batch.motif.celtic-irish-gods-and-fighting-men-gregory-gutenberg-l4609-l4694
---
record_id: batch.motif.celtic-irish-gods-and-fighting-men-gregory-gutenberg-l4609-l4694
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
passage_locator:
label: CHAPTER XI. HIS THREE CALLS TO CORMAC / CHAPTER XII. CLIODNA'S WAVE / CHAPTER
XIII. HIS CALL TO CONNLA / CHAPTER XIV. TADG IN MANANNAN'S ISLANDS; lines 4609-4694
start: '4609'
end: '4694'
translation: Gods and Fighting Men
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Tadg, whose wife and brothers have been carried off by foreign raiders,
builds a well-provisioned curragh and sails with his men over the sea. After twenty
days and nights they reach islands with giant sheep, a nine-horned ram, bones
of large men, and strange birds whose eggs cause feathers to grow on those who
eat them until bathing removes the feathers.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage identifies Tadg as someone who went to the Land of the Ever-Living
Ones and came back again.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Cathmann and nine ships land in west Munster and capture Liban, Tadg's two
brothers, and many people of Munster.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Cathmann takes Liban as his own wife and imposes hard labor and poor food
on Eoghan and Airnelach.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Tadg escapes by courage and sword-use, keeps forty fighting men, and obtains
information from a captured foreigner.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Tadg orders a strong ox-hide curragh prepared with masts, oars, pitch, provisions,
drink, and clothing for a year.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Tadg tells his people to set out on the high sea to look for their people
who have been away from them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The voyagers pass over stormy sea where no land is visible and see unknown
birds, salmon, seals, and whales.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: After twenty days and twenty nights of rowing, they sight a high land with
a smooth coast and camp there.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: On the island they find no people or beasts except flocks of sheep as large
as horses.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: A very large ram with nine horns attacks Tadg's chief men and breaks through
five shields before Tadg kills it with a spear.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: The men eat sheep on the island, collect some of the remarkable wool, and
find bones of very large men.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: On two other islands, strange birds lay blue and crimson eggs; men who eat
the eggs immediately grow feathers, and the feathers fall off after bathing.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Tadg, son of Cian, son of Olioll
description: A man who goes to the Land of the Ever-Living Ones and returns; he
searches for his captured wife, brothers, and people by sea.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Liban
description: Tadg's wife, daughter of Conchubar Abratrudh of the Red Brows, captured
by the foreigners and taken by Cathmann as his wife.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Airnelach
description: Tadg's brother, captured and made to cut firing and keep up fires for
the people.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Eoghan
description: Tadg's brother, captured and made to work a common ferry across a channel
of the coast.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Cathmann, son of Tabarn
description: King of Fresen who searches the sea with nine ships, captures people
in west Munster, and takes Liban.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Tadg's forty fighting men
description: Forty remaining men who had each killed one foreigner and who accompany
Tadg on the sea voyage.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Captured foreigner
description: A foreigner brought in alive who tells Tadg's side news of his country.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Nine-horned ram
description: The largest ram in a great flock, with nine horns, which attacks Tadg's
chief men and is killed by Tadg.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Men who eat the birds' eggs
description: Some of Tadg's men who eat strange eggs and immediately grow feathers
until they bathe.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: returning otherworld voyager
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage says Tadg went to the Land of the Ever-Living Ones and came back
again.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: seeker of abducted kin
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Tadg launches the voyage to look for his people who have been away from him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: abducted wife
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Liban is captured and taken by Cathmann as his own wife.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: captive laborer
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: The brothers are captured and assigned degrading labor with poor food.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: foreign captor king
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Cathmann is king of Fresen and leads the raid that takes Liban, Tadg's brothers,
and others.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: voyage companions
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The forty fighting men remain with Tadg and are addressed when the voyage
begins.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: captive informant
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The captured foreigner tells Tadg's group news of his country.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:8
label: animal attacker
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The ram charges Tadg's chief men, breaks shields, and is killed in combat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:9
label: temporarily transformed eaters
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The men grow feathers after eating the eggs and lose them after bathing.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sea voyage
literal_form: stormy heavy flood / high sea
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:2
label: ox-hide curragh
literal_form: strong curragh with forty ox-hides, masts, oars, pitch, and provisions
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: island of giant sheep
literal_form: island filled with sheep as large as horses and remarkable wool
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: sym:4
label: nine-horned ram
literal_form: largest ram with nine horns
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: bones of very big men
literal_form: bones found on the sheep island
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:6
label: transforming eggs
literal_form: blue and pure crimson bird eggs that cause feathers to grow when eaten
associated_figures:
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:7
label: bathing reversal
literal_form: bathing that makes newly grown feathers drop off
associated_figures:
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Raid and captivity
summary: Cathmann's ships land in west Munster, capture Liban, Tadg's brothers,
and others, and impose forced relationships and labor on the captives.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Tadg prepares the rescue voyage
summary: After escaping and learning from a captured foreigner, Tadg orders a strong,
well-provisioned curragh and calls his people to seek their missing kin at sea.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Crossing the open sea
summary: Tadg and his men sail where no land is visible, seeing unknown birds, salmon,
seals, and whales around the curragh.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Arrival at the sheep island
summary: After twenty days and nights, the voyagers land on a high island, camp,
and search it.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Combat with the nine-horned ram
summary: On an island filled with giant sheep, a nine-horned ram attacks; Tadg kills
it, and the men later eat sheep and collect wool.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:6
label: Eggs that cause feathers
summary: On two strange bird islands, some men eat blue and crimson eggs, grow feathers
immediately, and lose the feathers after bathing.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Otherworld sea journey and return
taxonomy_refs:
- afterlife_journey_map
- mystical_quest
- return
basis: The passage frames Tadg as one who went to the Land of the Ever-Living Ones
and came back, then narrates a long voyage across the sea to strange islands.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The excerpt only begins the island journey and does not complete the return
within the provided passage.
- id: motif:2
label: Quest after abducted wife and kin
taxonomy_refs:
- stolen_beloved
- departure
basis: Liban and Tadg's brothers are taken by foreigners, and Tadg departs by sea
to seek the people taken from him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The passage does not yet narrate the recovery of the captives.
- id: motif:3
label: Prepared vessel for perilous voyage
taxonomy_refs:
- ark_vessel
- departure
basis: Tadg has a specially built ox-hide curragh equipped for a long voyage with
provisions for a year.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The vessel is a voyage craft rather than an ark in a flood-survival sense.
- id: motif:4
label: Marvellous island with giant animals
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: The voyagers reach an island with sheep as large as horses and a hostile
nine-horned ram.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: No explicit interpretation of the island's status is given in the excerpt.
- id: motif:5
label: Food causing temporary animal transformation
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
basis: Eating strange bird eggs causes feathers to grow on some men, and bathing
reverses the change.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The transformation is partial and involuntary; the men are not described
as deliberate shapeshifters.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 4609-4614
quote_or_summary: The chapter opens by saying Tadg went to the Land of the Ever-Living
Ones and came back again.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 4615-4631
quote_or_summary: Cathmann, king of Fresen, arrives with nine ships, captures Liban,
Tadg's brothers, and many Munster people; he takes Liban as wife and sets Eoghan
and Airnelach to harsh labor with meagre food.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 4632-4640
quote_or_summary: Tadg escapes by courage and sword; forty fighting men remain,
and a captured foreigner tells them news of his country.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 4640-4647
quote_or_summary: Tadg orders a long-voyage curragh built with forty ox-hides, masts,
oars, pitch, and supplies of food, drink, and clothing for a year.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: lines 4648-4651
quote_or_summary: Tadg says to set out on the high sea, looking for their own people
who have long been away from them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; brief paraphrase of speech.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 4652-4660
quote_or_summary: They sail over a stormy flood until no land is visible, hearing
unknown birds and seeing salmon, seals, and whales around the curragh.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 4661-4668
quote_or_summary: After twenty days and nights they sight a high land with a smooth
coast, land, pull up the curragh, light fires, eat, and sleep on green grass.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 4669-4683
quote_or_summary: Tadg and thirty men search the island and find only giant sheep;
a largest ram with nine horns attacks and breaks five shields before Tadg kills
it with his spear.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 4684-4689
quote_or_summary: The ram is prepared for food; the men stay three nights, eat sheep
each night, gather beautiful wool, and find bones of very big men of unknown fate.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 4690-4694
quote_or_summary: On two islands with strange birds, some men eat blue and crimson
eggs; feathers grow on them immediately and fall off after bathing.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/gods-and-fighting-men-gregory.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal narrative elements are clear. Motif taxonomy assignments are cautious,
especially for ark_vessel and shapeshifter, because the passage gives a rescue
voyage and partial temporary feathering rather than explicit ark or shapeshifter
terminology. No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not
make comparative claims.
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: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the provided passage and metadata; line locators are approximate within the supplied range.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:celtic-irish-gods-and-fighting-men-gregory-gutenberg__l4609-l4694
passage_sha256=ea94b981c68dfba2922ffba8f72a0c458b7175322964cac02d59298c29644f79