The Leash

This is an excerpt from one of my favourite books, Witness of Gor by John Norman. The main character (a woman from Earth, who was abducted and brought to the planet Gor, there trained as a slave) has been brought to before a set a double doors, and is about to be presented to her Master:

He then jerked the leash. But now it did not close on my throat. It had been adjusted, to be a normal collar.
I looked at him, gratefully.
I still could not slip it, of course.
"That is better, is it not?" he asked.
I whimpered once.
"You do not now fear the leash, do you?" he asked.
I whimpered twice.
"You are mistaken," he said.
I regarded him, puzzled. What was there to fear from a common leash?
He then freed the ring at the back of the sack from the chain on the wall.
No longer was I attached to the wall.
I felt him unbuckling the sack.
I whimpered, begging him to speak to me.
"You are perhaps concerned about the gong," he said.
I whimpered once.
"That was the first signal," he said.
When the sack fell free from about my upper body I was put to all fours. My upper body suddenly felt cold. It had been uncomfortably warm in its tight canvas enclosure, from the pressure of my limbs held so closely to my body and the general heat and constraint of the sack. It had been covered with a sheen of perspiration, from its confinement and my exertions. Now it felt cold, from the air of the corridor. He then had me crawl forward, until my legs, too, were free of the sack. He then folded the sack and put it to one side. He then picked up the leash, looping its long end in three or four coils.
We then waited, again.
He was to my left. I was naked. I was on all fours. The tunic, in its small, neat folds, was gripped between my teeth.
The leash, in his hand, looped down, and then up, to my neck.
I regarded the closed door.
"Remember that you would like to live," said the jailer.
I whimpered, once.
He looked down upon me, as such men often look, and appropriately, upon women such as I.
"You are a pretty little she-sleen," he said.
At that time, though I was familiar with sleen, or at least the one who had patrolled the ledge, I did not know the word.
There are many varieties of sleen, incidentally, adapted to diverse environments; the most formidable, as far as I know, is the forest sleen. There is also a sand sleen, a snow sleen, even some aquatic varieties, types of sea sleen, and so on. They vary greatly in size, as well. Some sleen are quite small and silken, and sinuously graceful, no larger than domestic cats. They are sometimes kept as pets.
It was easy enough to understand, of course, that a "pretty little she-sleen" must be some sort of domestic animal. I was on all fours. I was to be, apparently, marched forward, through the door, on all fours, leashed. How could it be made more clear to me that I was an animal?
At that time I did not know of the habit of some masters, usually imposed as punishment, to refuse an upright posture to their girls, and to refuse them, as well, the use of human language. They must go about on all fours, or their bellies, and communicate, as they can, by whimpers, moans, and such. They are naked, save for their collars. They are not permitted to use their hands to feed themselves, and so on. Needless to say, they also serve in this modality. There are various Gorean expressions for this; one is the "discipline of the she-tarsk." A tarsk is a piglike animal. The boars are tusked, and can be quite large. They are also territorial and fierce. Many hunters have lost their lives in their pursuit. The sows are smaller and lack tusks. The male keeps them in his group, or, so to speak, in his harem.
"Do you understand the leash?" he asked.
I whimpered once.
"I wonder," he said.
He then, suddenly, without warning, jerked the leash upward, and its leather was tight under my chin and I was jerked up to my knees, and I looked at him wildly, helplessly held in place; he then, with ease, with flicks of the leash, flung me to one side and the other, bruising me on the stone and the walls, and then put me to my back, and his booted sandal was on my belly; I looked up at him, in terror; the stone was hard beneath me; and then, with snaps of the leash and the sides of his feet, and gestures, he rolled me about on the stone, from one side to the other; and then he flung me to my belly; how hard was the stone! I shuddered, lying before him, on my belly, in his power. How well I had been controlled by the leash, even though my hands were free! I lay there prone, trembling, sweating on the stone, the tunic tight between my teeth; he then put his foot on my back, holding me down, pressing me to the stone, and, leaning forward, pulled up the leash, the leather again under my chin; my head was painfully back; always , as a practiced leash master, he avoided exerting pressure on the throat; that can be extremely dangerous; the pressure of a collar, of whatever sort of collar, is to be always high, under the chin, or at the back or sides of the neck; happily, he had adjusted the collar so that it was no longer a choke collar; else I might have been slain; most collars, of course, as mine now was, given the adjustment he had made, are not choke collars; such collars, as suggested, can be extremely dangerous; indeed, most masters eschew them; too, they commonly train their girls to such a point of perfection that there is no need for such a device; too, of course, the girls go to great lengths in diligence and perfection of service to avoid having such a device put on them; also, as a matter of fact, other devices are as much or more effective in girl training, even things as simple as bracelets and a switch; but even if a choke collar is used, the slave knows that she has nothing to fear from it, unless she is in the least bit recalcitrant or disobedient; then, of course, there is much to fear from it; he then, with the free end of the leash, which was long, tied my hands behind my back, and then crossed my ankles, and pulled them up, painfully behind me, and tied them to my wrists. I reared up a little, but was helpless. I then, lay, subdued, on my belly, before him, my wrists tied behind me, my ankles pulled up and tied to my wrists.
How I had been intimidated, controlled and mastered!
"Do you understand the leash now," he asked, "a little better?"
I whimpered once, fervently.
I now understood the leash, and its power, as I had never understood it before.
And as he had adjusted it, it had been only a common leash. How terrifying then would be a choke leash!
I had received additional training.
I gathered that he had though I needed it.
Certainly I would be a better kajira for it.
Another device which can be used for training, display, control, or such, is the slave harness, to which a leash may be attached. This does not touch the throat. Such a harness, well cinched on the slave, can be extremely attractive. There are usually two rings on such a harness, for the attachment of a leash; one is on the front of the harness and the other is on the back.
He then unbound my hands and feet, and gestured that I should once again go to all fours.
I did so, the leash still on me.
I would be taken through the door leashed, on all fours. I was a slave, an animal. And thus I would be presented, as an animal, before whoever might be on the other side of that door. The leash was a common leash. I did not require a choke collar.
"Soon, little tasta," he said. "Soon."
We waited.
My knees, and palms of my hands, were sore, from the stone. My body, too, was bruised from my leash training.
I had a clearer notion now of what I was.
I was more of a kajira now than I had been this morning.
This was, I think, a kindness on the part of the jailer. He wanted me to live.
Then I started as, from behind the door, from somewhere well behind it, once again, sounded the gong.
The door opened.
"Proceed, little tasta," said the jailer.
I then, on my leash, crawled toward the opening