batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-1-frazer-gutenberg-l4380-l4462
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-1-frazer-gutenberg-l4380-l4462
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 4380-4462
start: '4380'
end: '4462'
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: It is a common rule that royal blood must not be shed upon the ground.
summary: Frazer surveys examples in which royal, human, or animal blood is prevented
from falling on the ground, especially in executions of kings, princes, nobles,
chiefs, or royal kin. He connects the rule to the idea that the soul is in the
blood and that whatever receives chiefly blood may become taboo or sacred.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage states a rule that royal blood must not be shed on the ground.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Several execution methods are described as avoiding the spilling of royal
blood, including pounding in a caldron, starvation, suffocation, strangling, drowning,
burning, wrapping in a carpet, and beating or breaking without open bloodshed.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:3
text: The stated reason in the Siamese example is that divine blood should not be
contaminated by mixing with earth.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: The passage extends the rule beyond royal persons to a broader reluctance
to shed human blood or to let it fall on the ground.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: In Australian examples, blood from circumcision, tooth extraction, bleeding,
and rain-making rites is received on bodies of tribesmen rather than allowed to
fall on the ground.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: At childbirth in South Celebes, blood trickling through the raised floor is
received in a basin held by a female slave under the house.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Some examples describe animals being killed for food without shedding blood,
such as by stoning, beating, suffocation, stunning, or smoke.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Frazer proposes that reluctance to shed blood on the ground is connected with
belief that the soul is in the blood and that ground or objects touched by it
become taboo or sacred.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: New Zealand examples describe a canoe and a house becoming associated with
a high chief after his blood fell on them.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: The passage concludes that prohibitions on spilling tribesmen’s blood apply
especially strongly to chiefs and kings.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: royal persons, chiefs, kings, princes, and nobles
description: Persons whose blood is treated as not to be shed on the ground, especially
in execution or accidental injury examples.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: execution authorities and killers
description: Agents who put royal or noble persons to death by methods presented
as avoiding the spilling of blood.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Australian tribesmen and initiates
description: Tribesmen receive blood on their bodies, while boys undergoing circumcision
or tooth extraction are positioned so blood does not fall on the ground.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: female slave in South Celebes childbirth example
description: A female slave stands below a raised house and receives childbirth
blood in a basin on her head.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: animals and cattle killed for food
description: Animals whose blood is not shed when they are killed for food in several
cited examples.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: New Zealand high chief
description: A high chief whose blood falling on a canoe or house makes the object
taboo or sacred to him in the cited examples.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: sacred or taboo-bearing blood-holder
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:6
basis: The passage treats royal or chiefly blood as requiring special avoidance
of contact with the ground and as capable of making objects sacred or taboo.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: bloodless execution agent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Authorities or victors execute royal persons by methods intended to avoid
spilling their blood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:3
label: blood receiver
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: These figures receive or carry blood so that it does not fall on the ground.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: blood-preserved animal victim
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Animals are killed by methods described as avoiding the shedding of blood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: royal or chiefly blood
literal_form: blood of kings, princes, nobles, chiefs, or royal family members
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:2
label: ground or earth
literal_form: ground, earth, or surfaces on which blood may fall
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: bloodless execution containers and coverings
literal_form: iron caldron, leather sack, carpet, scarlet cloth, white blankets
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: river water as execution medium
literal_form: river or water used for drowning or disposal of royal bodies
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: fire as execution method
literal_form: burning alive or burning royal brothers
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:6
label: human bodies as blood-receiving surface
literal_form: living bodies, shoulders, breast, or bodies of fellow tribesmen
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:7
label: tabooed object touched by chiefly blood
literal_form: canoe and house touched by a high chief’s blood
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Royal bloodless executions
summary: Royal or noble persons in multiple cited societies are executed by methods
said to prevent their blood from falling on the ground.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Non-royal human blood kept off the ground
summary: The passage gives examples where human blood from punishment, execution,
initiation, healing, rain-making, or childbirth is prevented from touching the
ground.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Animal killing without bloodshed
summary: Some animal-killing practices are described as avoiding bloodshed when
animals are killed for food.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Chiefly blood makes objects taboo
summary: In New Zealand examples, objects on which a high chief’s blood falls become
sacred or taboo to him.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: blood must not fall on the ground
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage repeatedly states that royal, human, or animal blood is kept
from the ground by special execution, ritual, healing, childbirth, and slaughter
practices.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level comparative pattern rather than a supplied taxonomy
family.
- id: motif:2
label: bloodless execution of sacred royalty
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Kings, princes, nobles, chiefs, or royal kin are killed by methods designed
to avoid spilling royal blood onto earth or exposing it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents examples from multiple societies through Frazer’s
comparative framing; individual ethnographic contexts are not independently evaluated
here.
- id: motif:3
label: chiefly blood creates taboo or sacred property
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage explains the avoidance of blood on the ground by saying the soul
is in the blood, and it gives examples of a canoe and house becoming taboo or
sacred after contact with a high chief’s blood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The explanation is Frazer’s stated interpretation within the passage.
- id: motif:4
label: initiation blood received by the community
taxonomy_refs:
- initiation
basis: Australian initiation examples describe circumcision and tooth extraction
blood being received on the bodies of tribesmen rather than falling to the ground.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The initiation taxonomy applies only to the cited initiation examples,
not to the whole passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage compares multiple royal courts and societies as using bloodless
methods of execution for royal or noble persons because royal blood should not
touch the ground.
claim_level: same_function
target: bloodless execution of royal persons in Siamese, Tartar/Mongol, Burmese,
Tonquin, Ashantee, Madagascar, and Uganda examples
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is based only on Frazer’s cited examples and does not
establish historical contact or common origin.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage presents royal blood taboos as a special case of a wider pattern
in which human blood is kept from falling on the ground.
claim_level: same_function
target: general blood-not-on-ground practices in punishment, initiation, healing,
rain-making, childbirth, and execution examples
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage gives functional similarity but not a single local explanation
for all examples.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage cautiously links avoidance of blood on the ground with the belief
that the soul is in the blood and that blood contact can render ground or objects
taboo or sacred.
claim_level: archetypal_reading
target: blood as soul-bearing substance and taboo-generating contact
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is Frazer’s explanatory interpretation; the passage does not provide
direct emic testimony for every example.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 4380-4392
quote_or_summary: "“It is a common rule that royal blood must not be shed upon the
ground”; the Siamese king is killed in an iron caldron so divine blood is not
mixed with earth."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 4392-4402
quote_or_summary: Other Siamese bloodless executions include starvation, suffocation,
thrusting wood into the stomach on a cloth, or sewing in a sack and throwing into
a river; Kublai Khan has Nayan wrapped in a carpet and tossed to death so imperial
blood is not spilled on the ground or exposed to heaven and sun.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 4402-4416
quote_or_summary: Examples from Tartar, Burmese, Tonquin, Ashantee, Madagascar,
and Uganda contexts describe princes, royal kin, nobles, or brothers of a king
being killed without ordinary bloodshed, including smothering, strangling, drowning,
and burning.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 4416-4429
quote_or_summary: Frazer generalizes royal blood avoidance to a broader reluctance
to shed human blood or let it fall on the ground, citing Cambaluc punishments,
Captain Christian’s execution on white blankets, and Australian initiation examples.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 4429-4439
quote_or_summary: Further examples describe Australian blood used in rain-making
being received on bodies, childbirth blood in South Celebes being caught in a
basin, and some animal slaughter practices avoiding bloodshed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 4439-4453
quote_or_summary: Frazer explains the reluctance by reference to belief that the
soul is in the blood and that places or things touched by a high chief’s blood
become taboo or sacred; New Zealand canoe and house examples are given.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 4453-4462
quote_or_summary: The passage concludes that general prohibitions on spilling tribesmen’s
blood apply with particular stringency to chiefs and kings and can persist for
them after ceasing for others.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-1-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is explicitly comparative and supplies many examples. Motif labels
are descriptive because the available taxonomy has no direct blood-taboo category.
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. No historical-contact or common-inheritance claims are made.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-1-frazer-gutenberg__l4380-l4462
passage_sha256=b498c4ae62847a7675aa9570f64b84d5bdda4c2e125c6da696fc658cefd34338