batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l10728-l10834
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l10728-l10834
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
passage_locator:
label: PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.
/ VIII.; lines 10728-10834
start: '10728'
end: '10834'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A woman reproaches her husband for preaching contentment while they live
in cold, hunger, and poverty. She compares his wisdom and guile to serpents and
tells a parable-like image of a snake-charmer who is himself charmed and trapped
by the snake. The husband replies by defending poverty as spiritual pride, distinguishing
true dervish poverty from worldly wealth, and claiming contentment over greed.
He describes wealth as a covering that hides defects, poverty as openness, God
as the provider of dervishes, and divine will as distributing both blessings and
fiery trials.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The woman addresses her husband angrily and rejects his talk of claims, pride,
sentiment, and honour.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The household condition is described as cold, snowy, damp, hungry, and housed
in a tent full of holes.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The woman cites a prophetic saying that contentment is a treasure, but says
her husband knows only suffering.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The woman compares the husband’s claimed wisdom to serpent and scorpion poison
and calls him both snake and snake-catcher.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: A snake-charmer is described as singing a charm against a snake, while the
snake charms him in return.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The snake says the charmer uses the name of God as a trap to bind and display
it.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The snake predicts that the divine name will take vengeance, either through
the snake’s poison-fang or by imprisoning the charmer.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: The husband answers by invoking the saying, “My poverty’s my pride,” and asks
not to be reproached for poverty.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The husband compares possessions and wealth to a cap, and compares a man of
God to the sense of sight that should not be bandaged.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The husband says wealth can function as a mantle that hides a person’s defects.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: The husband says true dervishes retire from wealth and power and receive bread
from God.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: The husband says God gives blessings to one person and tries another with
coals of fire.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:13
text: The husband says that if he catches a snake, he extracts its fangs so no harm
follows.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:14
text: The husband claims to have conquered greed and says contentment fills his
heart as a perpetual feast.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the woman
description: A wife who rebukes her spouse for poverty, hunger, and what she views
as empty preaching about contentment.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: the spouse / husband
description: The woman’s husband, who defends poverty, dervish contentment, and
victory over greed.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:12
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: snake-charmer
description: A figure who sings a charm against a snake and tries to bind it using
the name of God.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: snake
description: A serpent that charms the charmer in return, speaks to him, fears the
divine name, and threatens vengeance through poison or imprisonment.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: true dervishes
description: Religious mendicants described as retiring from wealth and power and
receiving bread from God.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: God
description: The divine provider and judge who furnishes bread, distributes blessings,
tries people with fire, and may avenge misuse of the divine name.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: complaining wife
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: She raises a shout against her husband and complains of cold, hunger, damp
clothing, and a ruined tent.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: defender of poverty
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He replies that poverty is his pride and that contentment fills his heart.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:12
- id: role:3
label: would-be snake-catcher
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He answers the charge of snake-catching by saying that if he catches a snake,
he removes its fangs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: role:4
label: charmer trapped by his own charm
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The charmer tries to charm and bind the snake, but the snake says the charmer
has mistaken the snake’s wiles and will face vengeance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: speaking serpent adversary
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The snake speaks to the charmer, accuses him, and predicts punishment through
poison or imprisonment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: ascetic recipients of divine provision
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: True dervishes are said to retire from wealth and power, with their bread
supplied by God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:7
label: divine provider and judge
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: God is described as furnishing bread, distributing blessings and fiery trials,
and avenging misuse of the divine name.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: serpent
literal_form: snake / serpent with poison-fang
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:3
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:11
- id: sym:2
label: fire of trial
literal_form: coals of fire / fire of tribulation
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:3
label: leaking water-reservoir
literal_form: water-reservoir that leaks
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: cap and mantle as coverings
literal_form: cap, cloak, mantle, clothing
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: contentment as feast
literal_form: contentment filling the heart as a perpetual feast
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Wife rebukes husband’s contentment
summary: The woman denounces her husband’s teachings about contentment and pride
by pointing to their cold, hunger, damp clothes, and damaged tent.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Snake-charmer reversed by the snake
summary: The woman develops an image in which a charmer tries to bind a snake, but
the snake charms him, accuses him of misusing God’s name, and predicts divine
vengeance.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Husband defends poverty and dervish contentment
summary: The husband replies that poverty is spiritual pride, wealth hides defects,
true dervishes are provided for by God, and contentment has conquered greed in
him.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:12
- id: scene:4
label: Snake-catching reinterpreted as harmlessness
summary: The husband answers the accusation of being a snake-catcher by saying that
if he catches a snake he removes its fangs so that harm cannot follow.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: serpent as adversary and image of guile
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
basis: The woman labels the husband’s wisdom as serpent-like poison and narrates
an encounter in which a snake out-charms a snake-charmer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The serpent material occurs within the woman’s rhetoric rather than as
an independent plot event.
- id: motif:2
label: ascetic poverty as spiritual wisdom
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The husband invokes poverty as pride, describes true dervishes as renouncing
wealth and power, and claims contentment over greed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:12
confidence: high
cautions: The wife challenges this claim, so the passage presents it in debate rather
than as uncontested narration.
- id: motif:3
label: divine provision and fiery trial
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: God is said to provide bread for dervishes, distribute blessings to one person,
and try another with coals of fire.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage emphasizes divine will and trial more than a formal judgment
scene.
- id: motif:4
label: worldly wealth as concealment of defects
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The husband compares wealth to caps, cloaks, and mantles that hide bodily
or moral defects, while poverty exposes truth.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a didactic metaphor rather than a narrative motif.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 10728-10747
quote_or_summary: The woman shouts at her husband, rejects his talk of pride and
honour, and points to the cold, snow, damp clothing, holes in the tent, and hunger.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 10748-10754
quote_or_summary: "“The Prophet has declared: ‘Content a treasure is.’” The woman
adds that contentment is “a water-reservoir that leaks.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 10764-10770
quote_or_summary: The woman says the husband’s wisdom is “serpent’s, scorpion’s,
deadly gall” and calls him “both snake and snake-catcher.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 10774-10783
quote_or_summary: A snake-charmer sings against a snake, but the snake charms him
in turn; the charmer is caught in greed and lust and fails to see that the snake
has bound him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 10784-10796
quote_or_summary: The snake tells the charmer that he uses God’s name as a trap;
the snake fears that name and says it may avenge him through poison-fang or imprisonment.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 10799-10802
quote_or_summary: 'The husband replies: “My poverty’s my pride,” and says possessions
and wealth are a cap that hides the scalp.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 10803-10808
quote_or_summary: The husband says one with full hair can remove the cap proudly,
and that a man of God resembles sight, which should not be bandaged.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 10810-10820
quote_or_summary: The husband compares wealth to clothing or a mantle that hides
defects, while an exposed slave without defects needs no covering.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 10822-10827
quote_or_summary: The husband says dervish functions exceed the woman’s understanding;
true dervishes retire from wealth and power, and God furnishes their bread.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: lines 10828-10833
quote_or_summary: God gives one person blessings and luxuries, and tries another
“with coals of fire”; doubters receive “the fire of tribulation.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 10836-10843
quote_or_summary: The husband says that if he catches a snake, he extracts its fangs
so no harm follows and the serpent is freed from strife.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:12
type: quote
locator: lines 10844-10848
quote_or_summary: The husband says he will not submit to lust and greed, has conquered
covetousness, and that “Contentment fills my heart;--a true, perpetual feast.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The passage is a didactic debate with embedded metaphors, so figures and
motifs are extracted at the level of speech imagery as well as narrated action.
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: '2026-04-29'
notes: |-
Line references in evidence follow the supplied passage locator and visible verse-line sequence; some evidence locators extend slightly beyond the stated end as represented in the provided passage text.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l10728-l10834
passage_sha256=70ba480009e5891c3d10899877ec1c51801cfe9049455d3965b857f990591818