batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-1-frazer-gutenberg-l3112-l3185
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-1-frazer-gutenberg-l3112-l3185
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: CHAPTER I. THE KING OF THE WOOD. / MACAULAY. / CHAPTER II. THE PERILS OF
THE SOUL. / HEINE.; lines 3112-3185
start: '3112'
end: '3185'
translation: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2)'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Frazer surveys beliefs in the soul as an inner double, a miniature or subtle
version of the body, or an animal-like bird. He lists practices intended to prevent
a soul from escaping through bodily or household openings, especially during sickness,
death, childbirth, danger, marriage, and festivals.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: 'A missionary tells Australian interlocutors that he is two in one: a visible
great body and an invisible little body that flies away when the great body dies.'
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Some Australian interlocutors answer that they also have a little body within
the breast and give varied answers about where it goes after death.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Frazer reports beliefs among Hurons and Eskimos that the soul resembles the
body in shape, and among the people of Nias that souls have measurable weight
or length connected with life span.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The passage says the soul is commonly supposed to escape through natural openings
of the body, especially the mouth and nostrils.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Examples are given of fastening fish-hooks, bottling departing souls in a
hollow bone, holding a dying person’s mouth and nose, snapping thumbs when someone
yawns, and sealing a dying person’s facial openings.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Childbirth-related precautions include tying a band around the expectant mother,
closing openings in the house, stopping chinks, tying animal mouths, and keeping
human mouths shut.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The soul is often conceived as a bird ready to take flight, and rice is used
in several examples to attract or detain it.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: European missionary
description: Speaker who explains the idea of being two in one, with a visible body
and an invisible little body.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Australian interlocutors
description: People addressed by the missionary; some affirm that they also have
a little body within the breast.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Hurons
description: Reported as thinking that the soul has head, body, arms, and legs,
like a complete small model of the person.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Eskimos
description: Reported as believing that the soul has the same shape as its body
but is more subtle and ethereal.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: People of Nias
description: Reported as thinking that each person receives a soul of chosen length
or weight before birth, with life length proportioned to soul length.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Celebes practitioners
description: People in Celebes who fasten fish-hooks to a sick man’s nose, navel,
and feet to hold the soul; other Southern Celebes practices concern childbirth
and festivals.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Haida medicine-man
description: Ritual specialist whose property includes a hollow bone used to bottle
departing souls and restore them to owners.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Marquesans
description: People said to hold the mouth and nose of a dying man to keep the soul
from escaping.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Hindus
description: People said to snap their thumbs when someone yawns to hinder the soul
from leaving through the open mouth.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Itonamas
description: People said to seal the eyes, nose, and mouth of a dying person in
case his ghost gets out and carries off others.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Alfoers of Celebes
description: People said to close house openings, stop chinks, tie animal mouths,
and keep human mouths shut during birth lest the child’s soul escape or be swallowed.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Malays, Javanese, Battas, and South Celebes celebrants
description: Groups cited in examples where rice is used to attract or detain the
soul at dangerous moments, returns, marriage, or festivals.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: explainer of body-soul duality
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The missionary explains a visible body and an invisible inner body that departs
at death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: respondents affirming inner body belief
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Some respondents say they also have a little body within the breast and discuss
its destination after death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: reported holders of miniature or measurable soul belief
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: These groups are cited as holding beliefs about the soul’s bodily shape,
subtle form, or measurable dimensions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: practitioners of soul-retention precautions
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
basis: The passage attributes to these figures actions meant to prevent, capture,
restore, or detain a soul.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: inner little body
literal_form: Invisible little body within the visible body or breast.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: miniature body-shaped soul
literal_form: Soul with head, body, arms, legs, or the same shape as the body.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: measured soul
literal_form: Soul measured by weight or length before birth.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: bodily openings as exits
literal_form: Mouth, nostrils, eyes, navel, feet, and other openings treated as
possible routes for soul escape.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: fish-hooks for the soul
literal_form: Fish-hooks fastened to a sick man’s body to hook and hold a departing
soul.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: hollow bone soul-container
literal_form: Hollow bone in which a medicine-man bottles departing souls.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:7
label: closed house and tied mouths
literal_form: Closed keyhole, stopped chinks and crannies, tied animal mouths, and
shut human mouths during birth.
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:8
label: bird-like soul
literal_form: Soul conceived as a bird ready to take flight.
associated_figures:
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:9
label: rice as soul-detaining lure
literal_form: Rice placed on the head, scattered, or used near a child to attract
or detain the soul.
associated_figures:
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Explanation and affirmation of the inner body
summary: A missionary describes a person as composed of a visible body and an invisible
little body; some Australian interlocutors affirm an analogous little body within
the breast and discuss its postmortem destination.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Survey of miniature and measurable souls
summary: Frazer lists reported beliefs that the soul resembles the body in form
or has measurable length and weight, with the Nias example connecting soul length
to length of life.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Blocking or capturing the soul at bodily exits
summary: The passage presents examples of preventing the soul from escaping through
bodily openings by hooks, containers, holding the mouth and nose, snapping thumbs,
or sealing facial openings.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Childbirth precautions against soul loss
summary: During childbirth, precautions are described to prevent the mother’s or
infant’s soul from escaping, entering others, or being swallowed by animals.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Rice detains the bird-like soul
summary: The passage describes the soul as bird-like and gives examples of rice
used to lure or keep the soul during first contact with the ground, return from
danger, marriage, and festivals.
figure_refs:
- fig:12
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: person as visible body plus inner double
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage explicitly describes a person as two in one, with a visible body
and an invisible little body, and reports similar beliefs in a little body or
model-like soul.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is a comparative scholarly summary and uses Frazer’s terminology;
it does not provide original-language terms for most examples.
- id: motif:2
label: soul departure at death or danger
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: The soul is said to fly away at death or to escape during sickness, yawning,
dying, childbirth, danger, marriage, or festivals.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy label is broad; the passage concerns soul escape rather than
a heroic or narrative departure.
- id: motif:3
label: ritual detention or recovery of a departing soul
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Multiple examples involve actions intended to hook, bottle, block, lure,
or otherwise detain the soul and restore it to its owner.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: No more specific supplied taxonomy reference matches this ritual pattern.
- id: motif:4
label: soul as bird ready to fly
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Frazer states that the soul is often conceived as a bird ready to take flight
and gives rice-lure practices as practical consequences of that conception.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: Bird is not among the available symbol taxonomy references supplied for
this extraction.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: 'The passage itself groups several geographically distinct practices as examples
of a shared functional pattern: preventing a soul from escaping through openings
or at dangerous life moments.'
claim_level: same_function
target: soul-retention precautions across Celebes, Haida, Marquesan, Hindu, Itonama,
Alfoer, Malay, Javanese, Batta, and South Celebes examples
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is Frazer’s secondary synthesis; the excerpt does not
provide primary ethnographic context, chronology, or evidence of historical contact.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage compares several beliefs in which the soul is treated as a smaller,
subtler, or measurable counterpart of the body.
claim_level: same_motif
target: inner or miniature body-soul beliefs among Australian interlocutors, Hurons,
Eskimos, and people of Nias
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The examples are summarized by Frazer and may not be equivalent in
local meaning despite visual or conceptual similarity.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 3112-3124
quote_or_summary: A missionary says he is two in one, with a visible great body
and an invisible little body that flies away at death; some Australian interlocutors
reply that they too have a little body in the breast and give different answers
about its destination after death.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 3124-3144
quote_or_summary: Frazer reports Huron and Eskimo beliefs that the soul resembles
the body, and a Nias belief that souls are measured by weight or length before
birth, with life span related to soul length.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 3146-3148
quote_or_summary: The soul is commonly supposed to escape by natural openings of
the body, especially the mouth and nostrils.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 3148-3162
quote_or_summary: Examples include fish-hooks attached to a sick man in Celebes,
a Haida medicine-man’s hollow bone for bottling souls, Marquesans holding a dying
man’s mouth and nose, Hindus snapping thumbs during yawning, and Itonamas sealing
a dying person’s eyes, nose, and mouth.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 3162-3178
quote_or_summary: Childbirth precautions in Celebes and among Alfoers include tying
a band around the expectant mother, closing household openings, stopping chinks,
tying animal mouths, and requiring people in the house to keep their mouths shut.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 3180-3185
quote_or_summary: Frazer states that the soul is often conceived as a bird ready
to fly; Malay, Javanese, Batta, and South Celebes examples use rice to attract,
keep, or detain the soul during vulnerable occasions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is explicit about the reported practices and Frazer’s comparative
grouping. Motif labels are cautious because the excerpt is a secondary comparative
synthesis and supplied taxonomy only partially matches the patterns.
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: |-
Literal observations retain Frazer’s reported claims without independently validating the ethnographic descriptions.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-1-frazer-gutenberg__l3112-l3185
passage_sha256=9d56291605788508646653e7357ec20c2517db6004b75cdee09c0af45dbd304e