then ordered to free myself. I had then, while watched, twisted and struggled from more than an Ahn. Then at last I had wept, in futility, "Forgive me, Masters! I cannot free myself!"
"Do not forget it," said a guard.
"No, Master," I wept.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 238


"What is that on your neck?" suddenly cried the free woman. "I see it though the cordage of the net! It is glinting! It is a collar! You are a slave, a slave!"
I was too frightened to answer her. I had not told her that I was not a slave, of course. On the other hand, I had not corrected her misapprehension as to the matter. I hoped this would not count as lying. We can be punished terribly for lying.
"Lying slave!" she screamed.
"No, Mistress!" I cried. "Please, no!"
"Oh, you are a well-curved slave!" she cried, angrily. I hoped she would not hold this against me. What could it matter to her, a free woman, if I might bring a good price on the block?
"Deceptive, deceitful slave!" she cried.
"No, Mistress!" I said.
"Well-curved , lying slave!" she screamed.
"Forgive me, Mistress!" I begged.
"Beat her! Beat her!" she called toward the walkway, that behind the wall.
"Please, no, Masters!" I called over my shoulder.
"Deceitful, deceptive, well-curved, lying slave!" screamed the free woman.
"Forgive me, Mistress!" I wept.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Pages 260 - 261


"Why did you pretend to be asleep?" he asked.
"Forgive me, Master," I said. He was silent.
"I was afraid," I said. "Forgive me!"
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 310


"How free slaves are!" she cried, delightedly.
"Shhh, Mistress," I cautioned her.
"You must not call me 'Mistress'!" she whispered.
"Forgive me," I said. Such things, from training, and from force of habit, sometimes slip out.
"And do not ask for my forgiveness," she whispered. "Please! Someone might hear! Think of me only as a slave in your charge."
"I will try," I said.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 315


"Was I brought here to take care of the free woman, Lady Constanzia?" I asked.
"No," he said.
"For what, then?" I asked.
"You will learn, in time," he said.
"Master!" I begged.
"Curiosity," he said, "is not becoming in a kajira."
"Yes, Master," I whispered. "Forgive me, Master!"
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 339


"Bring me a switch!" cried the free woman. My charge cast me an alarmed glance.
"Beg her forgiveness!" I whispered to her.
"It was not my fault," she whispered to me.
"A switch!" cried the free woman.
"It was not all my fault," insisted my charge to me.
"A switch, a switch!" called the free woman.
"It was probably both your faults," I said. "Beg her forgiveness!"
"She is not begging mine," said my charge.
A lad brought a switch, probably from one of the booths. It was about three feet long, of leather, narrow, rodlike and supple.
The free woman seized it.
"Beg her forgiveness!" I said.
"Forgive me!" said my charge, suddenly, to the free woman. "Forgive me!"
"'Mistress', 'Mistress'," I urged.
"Forgive me, Mistress!" said my charge.
"You beg my forgiveness?" inquired the free woman, with mock interest, and solicitation.
"Yes, Mistress," my charge assured her.
"Oh, yes," said the free woman, maliciously, "you will beg my forgiveness, I assure you of that!"
. . .
"Does the stupid clumsy girl beg my forgiveness," she asked, sweetly.
"Yes, Mistress," said my charge, timidly.
"We shall see!" cried the free woman.
. . .
"To her slippers, stupid clumsy girl," said the slaver, "and beg her forgiveness fittingly."
Immediately, terrified, the Lady Constanzia struggled forward and pressed her lips to the slippers of the free woman, kissing them again and again. "I am a stupid, clumsy girl," she said. "Forgive me, I beg of you, beautiful Mistress! Please, forgive me, beautiful Mistress!"
. . .
"It is enough," said the free woman, drawing back. She handed the switch back to the lad who had brought it.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Pages 350 - 351


"You are an Earth slut, aren't you?" asked the girl near me.
I did not respond.
"Oh!" I cried, in pain, kicked.
"Aren't you?" she asked.
"Yes!" I said.
"Yes, what?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress!" I said.
"Speak when you are spoken to, slut," said the girl.
"Yes, Mistress," I said. "Forgive me Mistress."
"Let us give her a switching," said the other girl.
"No, Mistress!" I begged. "Please, no, Mistress!"
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 396


"Are you trying to torment this prisoner?" he asked.
"Master?" I asked.
"Beg his forgiveness," he said.
I crawled to the peasant on my stomach, over the stones. I was careful not to come within reach of those mighty hands. I did not think even the pit master would have cared to have come within their compass. I did not doubt but what the peasant could have torn me head from my shoulders.
"Forgive me, Master," I said, weakly.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 398


I looked up at her.
Then I shrank back, for I saw a sudden sternness in the eyes of the male.
Swiftly I whimpered once, in affirmation. I knew the signals. Had my response been quick enough? I saw him draw back his hand.
"No, do not strike her!" cried the Lady Constanzia. "She is my friend!"
He then, angrily, took the Lady Constanzia by the hair and bent her backwards, exhibiting the bow of her beauty. She winced, crying out with pain. "Master will do, of course, as he pleases!" she cried. "Forgive me, Master! But I beg you not to hurt her, for she is my friend." He released her hair and she knelt before him and seized his leg, looking up at him. "Please do not hurt her," she begged.
He looked at me. "Do you beg forgiveness?" he asked.
Quickly I whimpered once, and put my head down to the stones.
"And you," he asked, addressing himself to the Lady Constanzia, "do you beg forgiveness?"
"Yes, Master," she said.
When I looked up, I saw her kissing his feet. This startled me, as it was the first time I had seen the Lady Constanzia at a man's feet thusly. How fervently, how humbly, how submissively, she kissed his feet! Did she think he was her master? Did she not recollect that she was a free woman? How like a slave she looked at his feet, how like a beautiful, submissive slave!
"You are both forgiven," he said.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 467


"You are standing," he observed.
"Forgive me, Master!" I said, falling to my knees.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 651


"To be certain," he said, "I am not unmindful of extenuating circumstances in both these cases, that in each case it was the welfare of your master which motivated you."
"It was, Master!" I said. "I beg forgiveness, if I have been displeasing!"
"And what is to be done when the slave ahs not been fully pleasing?" he asked.
"It is up to the master," I said. "He may take action or not, as he sees fit."
I heard the coils of the whip shaken out.
I tensed.
"You will receive three blows, only," he said.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 713


"You may now beg the forgiveness of our charges," said the guardsman.
"Forgive us, Mistresses," said the girls on the shelf. "Forgive us, Mistresses," said Ellen, too, following the lead of her chain sisters, she, like the others, head down to the cement, in first obeisance position.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 234


"You spend more time asking for forgiveness than you do in obeying," said Targo.
"Forgive me, Master," said Ellen. She then wished she had not said that. Surely a simple 'Yes, Master' would have been more judicious.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 260


He was looking down upon her, presumably considering some plea, perhaps for forgiveness, perhaps for mercy. It was up to him, clearly, to decide what to do with her.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 399


"You have not been pleasing," I informed her.
"Forgive me, Master!" she cried.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 21


"Please do not punish a poor slave," she said.
"Have you not lied?" I asked.
"Forgive me, Master!" she said.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 390


"You have been displeasing," I informed her.
"Forgive me, Master!" she wept, her fair skin flaming with pain.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Pages 485 - 486


I so desperately wanted to speak to him, to return myself to his favor, such as it might be to express my shame and sorrow at my overweening, unconscionable pride, my insolence. I so wanted to prostrate myself before him, to lie before him on my belly, to cover his feet with kisses, to beg his forgiveness.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31   Page 361


"I fear," I said, "your slave has been displeasing. She begs the forgiveness of her master. She is contrite."
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 478


"I could not see," I said. "It was an accident. I could not avoid Mistress. I beg Mistress' forgiveness."
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 96


"I assure Master I am not insolent," I said. "I beg Master's forgiveness."
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 325


"No, Master," she said. "I behaved badly. I was ignorant. I knew no better. Please forgive a worthless slave. She begs Master's forgiveness."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 21


"You may now ask for forgiveness," he said.

"I ask for forgiveness," she said.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 220





































 



Treasure
of Gor

The Gor Series
has expanded!

Click Here for:
Treasure of Gor
Gorean Saga Book 38


 




Darklord Swashbuckler's
Book Series Starts Here on Amazon