batch.motif.persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg-l2879-l2969
---
record_id: batch.motif.persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg-l2879-l2969
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
passage_locator:
label: XVIII / XXVII / CHAPTER IV / CHAPTER V; lines 2879-2969
start: '2879'
end: '2969'
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 sequence of short didactic and lyrical passages treats friendship, longing,
jealousy, attachment, separation, reproach, and regret. Speakers praise beloved
figures, excuse their faults, suffer jealousy or public blame, and use images
such as the torch and moth, almond kernels, antelope on a string, fountain of
immortality, bat and sun, and a seal of affection.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A boy asks another person to inspect both his duties and his tendency to vice
so that he may be warned and corrected.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The respondent says he can see nothing but virtue in the boy.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: A person who had not seen his friend for a long time asks where the friend
had been, and the friend replies that it is better to be sought after than loathed.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The speaker says a rarely seen mistress becomes more desired than one seen
to satiety.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: A mistress who comes with companions or rivals provokes jealousy in the speaker.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The mistress replies that she is the torch of the assembly and is not responsible
if the moth consumes itself.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: A narrator describes himself and a friend as being like two kernels within
one almond shell before he unexpectedly went on a journey.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: After the narrator returns, the friend chides him for not sending a messenger
during the long interval.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The narrator says he did not want a courier's eyes to be enlightened by the
friend's countenance while he was deprived of seeing it.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:10
text: A learned gentleman is described as captive to attachment for a person and
as patient under reproach and violence.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: An admonisher tells the learned gentleman that such attachment exposes him
to calumny and rabble rudeness.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:12
text: The learned gentleman replies that suffering contempt is easier than giving
up the person's company.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:13
text: A bound antelope is used as an image of inability to move freely.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:14
text: In youth the narrator has close intercourse with a young person who has an
exquisite musical pipe and a form compared to the full moon.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:15
text: The young person's cheek and lips are described through images of the fountain
of immortality and sweetness.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:16
text: After being displeased by the young person's behavior, the narrator withdraws
communication and affection.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:17
text: The departing young person compares the narrator to a bat that does not relish
the company of the sun.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:18
text: The narrator later feels distress and regret over the lost opportunity of
enjoyment and asks the young person to return even if only to slay him.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the boy
description: A boy who asks to be warned about any immorality in his behavior.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: the affectionate respondent
description: The person who tells the boy that he sees only virtue in him.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the solicitous person
description: A person who has not seen his friend for a length of time and asks
where he was.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: the absent friend
description: The friend who replies that it is better to be sought after than loathed.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: the mistress or charmer
description: A desired woman who may arrive with companions or rivals and later
calls herself the torch of the assembly.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Sa'di or the speaking lover
description: The speaker addressed by the mistress and affected by jealousy.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: the traveling narrator
description: A narrator who was formerly close to a friend, unexpectedly went on
a journey, and returned later.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: the intimate friend
description: A friend likened with the narrator to a kernel in the same almond shell
and later chiding him for not sending a messenger.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: the courier
description: A messenger whose eyes the narrator does not wish to be enlightened
by the friend's countenance.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: the learned gentleman
description: A learned man captive to attachment and willing to endure reproach
for a certain person's company.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: the certain person
description: The person for whom the learned gentleman suffers attachment, reproach,
and violence.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: the admonishing friend
description: The speaker who warns the learned gentleman that his conduct exposes
him to calumny.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: the young person with the pipe
description: A young person with an exquisite musical pipe and a form compared to
the full moon.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: the youthful narrator
description: The narrator who first attaches himself to the young person, then withdraws
affection, and later regrets the separation.
role_refs:
- role:6
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: self-correcting youth
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He asks to be warned of immorality so he may correct it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: partial admirer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He reports seeing only virtue in the boy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: friend
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:8
basis: The figures are explicitly described as friends in their respective anecdotes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: sought-after absentee
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: He has been absent and says being sought after is better than being loathed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: beloved or desired figure
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:8
- fig:11
- fig:13
basis: These figures are the objects of longing, jealousy, contemplation, or attachment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: jealous or suffering lover
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:14
basis: The speakers describe jealousy, lost enjoyment, distress, or desire for the
beloved's return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: departed and returned companion
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: He unexpectedly goes on a journey and later returns.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:8
label: messenger
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The courier would have carried communication during the narrator's absence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:9
label: captive of attachment
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: He is called captive of attachment and accepts reproach for the beloved's
company.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:10
label: admonisher
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: He counsels the learned gentleman against conduct that may bring calumny.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:11
label: departing youth
assigned_to:
- fig:13
basis: After the narrator withdraws communication, the young person speaks and departs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:12
label: regretful former companion
assigned_to:
- fig:14
basis: He withdraws affection but later suffers distress and calls for return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: malignant eye
literal_form: an eye that sees virtue as vice and is cursed to be plucked out
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: single perfection among seventy faults
literal_form: one perfection contrasted with seventy faults
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: skirt held by the lover
literal_form: the skirt of the intoxicating idol held by the speaker
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: torch and moth
literal_form: the beloved as the torch of the assembly and the lover as a consuming
moth
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: two kernels in one almond shell
literal_form: two kernels enclosed within a single almond shell
associated_figures:
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: courier's enlightened eyes
literal_form: a courier's eyes enlightened by the beloved friend's countenance
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:7
label: hand on the skirt of fatality
literal_form: a hand of reproach on the skirt of fatality
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:8
label: antelope led by a string
literal_form: an antelope led by a string that cannot bound freely from side to
side
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:9
label: fountain of immortality
literal_form: a fountain of immortality associated with tasting the down of the
young person's cheek
associated_figures:
- fig:13
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:10
label: full moon form
literal_form: the young person's form described as silver bright as the full moon
associated_figures:
- fig:13
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:11
label: sugar of the lips
literal_form: sweetness or sugar associated with the young person's lips
associated_figures:
- fig:13
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:12
label: seal of affection
literal_form: a seal of affection removed by the narrator
associated_figures:
- fig:13
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:13
label: bat and sun
literal_form: the bat that does not relish the company of the sun and the sun whose
brilliance is not diminished
associated_figures:
- fig:13
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: The boy asks to be corrected
summary: A boy requests scrutiny for vice as well as duty, but the respondent says
his view of the boy shows only virtue.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Absence makes the friend desired
summary: A person questions an absent friend, and the exchange is followed by reflection
that a rarely seen beloved is more desired than one seen too often.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: The mistress as torch of the assembly
summary: The speaker suffers jealousy when the mistress appears with companions
or rivals, and she answers that she is a torch while the moth consumes itself.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: The journey and the unsent messenger
summary: The narrator and friend are described as closely joined, but after a journey
and return the friend chides him for sending no messenger; the narrator says jealousy
of the courier's sight prevented it.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: The learned gentleman accepts reproach
summary: A learned gentleman is admonished for exposing himself to blame through
attachment, but he replies that suffering reproach is easier than abandoning the
beloved's company.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: The young musician departs and is regretted
summary: The narrator is attached to a beautiful young person with a melodious pipe,
withdraws affection after displeasure, hears the youth compare him to a bat rejecting
the sun, and then regrets the separation.
figure_refs:
- fig:13
- fig:14
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
- sym:10
- sym:11
- sym:12
- sym:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Love perceives virtue and overlooks fault
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The respondent sees only virtue in the boy, and the passage generalizes that
a lover discerns one perfection despite many faults.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: This is presented as an aphoristic love observation, not as a supernatural
or divine motif.
- id: motif:2
label: Long absence increases desire
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
- return
- wisdom
basis: The absent friend says it is better to be sought after, and the passage states
that a rarely seen mistress is more desired than one seen too often.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is social and lyrical rather than mythic in a narrow sense.
- id: motif:3
label: Jealous lover and indifferent beloved
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The speaker is nearly slain by jealousy when the mistress is associated with
a rival, while she compares herself to a torch and the lover to a moth consuming
itself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: No historical comparison to the wider moth-and-flame tradition is asserted
from this passage alone.
- id: motif:4
label: Intimate companions separated by journey
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
- return
basis: The narrator and friend are described as two kernels in one almond shell,
then separated by a journey and reunited after a long interval.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is anecdotal and does not frame the journey as an initiation
or quest.
- id: motif:5
label: Attachment endured despite public reproach
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The learned gentleman willingly bears calumny, violence, and rabble rudeness
rather than give up the beloved's company.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The attachment is human and ethical-social; no divine beloved should be
inferred.
- id: motif:6
label: Captive lover unable to break bonds
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The learned gentleman speaks of fatality, inability to abandon the beloved,
and the antelope led by a string.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The captivity is metaphorical and grounded in emotional attachment.
- id: motif:7
label: Beloved as life-giving beauty
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The young person's cheek is linked with the fountain of immortality, the
lips with sweetness, and the form with the full moon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The images are poetic praise and do not indicate literal immortality.
- id: motif:8
label: Separation followed by regret and desire for return
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
- return
basis: After withdrawing affection, the narrator watches the young person depart,
feels distress, recognizes lost enjoyment, and calls for return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The requested return is emotional and rhetorical, not a completed return
event in the passage.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 2879-2888
quote_or_summary: The boy asks to be warned of immorality so he may correct it;
the respondent says he sees only virtue, followed by an aphorism about the lover
discerning one perfection despite many faults.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2892-2900
quote_or_summary: A person asks an absent friend where he has been; the reply says
it is better to be sought after than loathed, followed by reflection that a rarely
seen mistress is more desired.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 2901-2910
quote_or_summary: The speaker says the mistress's arrival with companions or rivals
is hostile and provokes jealousy; she replies that she is the torch of the assembly
and the moth may consume itself.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 2914-2926
quote_or_summary: The narrator and friend were like two kernels in one almond shell;
after an unexpected journey and return, the friend complains no messenger was
sent, and the narrator says he did not want a courier to see the friend's countenance.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2928-2952
quote_or_summary: A learned gentleman is captive to attachment and bears reproach;
an admonisher warns him of calumny, but he says suffering contempt is easier than
forgoing the beloved's company, with images of fatality, the eye, and an antelope
led by a string.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2954-2961
quote_or_summary: In youth the narrator has close relations with a young person
who has a melodious pipe and moon-bright form; the young person's cheek and lips
are praised through images of immortality and sweetness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2962-2969
quote_or_summary: After the young person's behavior displeases him, the narrator
withdraws communication and affection; the youth departs saying the sun is not
diminished by the bat's dislike, and the narrator later regrets the lost enjoyment
and calls for return.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief paraphrase.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward. Motif labels are cautious and based
on recurring social-poetic patterns within the passage. No external comparison
claims are made.
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: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy references were limited to available motif families and symbols when directly supported.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg__l2879-l2969
passage_sha256=73d6bd9755531de49ca08f8073c4057f48a33b93cfe984e62f5bd3b07f73afeb