- Is part of the Low Castes.
- Their color is Brown.
- This is the basic Caste of Gor.
- They refer to themselves as the "Ox on Which the Home Stone Rests".
" 'In peasant villages on this world,' he continued, 'each hut was originally built around a flat stone which was placed in the centre of the circular dwelling. It was carved with the family sign and was called the Home Stone. It was, so to speak, a symbol of sovereignty, or territory, and each peasant, in his own hut, was a sovereign.' "
Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 26
"Economically, the base of the Gorean life was the free peasant, which was perhaps the lowest but undoubtedly the most fundamental caste, and the staple crop was a yellow grain called Sa-Tarna, or Life-Daughter."
Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 42 ~¤~
"In rare cases, one might have been permitted by the Council of High Caste to raise caste. None of course would accept a lower caste, and there were lower castes, the caste of Peasants for example, the most basic Caste of all Gor."
Book 2, Nomads of Gor, page 27
" 'I have peas and turnips, garlic and onions in my hut,' said the man, his bundle like a giant's hump on his back.
'The Priest-Kings themselves,' I said, 'could not ask for more.'
'Then, Warrior,' said the man, issuing Gor's blunt invitation to a low caste dinner, 'share my kettle.'
'I am honored,' I said, and I was.
Whereas I was of high caste and he of low, yet in his own hut he would be, by the laws of Gor, a prince and sovereign, for then he would be in the place of his own Home Stone. Indeed, a cringing whelp of a man, who would never think of lifting his eyes from the ground in the presence of a member of one of the high castes, a crushed and spiritless churl, an untrustworthy villain or coward, an avaricious and obsequious peddler often becomes, in the place of his own Home Stone, a veritable lion among his fellows, proud and splendid, generous and bestowing, a king be it only in his own den."Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, page 29
"Indeed, frequent enough were the stories where even a warrior was overcome by an angry peasant into whose hut he had intruded himself, for in the vicinity of their Home Stones men fight with all the courage, savagery and resourcefulness of the mountain larl. More than one are the peasant fields of Gor which have been freshened with the blood of foolish warriors. "
Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, page 29
"The peasant on Gor does not fear the outlaw, for he seldom has anything worth stealing, unless it be a daughter. Indeed, the peasant and outlaw on Gor live in an almost unspoken agreement, the peasant tending to protect the outlaw and the outlaw sharing in return some of his plunder and booty with the peasant. The peasant does not regard this as dishonest on his part, or as grasping. It is simply a way of life to which he is accustomed. It is a different matter, of course, if it is explicitly known that the outlaw is from a city other than one's own. In that case he is usually regarded as an enemy, to be reported to the patrols as soon as possible. He is, after all, not of one's city."Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 48 - 49
"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."
Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, page 66
" 'A handful of bread for a song,' was a common Gorean invitation extended to members of the caste, and it might occur on the lips of a peasant or a Ubar, and the poet took great pride that he would sing the same song in both the hut of the peasant and the halls of the Ubar, though it won for him only a crust of bread in one place and a cap of gold in the other, gold often squandered on a beautiful woman who might leave him nothing but his songs."
Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 113 - 114
"He circled me, widely. 'Beware,' he said, 'I carry a Home Stone.'
I stood back and made no move to draw my weapon. Though I was of the caste of warriors and he of peasants, and I armed and he carrying naught but a crude tool, I would not dispute his passage. One does not lightly dispute the passage of one who carries his Home Stone."Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 1 ¤
"...the peasants, isolate in their narrow fields and villages, are Low Caste; indeed, the Peasant is regarded, by those of the cities, as being little more than an ignoble brute, ingnorant and superstitious, venal and vicious, a grubber in the dirt, a plodding animal, an ill-tempered beast, something at best cunning and treacherous; and yet I knew that in each dirt-floored cone of straw that served as the dwelling place of a peasant and his family, there was, by the fire hole, a Home Stone; the peasants themselves, though regarded as the lowest caste on all Gor by most Goreans, call themselves proudly the ox on which the Home Stone rests, and I think their saying is true.
Peasants, incidentally, are seldom, except in emergencies, utilized in the armed forces of a city; this is a futher reason why their weapon, the long bow, is less known in the cities, and among warriors, than it deserves to be."Book 6, Raiders of Gor, page 3
"Sul paga, as anyone knew, is seldom available outside of a peasant village, where it is brewed. Sul paga would slow a thalarion. To stay on your feet after a mouthful of Sul paga it is said one must be of the peasants, and then for several generations. And even then, it is said, it is difficult to manage. There is a joke about the baby of a peasant father being born drunk nine months later."
Book 11, Slave Girl of Gor, page 414
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