batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l14848-l14990
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l14848-l14990
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: CONTENTS / NOTE. OFFERINGS OF FIRST-FRUITS. / INDEX. / FOOTNOTES; lines 14848-14990
start: '14848'
end: '14990'
translation: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage is a sequence of footnotes citing sources for European plant
lore, mistletoe beliefs, Johannisfeuer, Baldr, oak and acorn evidence, Lithuanian
Perkunas fire, need-fire made by friction of selected woods, and Indian folktale
parallels including life lodged in bees.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Hunters are said to believe that mistletoe heals all wounds and brings luck
in hunting.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Grimm is cited as asking whether the Johannisfeuer recall Baldr's funeral
fire, and Frazer comments that this hint contains the solution of the whole myth.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The passage notes evidence that oak woods were formerly more common in parts
of Europe and that acorns appear in prehistoric village remains as food evidence.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: A reported Lithuanian practice says that if the fire maintained in honor of
Perkunas went out, it was rekindled from sparks struck from a stone held by the
god's image.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The need-fire is described in cited sources as made by friction of oak and
fir, and elsewhere as made with nine kinds of wood whose types are not specified.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The footnotes cite Indian tale collections and indicate similar stories involving
necklaces.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The passage cites an Indian story in which a giant's life is in five black
bees.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: hunters
description: People described as believing in mistletoe's healing and hunting-luck
powers.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Baldr
description: A mythic figure whose funeral fire is mentioned through Grimm's comparison
with Johannisfeuer.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Perkunas
description: Lithuanian god in whose honor a fire is said to be maintained.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: giant in an Indian story
description: A giant whose life is said to be in five black bees.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: believers in plant efficacy
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage attributes beliefs about mistletoe's healing and hunting luck
to hunters.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: figure associated with funeral fire
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Baldr is referenced in connection with a funeral fire compared to Johannisfeuer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: deity honored by maintained fire
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The fire is explicitly described as maintained in honor of Perkunas.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: being with life externalized in animals
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The cited Indian story places the giant's life in five black bees.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: mistletoe
literal_form: mistletoe plant
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: Johannisfeuer
literal_form: festival fires called Johannisfeuer
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: Baldr's funeral fire
literal_form: funeral pyre or cremation fire
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: oak and acorns
literal_form: oak woods and acorns
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: Perkunas fire
literal_form: fire maintained in honor of Perkunas
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: spark-stone
literal_form: stone held by the image of the god and used to strike sparks
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:7
label: need-fire woods
literal_form: oak, fir, or nine kinds of wood used to make need-fire by friction
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:8
label: five black bees
literal_form: five black bees containing a giant's life
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Mistletoe as healing and hunting-luck plant
summary: A footnote reports a belief among hunters that mistletoe heals wounds and
brings hunting luck.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Johannisfeuer compared with Baldr's funeral fire
summary: A scholarly note cites Grimm's suggestion that Johannisfeuer may recall
Baldr's funeral fire and records Frazer's approval of the hint.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Rekindling Perkunas's fire
summary: A reported Lithuanian practice states that an extinguished fire for Perkunas
was rekindled by sparks from a stone held by the god's image.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Making need-fire from special woods
summary: The passage cites descriptions of need-fire produced by friction of oak
and fir, or sometimes with nine kinds of wood.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Giant's life in bees
summary: An Indian story is cited in which a giant's life is located in five black
bees.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Mistletoe as healing and hunting-luck plant
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage reports that hunters believe mistletoe heals wounds and brings
hunting luck.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a brief footnote statement, not a narrative episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Festival fire interpreted through divine funeral fire
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: Johannisfeuer are compared by Grimm, and endorsed by Frazer, with Baldr's
funeral fire.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage records a scholarly inference rather than a primary myth text;
the seasonal-cycle classification rests on the fire-festival context only.
- id: motif:3
label: Sacred fire rekindled from deity's object
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: A fire maintained in honor of Perkunas is said to be rekindled from a stone
held by the god's image.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The note is secondhand and explicitly says the cited authority is uncertain.
- id: motif:4
label: Need-fire generated by friction of prescribed woods
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage records need-fire made by friction of oak and fir, or with nine
kinds of wood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The purpose of the need-fire is not given in this passage segment.
- id: motif:5
label: Externalized life hidden in animals
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage cites an Indian story in which a giant's life is in five black
bees.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: Only a citation-level summary is provided; the full story context is absent.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself supports a cautious comparison between Johannisfeuer and
Baldr's funeral fire because it quotes Grimm's question on the connection and
Frazer explicitly endorses the hint.
claim_level: same_function
target: Johannisfeuer and Baldr's funeral fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is a scholarly comparative claim in a footnote; it does not present
independent ritual or myth details in this excerpt.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage groups Indian folktales as similar stories and includes the pattern
of a giant whose life is located outside his body in bees.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Indian folktale external-life stories
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage provides only bibliographic references and brief summaries,
not the full narratives.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnote 778
quote_or_summary: Hunters believe that mistletoe heals all wounds and brings luck
in hunting.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnote 783
quote_or_summary: Grimm asks whether Johannisfeuer recall Baldr's funeral fire;
Frazer says this hint contains in germ the solution of the whole myth.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnote 789
quote_or_summary: The note discusses former European oak woods and prehistoric evidence
for acorns as food in Northern Italian pile villages.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnote 791
quote_or_summary: A report states that if Perkunas's honored fire went out, it was
rekindled by sparks struck from a stone held in the god image's hand.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnote 792
quote_or_summary: Need-fire is said to have been made by friction of oak and fir;
other sources say it should be made with nine kinds of wood, unspecified.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnotes 797-803
quote_or_summary: The passage cites Indian fairy-tale collections and notes similar
stories, including references to stories of necklaces.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 14848-14990; footnote 804
quote_or_summary: A cited Indian story has a giant's life in five black bees.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain; Project Gutenberg source metadata indicates full text
allowed.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is mostly footnotes and citations rather than full narrative;
several motifs are citation-level and require human review against the referenced
primary or folklore sources.
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: |-
No unsupported figures or taxonomy IDs were added beyond the provided passage and available taxonomy references.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l14848-l14990
passage_sha256=479c56224df74f4561aa91e2dfb66c28629c217a28005d710c76e7bcea0b853a