batch.motif.islamicate-folklore-arabian-nights-lang-gutenberg-l931-l1034
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamicate-folklore-arabian-nights-lang-gutenberg-l931-l1034
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
passage_locator:
label: The Arabian Nights Entertainments; lines 931-1034
start: '931'
end: '1034'
translation: The Arabian Nights Entertainments
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'A physician cures a king by means of a medicated polo club and receives
high honor and gifts. The king''s jealous grand-vizir privately accuses the physician
of intending assassination. The king rejects the accusation and recalls a cautionary
tale: a husband buys a truth-telling parrot to observe his wife, the wife deceives
the bird with staged signs of a storm, and the husband kills the parrot for seeming
to lie, later regretting it. The king applies the tale as a warning against rashly
destroying an innocent benefactor, but the vizir continues to urge suspicion and
introduces another tale.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The physician instructs the king to play polo with a prepared bat until his
body becomes hot, then bathe and sleep.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The king follows the physician's instructions and is completely cured by the
next morning.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The king honors the physician, seats him beside him, gives him a robe of state,
and presents him with two thousand sequins.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The grand-vizir is described as avaricious, envious, and bad, and he becomes
jealous of the physician.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The grand-vizir privately warns the king that the physician may be a traitor
who has come to assassinate him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The king argues that the physician's cure is evidence of faithfulness and
refuses to be turned against him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: A husband buys a parrot that can speak and report what has happened before
it, then leaves it with his wife while he is away.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: After the parrot reports events that lead the husband to scold his wife, the
wife resolves to revenge herself on the bird.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: 'The wife orders slaves to create artificial signs around the cage: a hand-mill
beneath it, water from above, and a mirror moved by candlelight before its eyes.'
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: The parrot reports that lightning, thunder, and rain disturbed it during the
night.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: Because no storm occurred, the husband believes the parrot lies, kills it,
and later regrets the act after learning it had spoken truthfully.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:12
text: The Greek king applies the parrot story to his situation and says he will
not listen to the vizir against the physician.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:13
text: The vizir persists, saying it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save
the guilty when a king's life is in question.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Greek king
description: A king cured by the physician Douban and later warned by his grand-vizir
against the physician.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Physician Douban
description: A physician who prepares a medicated polo bat, cures the king, and
is accused by the vizir of intending assassination.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Grand-vizir of the Greek king
description: An avaricious, envious vizir who becomes jealous of the physician and
urges the king to distrust him.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Husband
description: A man who loves his wife, buys a truth-telling parrot, believes the
parrot lies after a staged storm, and kills it.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Wife
description: The husband’s beautiful wife, who arranges a deception to discredit
the parrot after it reports on her.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Parrot
description: A caged bird that speaks well and can tell what has happened before
it; it is deceived by staged effects and killed.
role_refs:
- role:9
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Slaves of the wife
description: Servants who perform the staged storm effects around the parrot’s cage.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: King Sindbad
description: A king mentioned by the Greek king as part of an earlier example concerning
advice from a vizir.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Vizir of King Sindbad
description: A vizir mentioned as having warned King Sindbad against putting his
son to death.
role_refs:
- role:14
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Fisherman
description: The narrator who recounts to the genius what the Greek king said after
the parrot story.
role_refs:
- role:15
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Genius
description: The listener addressed by the fisherman in the frame narration.
role_refs:
- role:16
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: cured ruler
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The king uses the physician’s remedy and finds himself completely cured the
next morning.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: healing physician
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Douban provides the medicated bat and instructions that lead to the king’s
cure.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: jealous accuser
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The vizir is said to be jealous and seeks to ruin the physician by accusing
him of treachery.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: ruler judging counsel
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The king evaluates and rejects the vizir’s warning against the physician.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: role:5
label: accused benefactor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The physician cures the king but is then accused of intending to assassinate
him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: persistent dangerous counsellor
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: After the king rejects his first warning, the vizir persists and argues for
sacrificing the innocent if necessary.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:7
label: jealous or suspicious husband
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The husband uses the parrot to monitor his wife and later kills it when he
believes it lied.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: deceiver of witness
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The wife arranges artificial storm effects to mislead the parrot and discredit
its testimony.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:9
label: truth-telling animal witness
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The parrot can speak and tell what has been done before it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:10
label: rash punisher
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The husband kills the parrot after concluding it lied, then later regrets
it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:11
label: innocent victim
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The parrot is killed although the husband later finds it had spoken truthfully.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:12
label: helpers in deception
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The slaves operate the mill, water, and mirror to simulate a storm around
the cage.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:13
label: exemplary king in cited tale
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: King Sindbad is mentioned as the master whom a vizir advised against killing
his son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:14
label: cautionary adviser
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The vizir is mentioned as preventing King Sindbad from putting the prince
to death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:15
label: frame narrator
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The passage states that the fisherman said these words to the genius.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:16
label: frame listener
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The genius is the addressee of the fisherman’s narration.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: medicated polo bat
literal_form: A bat or club with a remedy in its handle, used during polo so the
warmed medicine penetrates the king’s body.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: polo ball and game
literal_form: The king rides after and strikes the ball while courtiers hit it back
until he grows hot.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: robe of state and sequins
literal_form: A long rich robe of state and two thousand sequins given to the physician.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: parrot in a cage
literal_form: A speaking parrot kept in a cage in the wife’s room as an observer.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: simulated storm
literal_form: A hand-mill, water thrown down, and a mirror moved by candlelight
are used to imitate thunder, rain, and lightning.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- water
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Cure by polo remedy
summary: The physician gives the king a prepared bat and instructs him to play polo
until heated, then bathe and sleep; the next day the king is cured.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Reward of the physician
summary: The cured king publicly honors Douban and rewards him with a robe of state
and money.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Vizir’s accusation
summary: The jealous grand-vizir privately tells the king that Douban may be an
assassin, but the king rejects the charge and cites the physician’s cure as evidence
against it.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Truth-telling parrot acquired and discredited
summary: A husband buys a parrot that reports events; after it causes him to scold
his wife, she arranges staged storm effects to make its later report appear false.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Killing of the parrot and regret
summary: The husband hears the parrot describe a storm that did not actually occur,
kills it for supposed falsehood, and later regrets the action when he learns it
had told the truth.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Application of the parrot tale
summary: The Greek king uses the parrot tale as a reason not to act against Douban,
while the vizir continues to argue that suspicion is warranted when a king’s life
is at stake.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Miraculous or unusual cure through indirect medicine
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The physician cures the king by placing medicine in a polo club handle and
having the king exercise until the remedy penetrates his body.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents the cure as wonderful, but it does not describe supernatural
agency.
- id: motif:2
label: Benefactor slandered by jealous counsellor
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: After Douban cures the king and is rewarded, the jealous grand-vizir seeks
his ruin by accusing him of plotting assassination.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The accusation remains an allegation within this passage.
- id: motif:3
label: Embedded cautionary tale against rash judgment
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The king introduces the parrot story as an example of regretting the destruction
of an innocent truth-teller and applies it to the accusation against the physician.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage frames the tale as practical
counsel rather than abstract wisdom teaching.
- id: motif:4
label: Truth-telling animal witness deceived by staged illusion
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The parrot truthfully reports what it experiences, but the wife’s staged
storm makes its report seem false to the husband.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage does not explain the source of the parrot’s special ability.
- id: motif:5
label: Innocent victim killed and later regretted
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The husband kills the parrot after concluding it has lied, then later learns
it had spoken truthfully and regrets the killing.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage does not provide details about how the husband later learns
the truth.
- id: motif:6
label: Frame narrative with exemplary tale
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Greek king uses the story of the husband and the parrot as an example
to answer his vizir’s advice; the fisherman is also narrating this exchange to
the genius.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage contains multiple narrative frames, but only the immediate
frame material in this line range is available.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: 'Within the passage, the parrot story functions as an analogy for the king’s
decision about Douban: killing the parrot after false-seeming evidence parallels
the feared possibility of punishing an innocent physician because of hostile counsel.'
claim_level: same_function
target: The husband’s killing of the parrot compared with the proposed punishment
of physician Douban
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This is an explicit internal analogy, not evidence of historical relationship
between separate traditions.
- id: claim:2
claim: The Greek king also invokes an earlier example involving King Sindbad’s vizir
as a comparable warning against acting too readily on suspect claims.
claim_level: same_function
target: Advice to King Sindbad not to put his son to death
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The details of the King Sindbad example are only briefly summarized
in this passage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 931-951
quote_or_summary: The physician gives the king a prepared polo bat, explains that
the warmed remedy in the handle will enter his body, and tells him to bathe and
sleep after play; after following the instructions, the king is completely cured
the next morning.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 952-960
quote_or_summary: Douban enters the hall and bows; the king seats him beside himself,
honors him, gives him a rich robe of state, two thousand sequins, and further
favors.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 961-974
quote_or_summary: The grand-vizir is described as avaricious, envious, and bad;
jealous of the physician, he privately warns the king that Douban may be a traitor
who has come to assassinate him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 975-990
quote_or_summary: The king says Douban is faithful and virtuous, asks why he would
cure him if he intended murder, accuses the vizir of jealousy, and recalls a vizir
who warned King Sindbad not to put his son to death.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 991-1007
quote_or_summary: In the story of the husband and the parrot, a husband buys a speaking
parrot that can report what has happened before it, leaves it with his wife, and
on return hears reports that cause him to scold her; the wife learns the parrot
is the informant and seeks revenge.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1008-1015
quote_or_summary: The wife orders one slave to turn a hand-mill under the cage,
another to throw water down from above it, and a third to move a mirror before
the parrot’s eyes by candlelight for part of the night.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1016-1024
quote_or_summary: The parrot tells its master that lightning, thunder, and rain
disturbed it all night; because the husband knows there was no storm, he thinks
it lied, kills it by throwing it to the ground, and later regrets the act after
learning it had spoken truthfully.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 1025-1034
quote_or_summary: The fisherman tells the genius that the Greek king applied the
parrot story to his vizir, saying he would not listen against the physician lest
he repent like the husband; the vizir persists, arguing that for a king’s life
it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty, and introduces a
tale of a punished vizir.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamicate-folklore/project-gutenberg/arabian-nights-lang.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from provided passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal plot extraction is high confidence. Motif labels are descriptive
and passage-based; taxonomy use is limited to broad 'wisdom' and literal symbol
references for water and fire in the staged storm.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-29'
notes: |-
No external comparisons were added; comparison claims are limited to analogies explicitly made or directly supported within the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamicate-folklore-arabian-nights-lang-gutenberg__l931-l1034
passage_sha256=87270c6f4f9c9c83bffcb0932c661314cbd42799130ca7b64d5f3feac0fd6b44