batch.motif.persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg-l1775-l1813
---
record_id: batch.motif.persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg-l1775-l1813
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
passage_locator:
label: CHAPTER II / XVIII / XXIII / XXVII; lines 1775-1813
start: '1775'
end: '1813'
translation: The Persian Literature, Volume 2, The Gulistan
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A dying king without an heir orders that the first person to enter the
city gate in the morning be crowned. A beggar becomes ruler, but rebels and neighboring
princes soon reduce his kingdom. An old friend congratulates him on his rise from
poverty, but the new ruler says his dignity brings heavier cares than hunger did,
and he praises contentment over wealth or royal gifts.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A king at the end of his life has no heir and leaves instructions for succession.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The king’s will directs that the first person to enter the city gate in the
morning receive the crown and kingdom.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The first entrant is a beggar who has lived by gathering scraps and patching
rags.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Ministers and nobles obey the will and set the keys of the treasury and citadel
at the beggar’s feet.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The beggar, described afterward as a dervish, governs for a time.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Chiefs and territorial princes rebel, raise armies, defeat his forces, and
take provinces from him.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: An old friend from his time of poverty returns and congratulates him on his
elevated rank using images of roses, thorns, flowers, withering, naked trees,
and leafy trees.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The dervish rejects congratulation and says he needs condolence because the
care of a whole kingdom now rests on him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: The dervish says both adversity and prosperity disquiet the mind, and he recommends
contentment as a treasure.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: The dervish contrasts the gift of a roasted elk from King Bahram Ghor with
a locust’s leg from an ant.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: dying king
description: A king at the end of his days with no heir who leaves a will governing
succession.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: beggar / dervish ruler
description: A poor man who first enters the city gate, is crowned, governs the
kingdom, and later laments the burdens of rule.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: ministers and nobles
description: Court officials who fulfill the king’s will and transfer royal authority
to the beggar.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: rebellious chiefs and territorial princes
description: Political rivals who abandon allegiance, raise armies, and seize provinces.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: old friend from poverty
description: A former companion of the dervish’s poverty who returns from a journey
and congratulates him.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: King Bahram Ghor
description: A named king used in the dervish’s comparison about generosity.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: ant
description: An ant used in the dervish’s comparison as giver of a locust’s leg.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: testator of succession
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He makes a will specifying who should receive the crown and kingdom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: unexpected successor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He is the first person at the gate and is given the crown despite being a
beggar.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: burdened ruler
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He governs, loses provinces, and describes kingship as care rather than good
fortune.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: speaker of moral counsel
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He teaches that contentment is a greater treasure than riches and contrasts
poor patience with rich gifts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: executors of royal will
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: They fulfill the terms of the dead king’s will and deliver symbols of authority.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: challengers to rule
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: They rebel, levy armies, and take provinces.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: congratulating friend
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: He rejoices at the dervish’s apparent rise from poverty to rank.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:8
label: exemplum figures in comparison
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: They appear only in the dervish’s illustrative comparison about gifts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: crown of sovereignty
literal_form: crown placed on the successor’s head
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: city gate
literal_form: city gate where the first morning entrant is selected
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: keys of treasury and citadel
literal_form: keys laid at the new ruler’s feet
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: roses and thorns
literal_form: roses issuing from thorns and thorns removed from feet
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: seasonal plant and tree
literal_form: plant in flower or withered; tree naked or clothed with leaves
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: contentment as treasure
literal_form: contentment called an immense treasure
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: unequal gifts
literal_form: whole roasted elk from a king contrasted with a locust’s leg from
an ant
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: king appoints an unknown successor by will
summary: A dying king without an heir orders that the first person entering the
city gate in the morning receive the crown and kingdom.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: beggar receives royal authority
summary: A beggar is the first entrant, and ministers and nobles place the keys
of treasury and citadel at his feet.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: rule contested and provinces lost
summary: The dervish governs for a time, but chiefs and princes rebel, armies fight,
and several provinces are taken from him.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: friend congratulates the rise from poverty
summary: An old friend returns and interprets the dervish’s new rank as fortune
after hardship, using plant and tree imagery.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: dervish teaches the burden of fortune
summary: The dervish says kingship has replaced hunger with larger cares, and he
praises contentment and the patient poor over the gifts of the rich.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: unexpected elevation to kingship
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: A succession rule in a king’s will transfers sovereignty to the first person
entering the city gate, who happens to be a beggar.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The passage treats the succession as legally executed by the court, but
it does not present divine selection or sacred ancestry.
- id: motif:2
label: reversal of fortune reveals new burdens
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The beggar rises to royal rank, is congratulated as fortunate, and replies
that poverty’s hunger has been replaced by the cares of a whole kingdom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a moralized anecdote rather than a mythic transformation narrative.
- id: motif:3
label: contentment superior to wealth
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The dervish explicitly counsels that those who covet riches should ask for
contentment and contrasts poor patience with rich gifts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is ethical and proverbial; no supernatural or ritual element
is present.
- id: motif:4
label: seasonal alternation as image of fortune
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
- wisdom
basis: The old friend explains hardship and ease through images of plants flowering
and withering and trees bare or leafy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The imagery is explicit, but it functions as an analogy in speech, not
as an enacted seasonal myth.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage can be cautiously compared to wisdom-literature patterns in which
sudden good fortune is reinterpreted as a moral test or burden rather than simple
blessing.
claim_level: same_function
target: wisdom motif family / reversal-of-fortune admonition
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage itself provides only an ethical anecdote and does not identify
an external parallel tradition.
- id: claim:2
claim: The plant and tree images support a cautious comparison to seasonal-cycle
imagery used to describe alternating hardship and ease.
claim_level: visual_similarity
target: seasonal_cycle motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: low
limitations: The comparison is limited to metaphorical imagery; no seasonal rite,
deity, or mythic cycle is narrated.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1775-1780
quote_or_summary: A king near death, having no heir, wills that the first person
entering the city gate in the morning should receive the crown and kingdom.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1781-1786
quote_or_summary: The first entrant is a beggar who has lived on scraps and patched
rags; ministers and nobles fulfill the will and lay the keys of treasury and citadel
at his feet.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1787-1793
quote_or_summary: The dervish rules for a time, but chiefs and territorial princes
rebel, raise armies, defeat his troops and subjects, and take several provinces.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 1794-1803
quote_or_summary: '"Along with hardship there is ease; or, to sorrow succeeds joy";
the friend also speaks of roses from thorns and plants or trees changing by season.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt quoted.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: lines 1803-1808
quote_or_summary: '"When you last saw me I had to think of getting a crumb of bread;
now I have the cares of a whole kingdom on my head."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt quoted.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1808-1811
quote_or_summary: The dervish says adversity brings pain, prosperity binds one to
affection for the world, and contentment is an immense treasure.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1811-1813
quote_or_summary: The dervish says the patience of the poor surpasses the gift of
the rich, comparing a roasted elk from King Bahram Ghor with a locust’s leg from
an ant.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is a clear moral anecdote with explicit royal-succession and
wisdom themes. Comparisons are limited to broad motif families because the passage
does not name external parallels.
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 text and metadata were used.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg__l1775-l1813
passage_sha256=c2fba40de2e76b960354b68f7779935de17f5426dfdcb8bf26579812fc239ded