batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l6771-l6845
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l6771-l6845
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS;
lines 6771-6845'
start: '6771'
end: '6845'
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: Frazer surveys Greek and Italian tales in which a person's life or strength
is bound to an external object, body part, animal, plant, or nested token. Examples
include Meleager's brand, fatal hairs, birds or doves, a serpent, pumpkins, a
spear, a twin dragon, and a stone hidden through nested beings.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage states that in Greek tales, ancient and modern, the idea of an
external soul is not uncommon.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: obs:2
text: Meleager is said to die when a brand on the hearth burns down; his mother
preserves it, then later burns it after he slays her brothers.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Nisus and Pterelaus each have a fatal hair, and each dies when a daughter
removes it during a siege involving a beloved enemy ruler or attacker.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Several modern Greek examples locate a man's, enchanter's, ogre's, monster's,
or old man's strength or life in hairs, doves, singing birds, or a serpent.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:5
text: In one Greek story, the strength of three sons resides in pumpkins planted
at their births, and damage or loss of the pumpkins affects the sons.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:6
text: 'An Italian legend is explicitly described as a close parallel to the Greek
story of Meleager: a child''s fate is bound to a spear, and his mother burns it
in revenge.'
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:7
text: In a Pentamerone story, a queen's life is tied to her twin brother, a dragon;
the death of one entails the death of the other, with restoration possible through
the dragon's blood.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:8
text: In a Roman version of Aladdin, a magician's death depends on a precious stone
hidden inside a bird, inside a leveret, inside the middle head of a seven-headed
hydra.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Meleager
description: Greek figure whose death is tied to the burning of a brand from the
hearth.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Meleager's mother
description: Mother who first removes and preserves the brand, then later burns
it after Meleager kills her brothers.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the Fates
description: Figures who tell Meleager's mother that he will die when the burning
brand is consumed.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Nisus, King of Megara
description: King whose life is fated to end if a purple or golden hair on his head
is pulled out.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Scylla
description: Daughter of Nisus who loves Minos and pulls the fatal hair from her
father's head.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Pterelaus
description: Figure made immortal by Poseidon through a golden hair on his head,
later killed when the hair is plucked out.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: daughter of Pterelaus
description: Daughter who falls in love with Amphitryon and kills her father by
plucking out the golden hair bound to his life.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: unnamed man in modern Greek folk-tale
description: Man whose strength lies in three golden hairs on his head.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: enchanter, ogre, and monster figures in Greek tales
description: Adversarial figures whose life or strength is bound to doves, singing
birds, or birds accessed through a chamber or a boar.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: hero in Greek bird-soul tales
description: Hero who kills birds or doves connected with an ogre's or monster's
life or strength.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: old man in Greek tale
description: Old man whose strength is in a ten-headed serpent.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: dervish
description: Speaker who tells a queen that her three sons' strength will reside
in the fruit of pumpkins planted at their births.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: three sons in Greek pumpkin story
description: Children whose strength is connected with pumpkins planted at their
births.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: midnight intruder in Greek pumpkin story
description: Figure appearing at midnight who cuts the second pumpkin, causing the
boy's strength to leave him.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:15
name_or_label: Silvia's son
description: Child of Silvia and Mars whose fate is bound to a spear.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:16
name_or_label: Silvia
description: Young wife of Septimius Marcellus and mother who burns the spear on
which her son's life depends.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:17
name_or_label: Mars
description: God who gives Silvia a spear and says the child's fate will be bound
up with it.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:18
name_or_label: queen in Pentamerone story
description: Queen whose life lasts only as long as her twin brother, a dragon.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:19
name_or_label: dragon twin brother
description: Dragon who is the queen's twin brother; his death involves the queen's
death, and his blood can restore her.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:20
name_or_label: magician in Roman Aladdin version
description: Magician holding the princess captive; his fatal thing is a precious
stone hidden through nested beings.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:21
name_or_label: princess in Roman Aladdin version
description: Captive princess who asks the magician what is fatal to him and later
places the stone under his pillow.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:22
name_or_label: prince in Roman Aladdin version
description: Princess's husband who tells her to ask what fatal thing can kill the
magician and procures the stone.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: life or strength bound to external token
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:11
- fig:13
- fig:15
- fig:18
- fig:20
basis: These figures' life, fate, or strength is said to depend on a brand, hair,
birds, serpent, pumpkins, spear, dragon twin, or stone.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: role:2
label: relative who removes or destroys life-token
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:5
- fig:7
- fig:16
basis: These mothers or daughters burn, pull out, or otherwise destroy the object
or body part on which a male relative's life depends.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: announcer or giver of life-token condition
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:12
- fig:17
basis: These figures reveal, assign, or explain the condition by which life or strength
is bound to an external item.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: role:4
label: destroyer or procurer of fatal token
assigned_to:
- fig:10
- fig:14
- fig:21
- fig:22
basis: These figures kill birds, cut pumpkins, obtain a fatal stone, or place it
where it kills the magician.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: role:5
label: paired life counterpart
assigned_to:
- fig:19
basis: The dragon twin's life is directly linked to the queen's, and his blood can
restore her.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: hearth brand
literal_form: brand blazing on the hearth, preserved in a box and later burned
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: fatal hair
literal_form: purple or golden hair on the head; three golden hairs in one modern
tale
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: birds or doves containing life or strength
literal_form: three doves, three singing birds, or two doves connected with an enchanter's,
ogre's, or monster's life or strength
associated_figures:
- fig:9
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: wild boar as container
literal_form: wild boar whose belly contains doves or singing birds in Greek stories
associated_figures:
- fig:9
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: ten-headed serpent
literal_form: serpent with ten heads in which an old man's strength resides
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: pumpkins planted at births
literal_form: pumpkins planted in a garden, with fruit holding the strength of three
children
associated_figures:
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: life-bound spear
literal_form: spear given by Mars to Silvia, with the child's fate bound up with
it, later burned
associated_figures:
- fig:15
- fig:16
- fig:17
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:8
label: dragon twin and dragon blood
literal_form: queen's twin brother, a dragon, whose blood can restore the queen
to life if he is killed
associated_figures:
- fig:18
- fig:19
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:9
label: nested fatal stone
literal_form: precious stone inside a bird's head, inside a leveret's head, inside
the middle head of a seven-headed hydra
associated_figures:
- fig:20
- fig:21
- fig:22
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Meleager's brand preserved and burned
summary: The Fates announce that Meleager will die when the hearth brand burns down;
his mother removes and stores it, then later burns it in anger, causing his death.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Fatal hair removed during sieges
summary: In the Nisus and Pterelaus examples, a daughter in love with an enemy or
besieger removes a fatal hair from her father, causing his death.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Greek bird and animal life-token tales
summary: Modern Greek tales describe figures whose life or strength depends on golden
hairs, doves, singing birds, birds in a boar, or birds reached through a chamber;
killing or removing these tokens weakens or kills them.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Old man's strength in serpent
summary: An old man's strength is in a ten-headed serpent; as its heads are cut
off he feels unwell, and he dies when the last head is struck off.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Children's strength in pumpkins
summary: A dervish instructs a queen to plant pumpkins at the birth of each son;
the fruit contains the children's strength, and cutting or losing the pumpkins
weakens the sons until the youngest recovers them.
figure_refs:
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Italian spear parallel to Meleager
summary: Mars gives Silvia a spear tied to her child's fate; after the grown son
kills his maternal uncles, Silvia burns the spear in revenge.
figure_refs:
- fig:15
- fig:16
- fig:17
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:7
label: Queen and dragon twin
summary: Astrologers declare that a queen will live only as long as her twin brother,
a dragon; if he is killed, dragon blood applied to her body can restore her life.
figure_refs:
- fig:18
- fig:19
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:8
label: Roman Aladdin nested fatal object
summary: 'A captive princess learns the magician''s fatal secret: a stone hidden
inside nested animal heads. The prince obtains it, and the princess places it
under the magician''s pillow, causing his death.'
figure_refs:
- fig:20
- fig:21
- fig:22
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: life or strength externally located
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Across the cited examples, the passage repeatedly states that a person's
life, fate, or strength is bound up with an object, hair, animal, plant, twin,
or stone outside ordinary bodily life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy list does not include an explicit external-soul
motif family; label follows the passage's own wording.
- id: motif:2
label: fatal hair as life-token
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Nisus, Pterelaus, and an unnamed modern Greek man have life or strength connected
with purple or golden hairs on the head.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The examples differ in whether the hair carries life, immortality, or
strength.
- id: motif:3
label: family betrayal or revenge destroys life-token
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Meleager's mother burns his brand, Scylla removes her father's hair, Pterelaus's
daughter removes his hair, and Silvia burns her son's spear.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: 'Motivations vary: anger, revenge, or love for an opposing figure.'
- id: motif:4
label: life-token hidden in animals or nested containers
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage describes doves or birds inside a boar, and a stone inside a
bird, inside a leveret, inside a hydra's head.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The Greek bird examples and Roman nested-stone example are not identical
in structure.
- id: motif:5
label: serpent or multi-headed creature linked with life-token
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
basis: An old man's strength is in a ten-headed serpent; another tale places the
fatal stone within the middle head of a seven-headed hydra.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage explicitly calls one creature a serpent and the other a hydra;
the taxonomy link is strongest for the serpent example.
- id: motif:6
label: plant fruit as external strength vessel
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Greek pumpkin story places the strength of three sons in pumpkin fruit
planted at their births.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This motif is represented by one example in the passage.
- id: motif:7
label: twin life-bond and restoration by blood
taxonomy_refs:
- sibling_pair
- resurrection
basis: The queen and her twin brother dragon share linked life, and the queen can
be restored to life through application of the dragon's blood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage reports this as one Pentamerone example; the dragon is a twin
brother rather than a conventional human sibling pair.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The Italian legend of Silvia's son and the spear is presented by the passage
as a close parallel to the Greek story of Meleager and the brand.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Greek Meleager brand story and Italian Silvia spear legend
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The parallel is limited to the fate-bearing object destroyed by the
mother; the objects and surrounding genealogies differ.
- id: claim:2
claim: The Greek examples are grouped by the passage under the recurring pattern
that life or strength is located in an external token.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Ancient and modern Greek external-soul tales
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage is a secondary comparative survey and gives compressed
summaries rather than full tale contexts.
- id: claim:3
claim: 'The Roman Aladdin example shares the same functional pattern as the Greek
bird-soul tales: a hidden external object or creature must be obtained or destroyed
to kill the powerful adversary.'
claim_level: same_function
target: Greek bird/dove life-token tales and Roman Aladdin nested-stone tale
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage does not explicitly call this a close parallel; the comparison
is based on the described shared function within Frazer's sequence of examples.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 6771-6778
quote_or_summary: Meleager's mother is told by the Fates that he will die when a
hearth brand burns down; she saves it, but later burns it after he kills her brothers,
and he dies.
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 6778-6785
quote_or_summary: Nisus has a purple or golden hair on his head, and it is fated
that he will die if it is pulled out; Scylla pulls it out during the Cretan siege
of Megara, and he dies.
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 6785-6791
quote_or_summary: Poseidon makes Pterelaus immortal by giving him a golden hair;
his daughter, loving Amphitryon, plucks out the hair with which his life is bound
up, killing him.
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 6791-6794
quote_or_summary: A modern Greek tale says a man's strength lies in three golden
hairs; when his mother pulls them out, he weakens and is killed by enemies.
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 6794-6815
quote_or_summary: Greek stories describe an enchanter, ogre, or monster whose life
or strength is in doves or singing birds, sometimes inside a wild boar or behind
a chamber door; killing the birds weakens or kills the figure.
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: summary
locator: lines 6815-6818
quote_or_summary: A Greek tale says an old man's strength is in a ten-headed serpent;
he feels ill as its heads are cut off and dies when the last head is severed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 6818-6830
quote_or_summary: A dervish tells a queen that the strength of her three sons will
reside in pumpkin fruit planted at their births; cutting or losing pumpkins weakens
the sons, and the youngest recovers the lost pumpkins.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 6831-6837
quote_or_summary: 'The passage calls an ancient Italian legend a close parallel
to Meleager: Mars gives Silvia a spear tied to her child''s fate, and Silvia later
burns it after the son kills his maternal uncles.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 6837-6842
quote_or_summary: In a Pentamerone story, astrologers say a queen will live only
as long as her twin brother, a dragon; if he dies, she can be restored by smearing
parts of her body with his blood.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 6842-6845
quote_or_summary: In a Roman Aladdin version, a magician's fatal thing is a stone
hidden inside a bird, inside a leveret, inside a seven-headed hydra; the prince
obtains the stone and the princess places it under the magician's pillow, causing
his death.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is itself a comparative secondary summary and explicitly names
the external-soul pattern. Some taxonomy mappings are limited because the supplied
motif families do not include a direct external-soul 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: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used. Historical wording in the source for one figure has been paraphrased neutrally as 'midnight intruder' except where necessary for evidence context.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l6771-l6845
passage_sha256=324212e81d656d1b2e7cd9e507965a02436c8846ff66bf3efb8e97e4d3a468c4