batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l14992-l15134
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l14992-l15134
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 14992-15134
start: '14992'
end: '15134'
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 Frazer's footnotes citing classical and folk-tale
parallels. It records examples in which a person's or monster's life, strength,
or soul is located in a detachable lock, animals, a phial, or a box; it also notes
a milk-drinking act that creates kinship with an ogress, and compares several
Arabian, Kashmiri, Bengali, Albanian, and Tartar tale incidents.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Tzetzes is cited for a version in which Nisus's strength, rather than his
life, was in his golden hair; when it was pulled out, he became weak and was killed
by Minos.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Hyginus is cited for a version in which Nisus was destined to reign only while
he kept the purple lock on his head.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: An Albanian story is summarized in which a monster's strength is in three
pigeons, which are in a hare, which is in the silver tusk of a wild boar.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: In the Albanian story, killing the boar, opening the hare, and killing the
pigeons progressively weaken and finally kill the monster.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Frazer notes that in both a Greek and an Italian story, a nephew and his uncles
quarrel over the skin of a boar that the nephew had given to his lady-love and
the uncles took from her.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: An Arabian story is said to have main outlines identical with a Kashmiri story
called “The Ogress Queen” and a Bengali story called “The Boy whom Seven Mothers
Suckled.”
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Another Arabian story is summarized in which the life of a witch is bound
up with a phial, and she dies when it is broken.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: In an Arabian story, the hero drinks milk from an ogress's breasts and is
consequently regarded by her as her son.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: A Tartar poem is summarized in which a boy's soul is shut up by enemies in
a box; while the soul is in the box he is dead, and when it is taken out he returns
to life.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: The same Tartar poem is said to include a horse's soul kept shut up in a box
because it is feared that the horse's owner will become the greatest hero on earth.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Nisus
description: A ruler whose strength or reign is linked to a golden hair or purple
lock in cited classical versions.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Minos
description: The figure said to slay Nisus after the removal of Nisus's golden hair
in the Tzetzes version.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Albanian monster
description: A monster whose strength is located in three pigeons nested within
a hare and a boar's silver tusk.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Nephew
description: A tale figure who gives a boar skin to his lady-love and quarrels with
uncles after they take it from her.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Uncles
description: Relatives who take the boar skin from the nephew's lady-love in the
Greek and Italian story comparison.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Lady-love
description: Recipient of the boar skin given by the nephew and then deprived of
it by the uncles.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Witch
description: A figure in an Arabian story whose life is bound up with a phial.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Hero
description: A hero who drinks milk from an ogress's breasts and is regarded by
her as her son.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Ogress
description: A female ogress who treats the hero as her son after he drinks her
milk.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Boy
description: A boy whose soul is shut in a box by enemies, leaving him dead until
the soul is taken out.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Horse
description: A horse whose soul is kept shut in a box in the same Tartar poem.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Enemies
description: Figures who shut the boy's soul in a box in the Tartar poem.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: bearer of externalized life, strength, or soul
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:7
- fig:10
- fig:11
basis: These figures' strength, life, reign, or soul is described as depending on
a detachable object, animal container, or box.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: slayer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Minos is named as the one by whom Nisus is slain after Nisus becomes weak.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: giver of contested object
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The nephew presents the boar skin to his lady-love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: hostile taker or captor
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:12
basis: The uncles take the boar skin; the enemies shut the boy's soul in a box.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: recipient deprived of gift
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The lady-love receives the boar skin from the nephew and the uncles take
it from her.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: milk-created son
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The hero drinks the ogress's milk and is regarded by her as her son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:7
label: milk-mother
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The ogress regards the hero as her son after he drinks her milk.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: golden hair or purple lock
literal_form: A lock or hair on Nisus's head on which his strength or reign depends.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: nested animal life-token
literal_form: Three pigeons inside a hare inside the silver tusk of a wild boar.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: boar skin
literal_form: The skin of a boar given to a lady-love and taken by uncles.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: phial containing life
literal_form: A phial with which the witch's life is bound up.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: milk creating kinship
literal_form: Milk drunk from an ogress's breasts, after which the hero is regarded
as her son.
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs:
- milk
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: soul box
literal_form: A box in which the soul of a boy, and elsewhere a horse, is shut up.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Nisus weakened by removal of hair
summary: A cited version says Nisus's strength is in his golden hair; once the hair
is pulled out, he becomes weak and is slain by Minos. Another cited version links
his reign to keeping a purple lock.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Monster's strength destroyed through nested animals
summary: A monster's strength is hidden in three pigeons within a hare within a
boar's silver tusk; destruction of the containers and pigeons weakens and kills
him.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Quarrel over boar skin
summary: A nephew gives a boar skin to his lady-love, and his uncles take it from
her, producing the stated quarrel in both a Greek and an Italian story.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Ogress milk creates sonship
summary: A hero drinks milk from an ogress's breasts, and the ogress consequently
regards him as her son.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Soul confined in a box
summary: Enemies shut a boy's soul in a box, leaving him dead until the soul is
removed; the same poem also mentions a horse's soul kept in a box.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: externalized life, strength, or soul
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Several cited tales link a figure's vitality, reign, strength, or soul to
a removable lock, animals, a phial, or a box.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is a footnote apparatus summarizing or citing tales rather
than presenting full narratives.
- id: motif:2
label: nested containers of a monster's strength
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Albanian example places the monster's strength in pigeons inside a hare
inside a boar's silver tusk, and destruction proceeds through the nested sequence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: Only a brief summary of the story is provided.
- id: motif:3
label: life bound to breakable vessel
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The cited Arabian story says a witch's life is bound up with a phial and
she dies when it breaks.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage gives no further details about the witch or the phial.
- id: motif:4
label: milk-drinking creates kinship
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The hero drinks milk from an ogress's breasts and is thereafter regarded
by her as her son; Frazer compares this with other ethnographic instances of creating
kinship by the same mode.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The comparative ethnographic citations are listed only briefly in the
footnote.
- id: motif:5
label: death and restoration through released soul
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: In the Tartar poem summary, a boy is dead while his soul is shut in a box
and is restored to life when it is taken out.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is approximate; the passage describes soul removal
and restoration rather than a full rebirth cycle.
- id: motif:6
label: contested animal trophy as quarrel object
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Frazer states that in both a Greek and an Italian story the quarrel between
nephew and uncles concerns a boar skin given to the nephew's lady-love and taken
by the uncles.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage identifies the shared quarrel object but does not summarize
the whole narrative pattern.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: Frazer explicitly compares an Arabian story with the Kashmiri “The Ogress
Queen” and the Bengali “The Boy whom Seven Mothers Suckled,” saying their main
outlines are identical.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Arabian, Kashmiri, and Bengali ogress-related tale patterns
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage reports Frazer's comparison but does not give the full
plots of the compared stories.
- id: claim:2
claim: Frazer states that the incident of a witch's life bound up with a phial has
a similar occurrence in a Kashmiri story.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Arabian and Kashmiri life-in-phial incidents
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The Kashmiri parallel is only cited, not narrated in detail.
- id: claim:3
claim: Frazer compares the hero's milk-drinking from an ogress with other cases
in which kinship is created by the same mode among different peoples.
claim_level: same_function
target: Milk-drinking as a cross-cultural kinship-creating act
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage lists comparative references without describing each practice.
- id: claim:4
claim: Frazer describes the Tartar boxed-soul cases as to some extent the converse
of the cases discussed in the surrounding text.
claim_level: same_function
target: Tartar boxed-soul episodes and nearby external-soul cases in Frazer's discussion
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The exact surrounding cases are not included in the provided passage,
so the nature of the converse relationship cannot be fully specified here.
- id: claim:5
claim: Frazer says the boar-skin quarrel occurs in both a Greek and an Italian story.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Greek and Italian tales involving quarrel over a boar skin
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: Only the quarrel object and participants are summarized.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 14992-14997, footnote 811
quote_or_summary: Tzetzes is cited for Nisus's strength being in his golden hair,
whose removal leads to weakness and death by Minos; Hyginus is cited for a purple
lock determining the duration of Nisus's reign.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 15005-15012, footnote 815
quote_or_summary: 'An Albanian story is summarized: a monster''s strength is in
three pigeons, inside a hare, inside the silver tusk of a wild boar; killing or
opening these progressively weakens and finally kills the monster.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 15023-15026, footnote 820
quote_or_summary: Frazer notes that both Greek and Italian stories have a quarrel
between nephew and uncles over a boar skin that the nephew gave to his lady-love
and the uncles took from her.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 15067-15087, footnote 844
quote_or_summary: Frazer compares an Arabian story with Kashmiri and Bengali stories;
notes an Arabian witch whose life is bound up with a phial; and describes a hero
who drinks an ogress's milk and is thereby regarded as her son, with further kinship
parallels cited.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 15129-15134, footnote 852
quote_or_summary: A Tartar poem is summarized in which a boy's soul is shut in a
box by enemies, making him dead until the soul is removed; the same poem also
has a horse's soul kept in a box because of fear that its owner will become the
greatest hero.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: citation
locator: lines 14999-15128, footnotes 812-851
quote_or_summary: The footnotes cite numerous Greek, Albanian, Russian, Serbian,
German, Norse, Scottish, Breton, Egyptian, Arabian, Kabyle, Magyar, and Tartar
tale collections and classical sources as parallels in the surrounding discussion.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; citation summary.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage consists mainly of bibliographic footnotes and compressed summaries.
Specific motifs are clear where Frazer gives brief narrative details, but many
cited sources are not described in the excerpt.
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 figures or motifs were added beyond those directly named or summarized in the provided passage. Available taxonomy was used only where directly supportable.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l14992-l15134
passage_sha256=5854f13b3af379dc9e92ba4c80078fec3e4468069e8e64ed22be44a408bb1403