batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l6928-l6980
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l6928-l6980
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 6928-6980'
start: '6928'
end: '6980'
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: "“in that egg there lies my heart”"
summary: Frazer summarizes several Norse, Icelandic, Celtic, and Breton tales in
which a giant, ogre, sea beast, or human life is bound to an external object such
as an egg, grain of sand, or candle; when the object is obtained, broken, moved,
or burned, the being dies or bursts.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A Norse giant says his heart is far away inside an egg, which is inside a
duck, which swims in a well in a church on an island in a lake.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The hero obtains and squeezes the egg; the giant screams and begs for life,
and when the hero breaks the egg the giant bursts.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: In another Norse story, a hill-ogre says the captive princess cannot return
home unless she finds a grain of sand under the ninth tongue of the ninth head
of a dragon.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: When the hero brings the grain of sand to the high rock where the ogres live,
the ogres burst and the rock and lake change as foretold.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: In an Icelandic tale, spae-wives foretell Gestr’s destiny beside two burning
candles, and the youngest says the child will live no longer than one candle burns.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The chief sybil puts out the candle and gives it to Gestr’s mother to keep;
after three hundred years Gestr lights it and dies.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: In a Celtic tale, a giant says his soul is in an egg inside a duck inside
a wether under a flagstone beneath the threshold.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: In a Celtic tale about a sea beast, the beast’s soul is said to be in an egg
in the mouth of a trout, after a sequence involving a hind and a hoodie.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: In a Breton story, an otherwise unharmed giant says he can be killed only
if a distant egg hidden through a chain of beings is crushed on his breast.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: In another Breton tale, Body-without-Soul’s life resides in an egg inside
a dove, hare, wolf, and iron chest at the bottom of the sea; the hero breaks the
egg on the giant’s forehead and the giant dies.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Norse giant with no heart in his body
description: A giant whose heart is hidden in an egg far away from his body.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Hero of the Norse heart-in-egg tale
description: The hero obtains, squeezes, and breaks the egg containing the giant’s
heart.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Captive princess in the Norse heart-in-egg tale
description: A captive princess to whom the giant reveals the hiding place of his
heart.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Norse hill-ogre and ogres
description: Ogres living in a rock, vulnerable to the grain of sand found under
the ninth tongue of a dragon’s ninth head.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Hero of the grain-of-sand tale
description: The hero finds the grain of sand and carries it to the top of the rock
where the ogres live.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Gestr
description: An infant whose lifespan is linked by prophecy to a candle; he later
lives three hundred years and dies when he lights it.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: spae-wives or sybils
description: Female prophetic figures who foretell Gestr’s destiny and handle the
candle that determines his life.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Gestr’s mother
description: She receives the extinguished candle and is charged not to light it
again until her son wishes to die.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Celtic giant with soul in egg
description: A giant whose soul is in an egg hidden inside nested animals beneath
a threshold stone.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Celtic sea beast
description: A sea beast that has carried off a king’s daughter and whose soul is
in an egg in a trout’s mouth.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: old smith
description: A smith who declares the single way of killing the sea beast.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Breton invulnerable giant
description: A giant whom fire, water, and steel cannot harm, but who can die if
a hidden egg is crushed on his breast.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: soldier in the Breton tale
description: A soldier gets the egg and crushes it on the giant’s breast.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: Body-without-Soul
description: A Breton giant whose life does not reside in his body but in an egg
hidden through animals and an iron chest under the sea.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:15
name_or_label: hero in the Body-without-Soul tale
description: The hero kills the animals one after another, carries the egg, and
breaks it against the giant’s forehead.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: external-life being
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:12
- fig:14
basis: Each figure or group is described as vulnerable through a life, heart, or
soul located outside the body in an object or hidden token.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: life-token seeker or destroyer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:5
- fig:13
- fig:15
basis: These figures obtain, move, or break the token that causes the monster or
ogres to die or burst.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:3
label: captive recipient of secret
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The captive princess is told where the giant’s heart is hidden.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: person with lifespan tied to object
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Gestr is said to live no longer than a specified candle burns, and dies after
lighting it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: prophetic women
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The spae-wives or sybils foretell the child’s destiny and one states the
candle-bound lifespan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: keeper of life-token
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Gestr’s mother is given the extinguished candle and charged not to relight
it until her son wishes to die.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: abductor
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The sea beast is said to have carried off a king’s daughter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: informer of vulnerability
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The old smith declares the one way of killing the sea beast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: external heart or soul egg
literal_form: egg containing heart, soul, or life
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:12
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:2
label: hidden grain of sand
literal_form: grain of sand under the ninth tongue of the ninth head of a dragon
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: life candle
literal_form: candle whose burning marks Gestr’s lifespan
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: nested animal containers
literal_form: duck, wether, hind, hoodie, trout, pigeon, hare, wolf, dove, and other
nested beings containing the life-token
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:12
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:5
label: water settings for hidden life-token
literal_form: lake, well, loch, and sea connected with the hidden token or its container
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:10
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: remote or sealed hiding place
literal_form: island church well, threshold flagstone, distant brother’s body, and
iron chest at the bottom of the sea
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:9
- fig:12
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: transformed ogre dwelling
literal_form: rock becoming a gilded palace and lake becoming green meadows
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Norse giant’s heart in an egg
summary: A giant reveals to a captive princess that his heart is hidden in a remote
egg; the hero gets and breaks the egg, causing the giant to burst.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Norse hill-ogres and the grain of sand
summary: A hill-ogre explains that a grain of sand hidden in a dragon’s ninth head
can undo the ogres; the hero brings it to their rock and they burst.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Gestr’s lifespan candle
summary: Prophetic women tie Gestr’s life to a burning candle, which is preserved
by his mother until he later lights it and dies.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Celtic giant’s soul under the threshold
summary: A giant’s soul is located in an egg hidden through nested animals beneath
a flagstone; when the egg is crushed, the giant dies.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Celtic sea beast’s soul in egg
summary: A sea beast that has carried off a king’s daughter can be killed only by
breaking an egg containing its soul after a sequence of animal transformations
or releases.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Breton invulnerable giant and breast-crushed egg
summary: A giant declares that ordinary elements and weapons cannot harm him, but
a hidden egg crushed on his breast will kill him; a soldier does so and the giant
dies.
figure_refs:
- fig:12
- fig:13
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:7
label: Body-without-Soul’s external life
summary: A hero kills the animals that contain the giant’s life-egg, reaches the
giant near death, and breaks the egg on his forehead.
figure_refs:
- fig:14
- fig:15
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: life or soul kept outside the body
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Several tales state that a giant’s, beast’s, or ogres’ heart, soul, or fatal
vulnerability is kept in an external object rather than the body.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is a secondary comparative summary and not a full primary
tale text.
- id: motif:2
label: nested containers protecting a life-token
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The life-token is repeatedly hidden inside chains of animals, buildings,
stones, bodies, or a chest before the hero can reach it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The exact sequence differs among tales.
- id: motif:3
label: breaking or burning the token causes death
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Eggs are broken or crushed to kill giants or beasts, while Gestr dies when
the lifespan candle is kindled.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The grain-of-sand episode causes bursting by being brought to the rock
rather than by being broken.
- id: motif:4
label: monster reveals or discloses its own vulnerability
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Several beings disclose to a princess or other hearer the hidden condition
by which they can be killed or undone.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not describe the circumstances of every disclosure, and
some vulnerabilities are reported by helpers instead.
- id: motif:5
label: abducted or captive princess linked to monster-slaying
taxonomy_refs:
- stolen_beloved
basis: The passage includes captive princesses and a king’s daughter carried off
by a sea beast in tales where a monster’s hidden life-token must be found.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives only brief summaries and does not narrate full rescue
sequences for all examples.
- id: motif:6
label: lifespan tied to a combustible object
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Gestr’s life is foretold to last only as long as a particular candle burns;
the candle is extinguished, preserved, and later relit at his death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This motif is represented here by one Icelandic example in the passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage presents Norse, Celtic, and Breton tales as sharing a pattern
in which a being’s heart, soul, or life is externalized in a hidden token, often
an egg, and the being dies when the token is destroyed or activated.
claim_level: same_motif
target: external soul or life-token motif across Norse, Celtic, and Breton tales
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This supports motif similarity only; it does not by itself establish
historical contact, borrowing, or common inheritance.
- id: claim:2
claim: 'The grain-of-sand tale has the same functional pattern as the external life-token
examples: a hidden small object is obtained and brought to the monster’s dwelling,
causing the ogres to burst.'
claim_level: same_function
target: hidden fatal token causing destruction of ogres
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
confidence: medium
limitations: The object is not described as a soul or heart, and it destroys a group
and transforms a place rather than directly containing one being’s life.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage explicitly calls the Icelandic Gestr episode a parallel to the
story of Meleager, because Gestr’s death is tied to the preservation and burning
of a particular object.
claim_level: same_function
target: Meleager-type lifespan bound to a burnable object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage names Meleager but does not quote or summarize the Meleager
story, so the comparison can only be recorded at the level stated in the passage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 6928-6936
quote_or_summary: In a Norse tale, a giant says his heart is in an egg inside a
duck in a well in a church on an island in a lake; the hero obtains and breaks
the egg, and the giant bursts.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 6936-6944
quote_or_summary: In another Norse story, a hill-ogre says a grain of sand under
the ninth tongue of a dragon’s ninth head can undo the ogres; the hero brings
it to their rock and the ogres burst, while the rock and lake transform.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 6944-6953
quote_or_summary: In an Icelandic parallel to Meleager, spae-wives foretell Gestr’s
destiny; one says he will live no longer than a candle burns, the chief sybil
extinguishes and preserves it, and Gestr dies after lighting it three hundred
years later.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 6955-6960
quote_or_summary: In a Celtic tale, a giant says his soul is in an egg inside a
duck inside a wether under a flagstone beneath a threshold; the egg is crushed
and the giant dies.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 6960-6969
quote_or_summary: In another Celtic tale, a sea beast has carried off a king’s daughter;
an old smith says the beast can be killed only through an egg in the mouth of
a trout after a sequence involving a hind and a hoodie; when the egg breaks, the
beast dies.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 6969-6976
quote_or_summary: In a Breton story, a giant invulnerable to fire, water, and steel
says he can be killed if a hidden egg, contained through pigeon, hare, wolf, and
his brother, is crushed on his breast; a soldier does this and the giant dies.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 6976-6980
quote_or_summary: In another Breton tale, Body-without-Soul’s life is in an egg
inside a dove, hare, wolf, and an iron chest at the bottom of the sea; the hero
kills the animals, breaks the egg on the giant’s forehead, and the giant dies.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is explicit about repeated external-life tokens and their effects.
Comparison claims are limited to similarities supported within Frazer’s summarized
examples and do not infer transmission.
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 external sources used; taxonomy references applied only where directly supported by the provided available taxonomy list.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l6928-l6980
passage_sha256=96f923ea9fbf3c75c276259b2a4005eb1b0f0bf6f09f5b9deb0706c7e45d1930