It’s not like he got the piercing because he wanted to.
May as well roll with the punch...
In the Bible, Old Testament, if a slave was set free by his master at the end of his 7 years or in a Jubilee Year, and that slave wanted to stay with his master because he was treated well and liked his master, the master was to give the slave a solid gold ring in his ear to show that he was a ‘voluntary slave’.
These were usually given jobs of high trust, power and importance.
Notice that in Arabic mythology the Genie is always portrayed with a solid gold earring in its ear, as the “Slave of the Lamp”.................