batch.motif.persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg-l892-l983
---
record_id: batch.motif.persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg-l892-l983
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
passage_locator:
label: SA'DI / INTRODUCTION / CHAPTER I / XVIII; lines 892-983
start: '892'
end: '983'
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: The passage presents several didactic court anecdotes. A prince inherits
wealth, gives generously, rejects a courtier's counsel to hoard, and contrasts
a hoarding figure with Nushirowan's reputation. Nushirowan orders that salt for
a hunt be paid for fairly, warning that small royal abuses grow into severe oppression.
A revenue-collector oppresses peasants to enrich the sovereign's treasury and
is later tortured to death by the king after his conduct is reported. The passage
contrasts useful burden-bearing animals with harmful human oppressors. A final
anecdote tells of a powerless pious man struck by a stone who keeps the stone
until his aggressor falls into disgrace and prison, then returns the stone against
him.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A prince succeeds his father, inherits immense riches, and distributes many
gifts to troops and people.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A courtier advises the prince to stop spending and to hoard wealth against
future accidents and enemies.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The courtier uses a granary image to argue that small exactions from many
households could fill a treasure chamber.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The prince rejects the courtier's advice and says God made him sovereign over
the property to enjoy and spend it, not to guard it as a sentinel.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The prince contrasts Carown, who perished despite possessing many treasure
magazines, with Nushirowan, remembered for his reputation.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: At a hunting seat, Nushirowan orders a servant to pay a fair price for salt
from a village rather than take it by force.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Nushirowan warns that a small royal act of taking can become a precedent for
larger abuses by attendants and troops.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: A revenue-collector oppresses peasants to enrich the sovereign's treasury
and is later tortured to death by the king.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The passage says a burden-bearing ass is preferable to a man-devouring lion
and to people who injure fellow-creatures.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: A pious poor man keeps the stone with which an evil-disposed person struck
him and throws it back after the offender is imprisoned.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the prince
description: A ruler who inherits riches from his father and gives many gifts to
troops and people.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: narrow-minded courtier
description: A courtier who advises the prince to reduce spending and hoard treasure.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: God / the Most High
description: Invoked as the one who made the prince sovereign and as the one who
can turn a creature against someone who offends God for worldly favor.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Carown
description: A figure said to have perished despite possessing forty magazines of
treasure.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Nushirowan
description: A ruler remembered for reputation and shown ordering fair payment for
village salt.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: servant sent for salt
description: A servant dispatched to fetch salt from a village during a hunt.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: village and peasants
description: The village from which salt is to be fetched and the peasant householders
whose goods could be harmed by royal taking.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: guards, slaves, and troops
description: Royal attendants and troops described as escalating small royal acts
of taking into larger plunder.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: revenue-collector
description: An official who distrains peasant huts to enrich the sovereign's treasury
and is later executed under torture.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: sovereign / king
description: The ruler whose treasury the revenue-collector enriches and who later
punishes him after receiving a report.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: one who suffered from oppression
description: A person harmed by the revenue-collector who speaks at the time of
the collector's execution.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: evil-disposed person
description: A person who strikes a pious good man with a stone and later is cast
into a dungeon.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: pious good man / dervish / poor man
description: A powerless pious man who keeps the stone used against him and later
throws it at his imprisoned aggressor.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: sovereign in the stone anecdote
description: The ruler who lets loose his wrath and casts the evil-disposed person
into a dungeon.
role_refs:
- role:14
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
roles:
- id: role:1
label: generous ruler
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The prince distributes inherited wealth and says sovereignty over property
is for spending, not hoarding.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: hoarding advisor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The courtier counsels restraint, accumulation, and exaction.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: divine authority invoked in moral judgment
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: God is invoked as giver of sovereignty and as one who punishes offending
the divine for worldly favor.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: failed hoarder
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Carown is cited as perishing despite great stores of treasure.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: just ruler exemplar
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Nushirowan is remembered favorably and forbids even a small forced taking
from villagers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: royal messenger
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The servant is sent to fetch salt from the village.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:7
label: vulnerable subjects
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The village may be desolated by a precedent of forced taking, and peasants'
goods are used in examples of royal abuse.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: escalating agents of oppression
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Attendants and troops are said to magnify a ruler's small act of taking into
greater plunder.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:9
label: oppressive official
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The revenue-collector oppresses peasants to enrich the treasury.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:10
label: punishing ruler
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The king has the official's conduct reported and tortures him to death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:11
label: injured witness
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The sufferer from oppression speaks against abuse of subjects' property at
the execution.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:12
label: fallen aggressor
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: He strikes the pious man when powerful but is later imprisoned.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:13
label: patient retaliator
assigned_to:
- fig:13
basis: He delays revenge while powerless and returns the same stone once the aggressor
is in a dungeon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:14
label: agent of reversal
assigned_to:
- fig:14
basis: The sovereign's wrath changes the aggressor's status by casting him into
a dungeon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: treasure hoard
literal_form: immense riches, wealth, magazines of treasure, chamber full of treasure
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: sowing and crop
literal_form: seed and crop used to describe munificence and reputation
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: fire releasing fragrance
literal_form: aloes-wood placed over fire so fragrance diffuses like ambergris
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: salt bought fairly
literal_form: salt fetched from a village and paid for at fair price
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: uprooted tree
literal_form: a peasant's orchard tree pulled up by the root after a king takes
one apple
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: eggs becoming fowls on spits
literal_form: five eggs sanctioned as plunder becoming a thousand fowls on troops'
spits
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:7
label: flame and sigh of the afflicted
literal_form: crackling in flame identified with the sigh of the afflicted rather
than burning rue
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:7
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:8
label: burden-bearing ass and man-devouring lion
literal_form: ass carrying burdens contrasted with lion and harmful men
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:9
label: bone in the throat and belly
literal_form: a bone forced down the throat that bursts the belly when stuck
associated_figures:
- fig:11
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:10
label: retained stone
literal_form: the same stone used first by the aggressor and later thrown back by
the pious man
associated_figures:
- fig:12
- fig:13
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: sym:11
label: dungeon and manacled hands
literal_form: dungeon imprisonment and fortune manacling the wicked person's hands
associated_figures:
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Prince rejects counsel to hoard
summary: A generous prince gives away inherited wealth; a courtier advises hoarding,
but the prince rejects him and frames rulership as permission to spend rather
than guard treasure.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Nushirowan and the village salt
summary: During a hunt, Nushirowan insists that salt from a village be paid for
fairly, warning that even tiny royal abuses can become destructive precedents.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Punishment of the oppressive revenue-collector
summary: An official oppresses peasants to enrich the royal treasury; moral sayings
condemn such conduct, and the king later tortures him to death after hearing of
his actions.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:7
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:4
label: Delayed return of the stone
summary: A powerless pious man struck by an evil-disposed person keeps the stone
and later returns it when the aggressor has fallen into imprisonment.
figure_refs:
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
symbol_refs:
- sym:10
- sym:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: wisdom instruction through court anecdote
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Each section presents a narrated example followed by maxims about generosity,
justice, oppression, or delayed retaliation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage is didactic rather than mythic
in a narrow sense.
- id: motif:2
label: righteous kingship shown by restraint and generosity
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: The prince's generosity and Nushirowan's refusal to take salt by force present
rulers as legitimate when they protect subjects and avoid hoarding or predation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not state a formal enthronement or dynastic legitimacy
ritual; the motif is inferred from ethical depictions of rulership.
- id: motif:3
label: divine or moral reversal against oppression
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The maxim says God may turn a creature against one who offends the Most High
for worldly gain; the oppressive revenue-collector is later punished, and the
aggressor in the stone anecdote falls into a dungeon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:11
confidence: medium
cautions: Only the maxim explicitly invokes God; later punishments are narrated
through royal or worldly agents.
- id: motif:4
label: small injustice growing into large oppression
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Nushirowan says oppression begins small and accumulates, using the examples
of a single apple leading to an uprooted tree and five eggs leading to mass plunder.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly names this pattern.
- id: motif:5
label: delayed revenge after fall from power
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The pious man cannot retaliate while the aggressor is powerful, but acts
after the aggressor is imprisoned and stripped of advantage.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The passage frames the act through prudential sayings rather than as a
supernatural vengeance pattern.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: XVIII, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: A prince inherits immense riches from his father and gives innumerable
gifts to troops and people; accompanying verses praise munificence through seed
and fragrance images.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: XVIII, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: A narrow-minded courtier warns the prince to restrain waste, prepare
for future need, and collect small amounts from many households to fill a treasure
chamber.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: XVIII, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: The prince rebukes the courtier, says God made him sovereign to
enjoy and spend the property rather than hoard it, and contrasts Carown's perishing
with Nushirowan's enduring reputation.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: XIX, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: At a hunting seat, Nushirowan orders a servant to buy salt from
the village at a fair price, not by force, to avoid a bad precedent and village
desolation.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: XIX, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: 'Nushirowan explains that oppression begins small: if a king takes
one apple, his attendants may uproot the tree; if he sanctions five stolen eggs,
troops may roast a thousand fowls.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: XX, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: A revenue-collector distrains peasant huts to enrich the sovereign's
treasury; a maxim says God may turn a creature against one who offends the Most
High for worldly favor, and the flame's crackling is called the sigh of the afflicted.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: XX, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: The passage contrasts the lion as chief of animals and the ass
as lowly, but says the burden-bearing ass is preferable to the man-devouring lion
and to harmful people.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: XX, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: After the revenue-collector's conduct is reported to the king,
the king racks and tortures him to death; accompanying counsel links sovereign
approval to the goodwill of the people.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: XX, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: A sufferer from the collector's oppression speaks during the execution,
warning that high station does not permit immoderate freedom with subjects' property
and comparing such abuse to a bone that bursts the belly.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: XXI, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: An evil-disposed person strikes a pious good man on the head with
a stone; the dervish lacks power of revenge and keeps the stone.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: XXI, within lines 892-983
quote_or_summary: When the sovereign's wrath casts the aggressor into a dungeon,
the poor man throws the same stone at his head and explains that he waited until
the aggressor's high station had fallen.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/persian/project-gutenberg/gulistan-sadi-ross.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal narrative extraction is straightforward. Motif assignment is cautious
because the passage is moral-didactic literature rather than a mythic narrative;
no external comparison claims were added.
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 comparison claims were recorded because the passage itself does not explicitly compare these anecdotes to another tradition or motif family beyond its internal exemplary patterns.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:persian-sadi-gulistan-ross-gutenberg__l892-l983
passage_sha256=ff35016da0d128b07b496517b672821aefcae924d6b264f3f4fde0d8966637f0