It is the first sybmolic step we take when we journey from slave, FW or barbarian to become bond
To enter that circle is the first step that leads on a path to become bondmaids of Torvaldsland.
Once we enter that circle by the laws of Torvaldsland we become bondmaids, we may enter of our own choosing or we may be tossed there but the end result is the same....we are granted a new kind of freedom.
"Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard, indicating the circle he had drawn in the dirt. The women cried out in misery. To enter the circle, if one is a female, is, by the laws of Torvaldsland, to declare oneself a bond-maid. A woman, of course, need not enter the circle of her own free will. She may, for example be thrown within it naked and bound. Howsoever, she enters the circle, voluntarily or by force, free or secured, she emerges from it, by the laws of Torvaldsland, as a bond-maid�.
Marauders of Gor, p 44-45.
�The Forkbeard, with the heel of his boot on the ground, drew a bond-maid circle. She looked at it. Then, to the laughter of the men, her head high, lifting her skirt, she stepped to the circle, and stood, facing him, within it.�
Marauders of Gor, page 43
Bets were made at the table. I bet on Ivar Forkbeard. Within an Ahn, Hilda the Haughty, to the jeers of men, the taunts of bond-maids, on her hands and knees, head down, hair falling forward, crept to the circle of the bond-maid, which Ivar Forkbeard had drawn in the dirt of the hall floor between the posts. The coals of the fire pit illuminated the left side of her body. She crawled before the bond-maids the oarsmen. She entered the circle, and then, within the circle, stood up. She stood very straight, and her head was up. �I am yours, Ivar Forkbeard,� she said. �I am yours!�
Marauders of Gor, page 67
Forkbeared looked then at the younger, blond, more slender girl, she with her hair now loose, the snood of scarlet yarn ripped away, in her red vest and skirt, and black shoes. She looked up at him, boldly. "My father is poorer then Aelgifu's," she said, "but for me, too, there is be a ransom." He looked down at her and grinned. "You are too pretty to ransom," he said. She looked at him with horron. In the crowd I heard a man and a woman cry out with misery. "Go to the circle and enter it," said Ivar Forkbeard to the girl. She held up her head. "No," she said. "I am free. Never will I consent to be a bond-maid. I shall first choose death!" "Very well," laughed the Forkbeard. "Kneel." Startled, she did so, uncertainly. "Put your head down," he said, "throw your hair forward, exposing your neck." She did so. He lifted the great ax. Suddenly she cried out and thrust her head to his boot. She held his ankle. "Have mercy on a bond-maid!" she wept
Marauders of Gor, pages 56-67
The symbolism of that circle
A bondmaid is like the circle from which she emerged.
A circle is without beginning or end, it contains everything and wants nothing, it is timeless, and absolute it represents eternity, infinity and perfection.
A bonds slavery in the North is one of deep submission. Those fist few steps mark the beginning of a journey without end, one that is ever changing and leads to paths she never imagined or may have only dreamed of deep within her heart.