Friday, August 1, 2025

The Strongest of Grips (Tarnkeepers, Mariners, etc.)

[In this scene we see two men of the Tarnkeepers exchange a special handshake. This is explained to differ from the usual Gorean handshake, which is the same as that of Earth. It is common to men who work in precarious balance in high places, namely mariners and those who ride tarns.]

 

"I wish you well," said Portus. He extended his hand and the two men clasped wrists, each the wrist of the other. This is the strongest of grips, for otherwise hands may be pulled apart. In this fashion each has his own grip, and if one hand should slip, the other will hold. It is a grip common to mariners, and may have been derived from maritime practice. It is useful, it seems, in their dangerous work, where a lost grip might be the prelude to catastrophe, a fall from a yard, a plunge into cold, stormy seas. It has its value, too, of course, among tarnsmen, tarnkeepers, tarnsters, and such, who must occasionally move from saddle to saddle, or from basket to basket, and such, while in flight. The normal Gorean handshake, it seems, at least those which this slave has seen commonly exchanged amongst free men, is the same as, or rather like, that of Earth, from which world it is doubtless derived, the clasping of two right hands, thus the giving of the expected weapon hand to the other, a grant indicative of respect, trust and friendship, one supposes.

(Prize of Gor, pages 337-338)

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