Black wine

" 'What is that I smell?' I asked. 'Black wine,' said she, 'from the Mountains of Thentis.' I had heard of black wine, but had never had any. It is drunk in Thentis, but I had never heard of it being much drunk in other Gorean cities. 'Bring two bowls,' I said. 'Two?' asked the girl. 'The slave,' I said, indicating Elizabeth, 'will taste it first.' 'Of course, Master,' said the girl. ....... The girl nodded and, rising gracefully, backing away a step or two, head down, turned and went to the kitchen. 'I have heard,' I said to Elizabeth, 'that black wine is served hot.' 'Incredible,' she smiled. In short order two bowls, steam curling out of them, were brought and placed on the table. .......Then I picked up one of the thick, heavy clay bowls...... It was extremely strong, and bitter, but it was hot, and, unmistakably, it was coffee. " Book 5, Assassin of Gor, page 106 ~才 " 'Actually,' I said to Elizabeth, 'this is very rare. Thentis does not trade the beans for black wine. I have heard of a cup of black wine in Ar, some years ago, selling for a silver eighty piece. Even in Thentis black wine is used commonly only in High Caste homes.' 'Perhaps it is from Earth?' she asked. 'Originally, doubtless beans were brought from Earth,' I said. 'much as certain other seeds, and silk worms and such...' " Book 5, Assassin of Gor, page 107 ~才 --a duel serve part one-- "From one side, a slave girl, barefoot, bangled, in sashed, diaphanous, trousered chalwar, gathered at the ankles, in tigh, red-silk vest, with bare midriff, fled to him, with the tall, graceful, silvered pot containing the black wine. She was veiled. She knelt, replenishing the drink. Beneath her veil I saw the metal of her collar. ... She returned to her place with the pot of black wine." Book 10, Tribesmen of Gor page 88 ~才 --a duel serve part two-- "She carried a tray, on which were various spoons and sugars. She knelt, placing her tray upon the table. With a tiny spoon, its tip no more than a tenth of a hort in diameter, she placed four measures of white sugar, and six of yellow, in the cup; with two stirring spoons, one for the white sugar, another for the yellow, she stirred the beverage after each measure. She then held the cup to the side of her cheek, testing its temperature; Ibn Saran glanced at her; she, looking at him, timidly kissed the side of the cup and placed it before him. Then, head down, she withdrew." Book 10, Tribesmen of Gor, page 89 ~才 --shows the use of a brazier to keep the drink warm and also an example of small cups.-- "I decided I might care to taste the steaming, black wine. I lifted my finger. The girl in whose charge was the silver vessel, filled with black wine, knelt beside a tiny brazier, on which it sat, retaining its warmth. Seeing my signal, ...... She rose swiftly to her feet. She knelt, head down, before me. She poured, carefully, the hot, black beverage into the tiny red cup. I dismissed her, ...... The other girl, .... lifted her tray of spoons and sugars. But I turned away. She was not summoned. The girls, white skinned, were a matched set of slaves, one for the black wine, one for its sugars." Book 10, Tribesmen of Gor, page 105 ~才 "When the first man, yawning, sleepy and bleary-eyed, the lazy beast, stumbled to the cooking fire, we were ready for him. Eta and I knelt before him, and put our heads to the dirt at his feet. We were his girls. Eta piled several of the hot, tiny eggs, earlier kept fresh in cool sand within the cave, on a plate, with heated yellow bread, for him. I, grasping the pot with a rag and both hands, poured him a handled, metal tankard of the steaming black brew, coffee or black wine." Book 11, Slave Girl of Gor, page 74 "He sat, cross-legged, behind the low table. On it were hot bread, yellow and fresh, hot black wine, steaming, with its sugars, slices of roast bosk, the scrambled eggs of vulos, pastries with creams and custards." Book 12, Beasts of Gor, page 20 ~才 "I grinned, and washed down the eggs with a swig of hot black wine, prepared from the beans grown upon the slopes of the Thentis mountains. This black wine is quite expensive. Men have been slain on Gor for attempting to smuggle the beans out of the Thentian territories." Book 12, Beasts of Gor, page 21 ~才 "...On the tray too, was the metal vessel which contained black wine, steaming and bitter from far Thentis, famed for its tarn flocks, the small yellow-enamled cups from which we had drunk the black wine, its spoons and sugars, ..." Book 13, Explorers of Gor, page 10 ~才 "The two slaves, their chains removed, now returned, and began to serve the black wine. The voluptuous slave of Aemilianus, whom he had not yet named, placed the tiny silver cups, on small stands, before us. The lovely little slave in bluish gauze, whom I had not yet named, holding the narrow spouted, silver pouring vessel in a heavy cloth, to retain its heat and protect her hands, poured the scalding, steaming black fluid, in narrow, tiny streams, into the small cups. She poured into the cups only the amount that would be compatible with the assorted sugars and creams which the guest might desire, if any, these being added in, and stirred, if, and as, pertinent, by Aemilianus' slave, who directed the serving." Book 16, Gaurdsman of Gor, page 244 ~才 " 'Second slave,' I told her, which, among the river towns, and in certain cities, particularly in the north, is a way of indicating that I would take the black wine without creams or sugars, and as it came from the pouring vessel, which, of course, in these areas, is handled by the "second slave," the first slave being the girl who puts down the cups, takes the orders and sees that the beverage is prepared according to the preferences of the one who is being served." Book 16, Guardsman of Gor, page 245 ~才 " 'Yes, Mistress,' said the girl in bluish gauze. She was extremely careful not to spill a drop. Black wine, except in the vicinity of Thentis, where most of it is grown on the slopes of the Thentis range, is quite expensive. Also, of course, clumsy slave girls are often whipped. The expression "second slave," incidentally, serves to indicate that one does not wish creams or sugars with one's black wine, even if only one girl is serving." Book 16, Guardsman of Gor, page 245 ~才 "I lifted the tiny silver cup to my lips and took a drop of the black wine. It's strength and bitterness are such that it is normally drunk in such a manner, usually only a drop or a few drops at a time. Commonly, too, it is mollified with creams and sugars. I drank it without creams and sugars, perhaps, for I had been accustomed, on Earth, to drinking coffee in such a manner, and the black wine of Gor is clearly coffee, or closely akin to coffee. Considering its bitterness, however, if I had not been drinking such a tiny amount, and so slowly, scarcely wetting my lips, I too, would surely have had recourse to the tasty, gentling additives with which it is almost invariably served." Book 16, Gaurdsman of Gor, page 247 ~才 "I brought up from the kitchen, where I had been keeping it hot, a vessel of black wine, with sugars, and cups and spoons. Too, I had brought up a small bowl of powdered bosk milk. We had finished the creams last night and, in any event, it was unlikely they would have lasted the night. If I had wanted creams I would have had to have gone to the market." Book 16, Guardsman of Gor page 295 ~才

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