batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l12368-l12473
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l12368-l12473
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 12368-12473
start: '12368'
end: '12473'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A man is first refused entry by a friend after answering “I”; after a year
of absence and suffering he returns and answers as the friend’s second self, whereupon
he is admitted. The passage expands this into teachings on trial, divine power,
creation, unity behind apparent plurality, cooperative opposites, the common aim
of prophets and saints, water and speech as channels serving human need, voiceless
spiritual thought, and the world of unity beyond the senses. It closes by returning
to the lion, wolf, and fox episode, noting that the lion tore the wolf apart so
that there would not be two heads.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A man knocks at a friend’s door and answers that it is he himself.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The friend refuses entry, saying that only the mature, not the crude, may
stay.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The friend describes absence and trial as fire that will purge selfishness
and mature what is crude.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: The man goes away for a year, suffers yearning, and returns to the same door.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: On the second knocking, the man answers that he is the friend’s own second
self.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: The friend invites him in, saying there is no room for two selves and comparing
the single self to a single thread fitting a needle’s eye.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:7
text: The passage says God can make impossibilities possible and can call the blind,
leprous, dead, and non-existent into life.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: 'The passage describes three divine armies: one stirring elements for vegetation,
one bringing births from mothers, and one going to the sepulchre for reward, joy,
or mourning.'
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The host welcomes the guest as his own self and says their thread is single,
though their forms are duplex.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: Two bleachers seem opposed because one wets cloth while the other dries it,
but the passage says they have one shared aim.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: Prophets and saints are said to have different rites, but all tend toward
God.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:12
text: Water is described as flowing downward through a trough to turn mills until
human need is satisfied.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:13
text: Speech is described as a stream flowing through the mouth to teach wisdom,
while spirit has another voiceless course.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:14
text: The speaker prays to see a realm where voiceless spirit thoughts move and
says unity lies beyond the senses.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:15
text: The passage closes by saying the lion tore the wolf’s head from his tail so
that there would not be two heads.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: man at the door
description: A man who first answers “I,” is refused, undergoes a year of absence
and suffering, and later returns to be admitted after identifying as the friend’s
second self.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: friend or host within the door
description: The person inside the house who rejects the first answer, explains
maturity through trial, and later invites the transformed visitor inside.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: God
description: The divine being described as making impossibilities possible, creating
by command, raising the dead, and sending forth three armies.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: three armies
description: 'Three groups sent forth by God: toward elements and plants, toward
births from mothers, and toward the sepulchre for recompense.'
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: pair of bleachers
description: Two workers who appear to oppose one another by wetting and drying
cloth but are said to cooperate toward one aim.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: prophets and saints
description: Religious figures with distinct rites whose paths are said to tend
toward God.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: speaker praying to the Lord
description: The speaking voice that asks the Lord to grant sight of the realm of
voiceless spirit thoughts.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: lion
description: A lordly lion said to have torn the wolf’s head from his tail so that
there would not be two heads.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: wolf
description: A poor wolf whose head is said to have been torn from his tail by the
lion.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: fox
description: Named with the wolf and lion as an acquaintance to whose story the
passage turns, but without further action in this excerpt.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: excluded visitor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He knocks, identifies himself as “I,” and is told to go away.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: transformed returnee
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: After a year away in anguish and yearning, he returns and answers as the
friend’s second self.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: gatekeeping friend
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He questions the visitor, refuses him at first, and later admits him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: teacher of unity
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He explains that the house has no room for two selves and that the thread
must be single.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: omnipotent creator
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage attributes creation by command, power over impossibility, and
revivification to God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: agents of divine work
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The armies are sent forth to perform works associated with vegetation, birth,
and the sepulchre.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:7
label: apparently opposing collaborators
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The bleachers appear to combat one another but in reality have one aim.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: diverse guides toward God
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Prophets and saints have special rites but all tend to God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: supplicant seeker of spiritual vision
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The speaker asks the Lord to let his soul see the voiceless realm of spirit
thoughts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:10
label: dominant animal ruler
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The lion is called lordly and acts against the wolf so that there would not
be two heads.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:11
label: punished animal subordinate
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The wolf is described as poor and as torn by the lion.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: door
literal_form: friend’s door or street door
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: fire of trial
literal_form: fire
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: single thread and needle’s eye
literal_form: thread and needle
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: camel unable to pass through needle’s eye
literal_form: camel and needle’s eye
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: divine command Be
literal_form: the word or command “Be”
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: sym:6
label: water powering mills
literal_form: water flowing through a trough to mills
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: stream of speech
literal_form: stream flowing through the mouth
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:8
label: world of unity beyond senses
literal_form: world of unity beyond the senses
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:9
label: single headship
literal_form: not having two heads
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: first knocking and refusal
summary: A man knocks at a friend’s door, answers “I,” and is refused because his
selfhood is described as crude and needing trial by absence.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: year of absence and second knocking
summary: After a year of anguish and yearning, the man returns, identifies as the
friend’s second self, and is admitted because there is room for only one self.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: divine power over impossibility and life
summary: The passage expands from the needle image to divine power, saying God can
make impossibilities possible and summon the dead and non-existent into life.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: three divine armies
summary: God is said to send forth three armies connected with vegetation, human
birth, and the sepulchre where recompense is received.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: welcome into single selfhood
summary: The host welcomes the guest as his own self and presents their apparent
doubleness as one in sense through the image of a single thread and the command
“Be.”
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: opposed bleachers with one aim
summary: Two bleachers appear to act against each other by wetting and drying cloth,
but their actions are described as cooperative.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:7
label: many rites tending to God
summary: Prophets and saints are said to have special rites, yet all tend toward
God; water is described as serving mills until human need is satisfied.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:8
label: voiceless spirit and unity beyond sense
summary: The passage describes speech as a stream for teaching wisdom, prays for
access to a voiceless spiritual realm, and says unity lies beyond the senses.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
- sym:8
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:9
label: return to lion, wolf, and fox
summary: The passage turns back to the animal tale, saying the lordly lion tore
the wolf so that two heads would not exist for one purpose.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: self-effacement before union with the friend
taxonomy_refs:
- annihilation_union
- mystical_quest
basis: The visitor is refused while asserting “I,” undergoes absence and suffering,
and is admitted only when he speaks as the friend’s own second self and when two
selves are no longer present.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The passage frames the episode in mystical and didactic language, but
the extraction does not identify the friend with any figure beyond the text’s
own wording.
- id: motif:2
label: trial that matures the seeker
taxonomy_refs:
- initiation
- mystical_quest
basis: The friend says absence should serve as fire to purge selfishness and mature
the crude visitor; the man then spends a year in anguish before returning changed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The trial is interior and didactic rather than a formal ritual initiation.
- id: motif:3
label: unity behind apparent plurality
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
- annihilation_union
- wisdom
basis: The host says two forms are one in sense; the bleachers appear opposed but
share one aim; prophets and saints have varied rites but tend toward God; unity
is said to lie beyond the senses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: This is a doctrinal theme expressed through several examples rather than
a single narrative episode.
- id: motif:4
label: divine command creating and revivifying
taxonomy_refs:
- resurrection
basis: The passage states that God makes impossibilities possible, that the dead
arise when the Omnipotent calls, and that non-existence starts into life at divine
command.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The resurrection language is used in a theological exposition rather than
as an enacted story within the passage.
- id: motif:5
label: water and speech as channels of wisdom
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Water is described as turning mills to satisfy human need, and speech is
described as a stream through the mouth to teach wisdom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The water and speech images are analogical and not developed as an independent
mythic episode.
- id: motif:6
label: single head against rival authority
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The lion tears the wolf so that there would not be two heads for one purpose.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: This is only the closing transition to another animal episode; the wider
narrative context is not included in the supplied passage.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 12368-12377
quote_or_summary: A man knocks at a friend’s door, says it is “I,” and is sent away
because he is crude; the friend says the fire of trial and absence must purge
selfhood.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 12378-12391
quote_or_summary: After a year of anguish and yearning, the man knocks again, answers
as the friend’s second self, and is invited in because there is no room for two
selves; thread and needle images are used.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 12392-12405
quote_or_summary: The passage says God can make a camel pass the needle’s eye, make
impossibilities possible, heal or raise the blind, leprous, and dead, and call
non-existence into life.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 12406-12417
quote_or_summary: 'A cited saying introduces God’s daily work: three armies go forth,
one for elements and plants, one for births from mothers, and one to the sepulchre
for reward and mourning.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 12418-12429
quote_or_summary: The host welcomes the guest as his own self, says they are a single
thread, and explains that the command “Be” unites nullity to a friend, with duplex
forms but one effect.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 12430-12439
quote_or_summary: Two bleachers seem to oppose one another, one wetting cloth and
one drying it, but in reality they cooperate with one aim.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 12440-12449
quote_or_summary: Prophets and saints have their own rites but all tend to God;
water makes mills turn and is turned off when human need is satisfied.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 12450-12469
quote_or_summary: Speech is a stream through the mouth for teaching wisdom, while
spirit moves voicelessly; the speaker prays to see that realm and says unity lies
beyond the senses.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 12470-12473
quote_or_summary: The passage turns to the wolf, fox, and lion; the lion has torn
the wolf’s head from his tail so that there would not be two heads.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is well supported by the supplied passage. Motif labels
are candidate classifications from the provided taxonomy and should be reviewed,
especially for the brief animal-story transition.
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: |-
Used only the supplied passage text and metadata. Comparison claims are left empty because the passage itself does not establish a comparison beyond internal analogies and supplied taxonomy classification.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l12368-l12473
passage_sha256=817fd78ba64c689b53a7e088932e882aae8a6c097e5999987afc423a2b460570