batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l5876-l5995
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l5876-l5995
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
passage_locator:
label: OF QONYA. / PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.;
lines 5876-5995
start: '5876'
end: '5995'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage ends a tale in which the goldsmith dies after reflecting on
retribution, and the narrator interprets his death through divine command, saintly
agency, sacrifice, purifying trial, and merciful severity. It then begins the
tale of an oilman whose speaking parrot knocks over oil jars after being frightened
by a cat, is struck into silence, and later speaks again when it mistakes a bald
mendicant for someone who has also upset oil jars.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The goldsmith speaks of slain blood demanding its like and of the world as
a mountain where deeds return like an echo, then dies.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The narrator says love for the living should be directed toward the one Living
who does not die and from whom life flows.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The goldsmith’s death is attributed to lethal drugs administered by the doctor,
and the doctor’s act is said not to be from hope, fear, or base motive but from
divine suggestion.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The passage refers to the child slain by an angel, Ishmael beneath his father’s
knife, Elias sinking a ship, and Moses being shocked by the act.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:5
text: The prince is defended as kind, virtuous, wise, just, God-fearing, and trusting
in God, not acting from lust, greed, or caprice.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: obs:6
text: Fire and flame are described as a trial that cleanses pure gold, and temptation
is described as separating good from bad intent.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: A child’s fear of the lancet is contrasted with the mother’s knowledge that
the painful cut heals.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:8
text: An oilman owns a soft-voiced green parrot that can speak like a human and
watches the oilshop while he is away.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:9
text: A cat chasing a mouse enters the shop; the parrot flees from its perch to
a shelf, knocks over jars, and oil spreads.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:10
text: The oilman returns, sees the oil and the parrot’s wet coat, strikes the parrot
on the head, and its feathers fall out.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:11
text: The parrot remains silent for days, and the oilman laments, plucks his beard,
gives alms, and asks whether speech will return to his bird.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:12
text: A bare-headed, close-shaved mendicant passes; the parrot breaks silence and
asks whether he upset someone’s oil jar, while passers-by smile at the mistake.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: goldsmith
description: A man who dies after reflecting on death, retribution, and the echo
of deeds.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: handmaid
description: The goldsmith’s death leaves the handmaid’s love and grief behind.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: One Living / God
description: The deathless living source from whom life flows; also described as
God and Lord of Mercies.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:8
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: doctor
description: The doctor kills the goldsmith with lethal drugs, said to act under
divine suggestion.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: prince / holy saint
description: A prince defended as holy, kind, virtuous, wise, just, God-fearing,
and acting by God’s command.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: child slain by angel
description: A referenced child whose killing by an angel is said to be hard for
plain minds to grasp.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Ishmael
description: Referenced as being beneath his father’s knife.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Elias
description: Referenced as deliberately sinking a ship, with the wreck said to point
toward future blessings.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Moses
description: Referenced as being shocked by Elias’s sinking of the ship.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: oilman
description: Owner of the oilshop and the parrot; he strikes the parrot and later
laments its silence.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: parrot / Poll / Polly
description: A soft-voiced, green-coated speaking parrot that watches the shop,
spills oil after being frightened, is struck silent, and later speaks to a bald
mendicant.
role_refs:
- role:8
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:13
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: cat
description: A cat that enters the oilshop while chasing a mouse.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: mouse
description: A mouse being chased by the cat into the oilshop.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: bare-headed mendicant
description: A close-shaved mendicant whose scalp is smooth and shining; the parrot
addresses him as if he had upset oil jars.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:15
name_or_label: passers-by
description: People who smile at the parrot’s mistaken comparison between baldness
and bare-headedness.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
roles:
- id: role:1
label: dying victim and moral speaker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The goldsmith speaks about blood, retribution, and echo before breathing
his last.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: deathless source of life and object of love
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The narrator calls the One Living deathless and says life flows from Him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: agent of hidden divine purpose
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:8
basis: The doctor is said to act by divine suggestion; the prince is defended as
acting by God’s command; Elias’s deliberate shipwreck is framed as leading to
blessing.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:4
label: righteous ruler or saintly prince
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The prince is described as kind, virtuous, wise, just, God-fearing, and trusting
in God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: obedient or exemplary victim in scriptural analogy
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: The child slain by an angel and Ishmael under the knife are invoked to explain
a death that exceeds ordinary judgment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: shocked observer of hidden wisdom
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Moses is said to have been shocked by the shipwreck despite his skill and
inspiration.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:7
label: remorseful owner
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The oilman strikes the parrot and afterward laments, gives alms, and hopes
its speech will return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: role:8
label: speaking animal shopkeeper
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The parrot speaks like a human and has charge of the oilshop during the owner’s
absence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:9
label: mistaken interpreter
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The parrot interprets the mendicant’s shaved head through its own experience
of upsetting oil jars and losing feathers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: role:10
label: frightening pursuer
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: The cat enters the shop while chasing a mouse and frightens the parrot.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:11
label: pursued animal
assigned_to:
- fig:13
basis: The mouse is chased by the cat into the oilshop.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:12
label: misidentified passerby
assigned_to:
- fig:14
basis: The parrot addresses the shaved mendicant as if he had lost hair through
upsetting oil jars.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: role:13
label: amused witnesses
assigned_to:
- fig:15
basis: The passers-by smile at the parrot’s error.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: world as mountain and deeds as echo
literal_form: mountain and echo image
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: blood demanding its kind
literal_form: spilt blood
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: deathless Living
literal_form: One Living who knows no death
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: father’s knife over Ishmael
literal_form: knife
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: purifying fire and flame
literal_form: fire and flame cleansing gold
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: blood-red rose
literal_form: blood-red rose
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: healing lancet
literal_form: lancet’s painful cut
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:8
label: oil jars and spilled oil
literal_form: oil jars, oil-pools, and wet coat
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: sym:9
label: lost feathers and bald head
literal_form: parrot’s fallen feathers and mendicant’s shaved scalp
associated_figures:
- fig:11
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:13
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Goldsmith’s death and retributive reflection
summary: The goldsmith reflects on blood, loss, shadow, and the echo of deeds, then
dies while the handmaid’s attachment is left behind.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Exhortation to love the deathless Living
summary: The narrator contrasts love for the dead with love for the deathless Living
from whom life flows.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Defense of the goldsmith’s killing through hidden divine command
summary: The doctor’s killing and the prince’s role are defended by references to
divine suggestion, saintly agency, Ishmael, the angel-slain child, purifying fire,
Elias’s shipwreck, and divine mercy in apparent severity.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Parrot entrusted with the oilshop
summary: An oilman’s green speaking parrot watches the shop and talks with customers
while the owner is away.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:5
label: Cat chase and spilled oil
summary: A cat chasing a mouse enters the shop; the frightened parrot flees to a
shelf, knocks over jars, and spills oil.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
- fig:12
- fig:13
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: scene:6
label: Punishment and silence of the parrot
summary: The oilman sees the spilled oil and the parrot’s wet coat, strikes the
bird, and the parrot loses feathers and remains silent while the owner laments.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: scene:7
label: Parrot’s mistaken address to the mendicant
summary: A shaved mendicant passes; the parrot breaks silence and assumes the mendicant’s
bare head resulted from upsetting oil jars, causing passers-by to smile.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
- fig:14
- fig:15
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: deeds returning like an echo
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The goldsmith says spilled blood demands its kind and compares the world
to a mountain where a voice inevitably returns as echo.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage uses the image poetically; it does not present a full judgment
scene.
- id: motif:2
label: hidden mercy or wisdom in apparent violence
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
- wisdom
basis: The killing by the doctor and the prince’s role are justified through divine
suggestion, scriptural analogies, and the claim that mercy may appear as wrath.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is explicitly argued by the narrator, but the moral status of
the killing is theological and requires contextual review.
- id: motif:3
label: obedient sacrifice under sacred authority
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The passage invokes Ishmael beneath his father’s knife and urges laying down
life for such a prince, linking death to future blessed abode.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: Ishmael is an analogy rather than the immediate narrative event.
- id: motif:4
label: purifying ordeal separates true from false
taxonomy_refs:
- initiation
- divine_judgment
basis: Fire and flame are described as cleansing pure gold, and temptation is said
to divide good people from those of bad intent.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The ordeal is metaphorical in this passage.
- id: motif:5
label: talking animal in didactic tale
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The parrot speaks human-like words, manages shop interactions, later breaks
silence, and its mistaken inference produces an instructive comic scene.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:13
confidence: high
cautions: The explicit moral of the parrot episode may continue beyond the supplied
lines.
- id: motif:6
label: mistaken analogy from limited experience
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The parrot sees a shaved mendicant and assumes he has upset oil jars like
itself; passers-by smile at the mistaken comparison.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
confidence: high
cautions: The broader didactic interpretation is not fully stated within the provided
range.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares the goldsmith’s killing to the story of a
child slain by an angel as an act whose meaning ordinary understanding cannot
fully grasp.
claim_level: same_function
target: story of the child slain by an angel
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage names the analogy but does not retell the full referenced
story.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage explicitly compares obedience to the prince with Ishmael’s position
beneath his father’s knife, using the analogy to frame willing submission and
blessed outcome.
claim_level: same_function
target: Ishmael beneath his father’s knife
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: Ishmael is invoked as an exemplum; the immediate narrative is not a
father-son sacrifice scene.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage explicitly compares the contested killing to Elias deliberately
sinking a ship while Moses is shocked, a pattern of hidden wisdom beneath apparently
wrongful action.
claim_level: same_function
target: Elias sinking the ship and Moses’s shock
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage uses the episode as analogy and does not provide the full
narrative context.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 5876-5885
quote_or_summary: The goldsmith says, “The world’s a mountain; all our works, a
voice; / Our voice goes forth; its echo has no choice,” and then breathes his
last.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 5886-5894
quote_or_summary: The narrator says love for the dead cannot be shown, but the One
Living never knows death and is the source of life loved by saints and prophets.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 5895-5903
quote_or_summary: The goldsmith’s death through lethal drugs is said not to arise
from base motive; the doctor is said to have acted from divine suggestion, and
the story of the angel-slain child is invoked.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 5904-5913
quote_or_summary: "“The trial of the fire, and of the flame, / Is but to cleanse
pure gold”; temptation separates the good from those of bad intent."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 5900-5903
quote_or_summary: Ishmael beneath his father’s knife is invoked, and the hearer
is urged to lay down life for such a prince so the soul may be at peace with God.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 5913-5921
quote_or_summary: Elias is said to have sunk a ship deliberately, the wreck being
a sign of future blessings; Moses was shocked, and the audience is cautioned against
judging wrongly.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 5922-5929
quote_or_summary: The narrator says the prince did not shed righteous blood as nothing
and describes him as kind, virtuous, wise, just, God-fearing, and trusting in
God.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 5930-5935
quote_or_summary: A child may tremble at a lancet’s pain, but the mother knows it
heals; God’s mercies are said to surpass human strife and judgment.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 5938-5944
quote_or_summary: An oilman owns a soft-voiced, green-coated parrot that speaks
sensibly and has charge of the oilshop when the man is away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 5945-5952
quote_or_summary: A cat chasing a mouse enters the shop; the parrot flees, takes
refuge on a shelf, knocks over jars, and spills oil.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 5953-5958
quote_or_summary: The oilman returns, sees the oil-pools and Polly’s wet coat, and
strikes the parrot on the head so that its feathers drop out.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 5959-5972
quote_or_summary: Polly broods silently for days; the oilman grieves, plucks his
beard, gives alms, and repeatedly asks whether speech will return to his bird.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 5973-5995
quote_or_summary: A shaved mendicant passes; the parrot calls him bald and asks
whether he upset an oil jar, while passers-by smile at the mistake.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The narrative events and explicit analogies are clear in the supplied passage.
Some motif labels, especially for the unfinished parrot tale and metaphorical
fire trial, should be checked against the continuation and project taxonomy.
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 the supplied passage and metadata were used. Taxonomy references are limited to available motif families and symbols.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l5876-l5995
passage_sha256=994f09108b125e4522c3468ae512efdf1899290f45db911beef38d7b331965bc