batch.motif.celtic-irish-heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy-gutenberg-l13622-l13657
---
record_id: batch.motif.celtic-irish-heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy-gutenberg-l13622-l13657
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
passage_locator:
label: LITERAL TRANSLATION / TEXT OF LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRI / INTRODUCTION / TEXT WITH
INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION; lines 13622-13657
start: '13622'
end: '13657'
translation: Heroic Romances of Ireland
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: they saw the two swans around Tara
summary: A woman is carried off from the house. After disgrace falls on the hosts,
two swans are seen around Tara. Echaid goes with a troop of men of Ireland to
the elf-mound at Femun, called the elf-mound of the fair-haired women. The men
counsel digging up each elf-mound so that his wife might come back to him from
them; the manuscript then becomes fragmentary.
language: English with Old Irish interlinear text
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A female figure is carried off over the skylight of a house.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The hosts rise up about the king after the carrying-off.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: After disgrace comes upon them, the hosts see two swans around Tara.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Echaid travels with a troop of men of Ireland to the elf-mound about Femun.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The elf-mound about Femun is glossed as the elf-mound of the fair-haired women.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The counsel of the men of Ireland is to dig up each elf-mound so that Echaid's
wife may come to him from them.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The passage is textually fragmentary, with conjectured and missing letters
near the counsel and the end of the version.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Echaid
description: A named male figure who goes with a troop of men of Ireland to the
elf-mound about Femun; the woman sought is described as his wife.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: unnamed wife
description: A female figure carried off from the house and later referred to as
Echaid's wife, whom the men hope will return from the elf-mounds.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: hosts / men of Ireland
description: A collective group who rise up about the king, accompany Echaid, and
give counsel to dig up each elf-mound.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: two swans
description: Two swans seen around Tara after disgrace comes upon the hosts.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: fair-haired women
description: Women named in the gloss identifying the elf-mound at Femun as the
elf-mound of the fair-haired women.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: pursuer or seeker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Echaid goes with a troop to the elf-mound, and the counsel concerns bringing
his wife back from them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: husband
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The woman to be recovered is described as his wife.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: carried-off wife
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: A woman is carried off, and the later wording refers to Echaid's wife returning
to him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: armed or collective companions and advisers
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The men of Ireland accompany Echaid and provide counsel to dig up each elf-mound.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: two swans
literal_form: two swans around Tara
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: elf-mound
literal_form: síd / elf-mound about Femun
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: Tara
literal_form: Tara, the place around which the two swans are seen
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: skylight of the house
literal_form: skylight of the house over which the woman is carried off
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Carrying-off from the house
summary: A woman is carried off over the skylight of the house, and the hosts rise
up around the king.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Two swans around Tara
summary: After disgrace comes upon the hosts, two swans are seen around Tara.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Journey to the elf-mound at Femun
summary: Echaid goes with a troop of men of Ireland to the elf-mound about Femun,
identified as the elf-mound of the fair-haired women.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Counsel to dig up elf-mounds
summary: The men of Ireland advise digging up each elf-mound so that Echaid's wife
may come back to him from them; the text is fragmentary at this point.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: carried-off beloved or wife
taxonomy_refs:
- stolen_beloved
basis: The passage states that a woman is carried off and later identifies her as
Echaid's wife, whom the men seek to recover from the elf-mounds.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The agent who carries her off is not preserved in the supplied excerpt.
- id: motif:2
label: pursuit to an otherworld mound
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: Echaid and the men of Ireland go to the elf-mound about Femun in connection
with recovering his wife.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not narrate a completed quest in this excerpt, and the
ending is fragmentary.
- id: motif:3
label: swan appearance after abduction
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: After the woman is carried off and disgrace falls on the hosts, two swans
are seen around Tara.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The excerpt does not explicitly state that any figure has transformed
into a swan.
- id: motif:4
label: opening or violating fairy mounds to recover a person
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The men advise digging up each elf-mound so that Echaid's wife may come back
from them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The text is damaged near this passage, and the outcome is not included.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 13622-13624
quote_or_summary: '"carried her off over skylight of the house"; the hosts rise
up about the king.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 13626-13630
quote_or_summary: '"after a disgrace on them, they saw the two swans around Tara."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 13632-13639
quote_or_summary: They take the road to the elf-mound about Femun, and Echaid goes
there with a troop of men of Ireland.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 13638-13639
quote_or_summary: The place is identified as "elfmound of the fair-haired women."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 13641-13657
quote_or_summary: The men of Ireland counsel digging up each elf-mound so that Echaid's
wife should come to him from them; the surviving text then breaks off.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:6
type: note
locator: lines 13641-13657 and footnote FN#146
quote_or_summary: The passage includes a conjectural supplement by Strachan and
manuscript gaps, including a lost ending of the version.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/celtic-irish/project-gutenberg/heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy.md
rights_note: Public domain source; textual note summarized.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The main actions and settings are clear, but the excerpt is fragmentary and
includes interlinear translation with manuscript gaps. No comparison claims were
added because the supplied passage alone does not support a specific comparative
claim beyond internal motif candidates.
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 supplied passage text and metadata were used; no external narrative context was added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:celtic-irish-heroic-romances-of-ireland-leahy-gutenberg__l13622-l13657
passage_sha256=e7c7d010b0b0e4f52d7dc787f95f50ed8dcf9a194657b6fef4f21feee6b55646