A Fable about Panthers 

or Why Free Women Exist even on a Such a Planet  

               

                 Less than three weeks ago the young men was informed about his father’s death, inevitable and imminent if not already  consummated. His father’s friend, Mercuchio, explained to Orion it, and informed him about the impossibility of ever return to planet Earth. From now on he would have to learn how to survive, and maybe became someone decente, in this wild and strange alien World.

                

                The city park was quiet this afternoon. Few locals taking a long pleasant way to home, some players around chessboards, all humans. Even if the existence in this planet of some other species with intelligence and culture is a well know fact, one seldom find any talking non human in human cities and lands. Clothes and customs are the diference between the humanity and Orion’s, not physiology. Clothes, customs and of course the language.        

                Thanks to Mercuchio’s employers, and the services Orion’s father provided to them_ at the cost of his own life_ Orion would have  large advantage over every other guy abduced by the same aliens and brought to this same planet. Their alien machine, stolen from some other race of superhuman intelligence, would teach Orion in two minutes more linguistic knowledge than most will learn in a lifetime. They had only to wait some hours more to use the alien marvel.         

_I do not undestand your planet, or your explanations about it. They believe men and women are, and must never be, equal: men are natural masters while women are natural slaves. Granted! However, most women here are not slaves, they seems to have less freedom than free men, they do not have all rights they have and can’t do some jobs, but, still they are free. On the other hand, some men happen to be slaves! And you still say everione believes all men are by nature free, and all women are by nature slaves. Can’t you see how little sense it makes?

Mercuchio was looking the skie, as he frequently would be in conversations like this. And at same time he was trying to hear any coming assassin who could be in nearby, as a man who has as many enemies as he does of the type who send assassins learns to be all the time, if he survive long enough to learn that. However, he started almost in the momment his pupil said his last word.

Maybe too rushed to be a proper mentor. Not the man for Socratic pauses.

_The male slavery is easy to explain, it is needed for civilization. Long time ago vanquished enemies would be aways killed, as insolvent debtors and many other criminal fellows. Or the criminals could be exiled, what in most circunstances used to be and sometimes still is just anoter death sentence.  That is good enough for small tribes, cities realized they could not last long solving all cases by such method.

_Why not?

_Imagine you are the ruler in your City State, in constant state of hostile truce whit all your neighbors except the handful of them you are now in open war against. Each nation is trying hard to get any possible advantage, and has been for as long as anyone can remmember. One sunny day your best Physician kills a caste fellow in a momment of rage, not protected by City Laws about fair duel; thirty between your best Warriors fail in pay their debts, and you suddenly find out (by a trusted spy) that your a city decided to use the one hundred warriors they just captured in batle as low labors, in chains. You can’t actually not punish your criminals, or you could but you don’t like the consequences it would have in people’s behaviour.

_I think your point is that: male slaves are a competitive advantage. However, they also impose a cost and a great danger! Slave’s rebelions...

_Any one who raises that point knows noting about real slavery in my World. Or about slavery in YOUR World, by the way! Rebelions made by slaves are so rare and easy to suppress they can be ignored as an factor of this equation. 

_That prouves males aren’t that “free by nature”. Does not?

_Not really. One important element about male slaves is that: they have good reason to believe in the chance to became free.

_Why?

_For instance: cities frequently free any slave willing to raise a sword, wen enemies seems too near to invade their walls. Fight for your master’s city and you will became a free citizen yourself, be great at it and you may even became hight caste. There is other ways, there is no easy way, but, sitll, there is many of them.  By fact we all believe men should if possible be free, that helps male slaves to some extension. On the other hand, to live long enough to earn freedom they must not rebel: that works most days, for slavers. Eventually slaves will escape, and no one sees that as a serious problem because it is too rare to affect the economy even in the smallest city: most of us even cheer a little_in silence_ by this bold fugitives.

_You explained male slavery.

_Female freedom, I admit, is a more slippery topic. Let’s just say it is a common denominator for us. Maybe that happens  just because we do like to see free women being slaved: the momment the last free woman is slaved, is the momment we know no one will be able to see that again.   

_Seems a poor explanation! As far as poor explanations goes, worse than most.

_Maybe it is, or maybe it isn’t. There is a legend about that, I may tell you. Just don’t take that as Historical report, it is no more than a tale: you know, of course, about the panther girls?  

_I do.

_Good! No need to tell you that basic stuff. So, let’s go the the tale:

“Long time ago, no one knows how long, a leader like no other before or after emerged amoung the Panthers. She managed to unite many rival bands,  hundreds of them. She got real weapons, city warrior’s shields and swords, for all her women. More important, she gave them high level strategy like only a seasoned war  general would be able to. The hunting women from dangerous prey became a almost impossible one, at least for small groups of male warriors from the cities and for out-law.

The news soon reached the cities, and the bold men used to hunt such esquisit prey to turn them in sex slaves. What came after that was inevitable: the cities, even enemies, united,  organised a huge game: cooperative in most part. The Northern Forests became crowded.

So many Panther Girls have been slaved that, the ones who had escaped were not enough to keep their way of life. In more two or three years, give or take one, the hunt made by  the out-law who live in the Forests would be enough to end the Panther Girls for good. Once that had happened the chances of any revival would be near to inexistent.

What came next isn’t neither obvious nor easy to understant for you, or for to any men who never hunted Panther Girls or slaved some of them, however will never surprise a man like myself and many others on that planet, who have done such things: again, the enemy cities saw the situation as a problem and came toguether to the solution, because only toguether they could solve that particular issue.

Each and everry outlaw men either recieved citzenship in one city, or help to found a new one free of foreigner’s attack. The feel ones who refused had to be hunted, whit no break and no truce, and killed. For a decade or two no male warriors came to the Phanters territory to hunt the women. The price of former Panthers fresh to their slave collars skyrocketed_ because only the Panther Girls themselves were now huntin Phanther Girls, what was always a essential part of their culture; as you sould know Hunter Women sometimes do hunt each other and send their prey to the civilized slave market_ and still the honor prevented slavers to deal whit Panther women slaved by males, and no honored men would hunt or slave them anyway.

Only afther the danger of extinction finaly have been eliminated the World was allowed to go back to normal. Only then  nature was allowed to rule the relationships between men and women on Northern Forests once more.”

_I hope you have a moral to that “fable”. Other than Green Peace’s dogmatism ‘avant la lettre’, I mean.

_Matter of fact I do have such explanation. The explanation how came whit this fable is: “men do like to slave free women, do men like to hunt and to slave free women, and, not only that men also like to see free women being slaved. That is the reason why free women must aways exist: the day when the last free women became a slaves is a sad day, because after that no men will be able to slave a free woman.

Panther Girls themselves must aways be, as well. Because we all do like to hunt and slave them, and because no one can force into slavery what exist no more.

_That is preposterous!

_Maybe you are right Orion, or maybe you are wrong, I don’t know for sure yet: ergo I propose to you a deal:  say that to me again, one day . But only AFTER you hunt, slave, and subject at least Panther Girl to full submission under the discipline of your pitiless whip.