batch.motif.greek-odyssey-butler-gutenberg-l6196-l6288
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-odyssey-butler-gutenberg-l6196-l6288
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK XIII / ULYSSES LEAVES SCHERIA AND RETURNS TO ITHACA. / BOOK XIV / ULYSSES
IN THE HUT WITH EUMAEUS.; lines 6196-6288
start: '6196'
end: '6288'
translation: The Odyssey
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: In Eumaeus' hut, Ulysses eats and drinks while concealing his intention
of revenge. Eumaeus gives him wine and laments the absent Ulysses, distrusts travelers'
reports, and worries about Telemachus and the suitors' ambush. Ulysses swears
by Jove, hospitality, and Ulysses' hearth that Ulysses will return soon and punish
those mistreating his wife and son, then begins a long first-person account claiming
Cretan birth and a life of warfare and voyaging.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Ulysses eats and drinks ravenously in silence while brooding revenge.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The swineherd fills his usual drinking bowl with wine and gives it to Ulysses.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Ulysses asks Eumaeus to identify the wealthy and powerful master who bought
him, saying he may have encountered him during his travels.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Eumaeus says travelers who come to Ithaca with news of Ulysses are not believed
and often tell falsehoods to Penelope.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Eumaeus imagines Ulysses as dead, torn by animals or eaten by fishes, with
bones buried in sand on a foreign shore.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Eumaeus says the loss of Ulysses grieves him most and that he will always
honor Ulysses' memory.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Ulysses swears that Ulysses will return within the year and take vengeance
on those mistreating his wife and son.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Ulysses refuses to accept a shirt and cloak as payment for his news until
the promised return has actually happened.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: Eumaeus says he wishes Ulysses may come home, as do Penelope, Laertes, and
Telemachus, but he does not believe it will happen.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: Eumaeus reports that Telemachus has gone to Pylos for news of his father and
that the suitors are lying in wait for him on his return.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: Eumaeus asks the old man to tell who he is, where he comes from, who his parents
are, and what ship and crew brought him to Ithaca.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:12
text: Ulysses begins an autobiographical account in which he claims Cretan birth,
partial slave descent through his mother, recognition by his father, a reduced
inheritance, marriage into wealth, and a career in warfare and raiding voyages.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Ulysses
description: Present in the hut as the recipient of Eumaeus' hospitality; he speaks
about Ulysses' return and begins a first-person Cretan life story.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Eumaeus, the swineherd
description: Ulysses' swineherd, who gives wine to the old stranger, mourns his
master, questions the stranger, and worries about Telemachus.
role_refs:
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Penelope / Ulysses' wife
description: Ulysses' wife, described as receiving travelers' reports, questioning
them, weeping for her husband, and being mistreated by the suitors.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Telemachus
description: Ulysses' son, described as growing into manhood, going to Pylos for
news of his father, and being targeted by the suitors' ambush.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Laertes
description: Ulysses' old father, named among those who wish Ulysses may return.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Suitors
description: Men described as mistreating Ulysses' wife and son and lying in wait
for Telemachus.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Jove / king Jove
description: A god invoked by Ulysses in his oath and mentioned by Ulysses as knowing
whether he may have met Eumaeus' master.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Son of Saturn
description: A divine figure named by Eumaeus as possibly holding his hand over
Telemachus to protect him.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Mars and Minerva
description: Divine figures whom Ulysses, in his Cretan story, says made him strong
in war.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Castor son of Hylax
description: In Ulysses' Cretan story, the father whose lineage he claims and who
treated him like his legitimate sons.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: guest receiving hospitality
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He is given wine in the hut after eating and drinking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: oath-giver and predictor of return
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He swears by Jove, hospitality, and the hearth that Ulysses will return and
avenge wrongs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: self-narrating stranger
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He begins a long account of his alleged Cretan birth and past.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:4
label: host and servant
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He gives wine to the guest and identifies Ulysses as his lost master.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: mourner and skeptic
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He mourns Ulysses, distrusts travelers' news, and denies that Ulysses will
return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: waiting wife
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: She receives reports about Ulysses, weeps for him, and is said to wish for
his return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:7
label: endangered son seeking news
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: He has gone to Pylos to learn about his father, while suitors await him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: aged father awaiting return
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: He is named among those wishing Ulysses may come home.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:9
label: ambushers and household offenders
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: They are said to mistreat Ulysses' wife and son and to lie in wait for Telemachus.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:10
label: divine witness to oath
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Ulysses invokes king Jove when swearing his prediction.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:11
label: possible divine protector
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Eumaeus imagines Telemachus escaping if the son of Saturn protects him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:12
label: divine granters of warlike ability
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: In the Cretan story, Mars and Minerva are said to have made the speaker doughty
in war.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:13
label: claimed father in autobiographical tale
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The speaker names Castor son of Hylax as his father in the Cretan account.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: wine bowl
literal_form: The bowl from which the swineherd usually drank, filled with wine
and handed to Ulysses.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: shirt and cloak
literal_form: A shirt and cloak proposed as a possible reward for good news, but
refused until the promised return occurs.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: hearth of Ulysses
literal_form: The hearth of Ulysses, invoked as part of Ulysses' oath.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: wolves, birds of prey, fishes, and sand
literal_form: Animals and a foreign shore imagined by Eumaeus as possible causes
or places of Ulysses' death and burial.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: ship and crew
literal_form: The ship and crew by which Eumaeus asks how the old man came to Ithaca;
ships also figure in the Cretan story of foreign service.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Hospitality in the swineherd's hut
summary: Ulysses eats and drinks in silence, and Eumaeus gives him wine from his
usual bowl.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Question about the lost master
summary: Ulysses asks Eumaeus about the master who bought him and says he may be
able to give news because he has traveled widely.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Eumaeus' lament and disbelief
summary: Eumaeus distrusts travelers' stories, describes possible deaths for Ulysses,
and honors the memory of his lost master.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Oath of return and vengeance
summary: Ulysses swears by Jove, hospitality, and Ulysses' hearth that Ulysses will
return soon and punish those mistreating his wife and son, while refusing reward
until fulfillment.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Telemachus in danger
summary: Eumaeus rejects payment for news, wishes for Ulysses' return, and reports
that Telemachus has gone to Pylos while suitors prepare an ambush.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:8
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:6
label: Request for and beginning of the stranger's story
summary: Eumaeus asks the old man for his origin and means of arrival; Ulysses replies
with a Cretan genealogy and a career of war, ships, spoil, and foreign service.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: return of the absent lord with vengeance
taxonomy_refs:
- return
basis: The speech centers on the promised homecoming of Ulysses within the year
and his vengeance on those harming his household.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage contains a prediction and oath about the return; the actual
return and vengeance are not completed within this excerpt.
- id: motif:2
label: hospitality exchange with news, oath, and delayed reward
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: The stranger is fed and given wine, discusses news of the absent master,
invokes hospitality in an oath, and refuses a shirt and cloak until his report
proves true.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents hospitality and proposed recompense, but no completed
exchange of payment occurs.
- id: motif:3
label: unrecognized or self-concealing returner tells an alternate life story
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
- return
basis: Ulysses is present in the hut while speaking of Ulysses' return in the third
person and then gives a detailed Cretan autobiographical account as the old stranger.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The excerpt identifies Ulysses as the speaker, but it does not explicitly
state in these lines that Eumaeus fails to recognize him or that the Cretan account
is false.
- id: motif:4
label: loyal servant mourns the absent master
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Eumaeus says Ulysses' loss grieves him most, calls him a good master, and
says he will always honor his memory.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly names this motif.
- id: motif:5
label: threat to the heir during the father's absence
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, is away seeking news of his father while
the suitors wait to ambush him and extinguish the household line.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly names this household-succession danger
motif.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 6196-6202
quote_or_summary: Ulysses eats and drinks ravenously without speaking while brooding
revenge; the swineherd fills his usual bowl with wine and gives it to him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 6202-6209
quote_or_summary: Ulysses asks who Eumaeus' rich and powerful master was and says
Jove and the gods know, but he may be able to give news because he has traveled
much.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 6210-6220
quote_or_summary: Eumaeus says travelers who bring news will not be believed by
Ulysses' wife and son, because needy strangers commonly come to Ithaca and tell
Penelope lies while she receives and questions them with tears.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 6220-6234
quote_or_summary: Eumaeus says Ulysses has likely been torn by wolves or birds,
eaten by fishes, or buried in sand on a foreign shore; he grieves especially for
Ulysses and will always honor his memory.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 6235-6249
quote_or_summary: Ulysses swears by king Jove, the rites of hospitality, and Ulysses'
hearth that Ulysses will return within the year and take vengeance on those mistreating
his wife and son; he refuses reward until this occurs.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 6250-6270
quote_or_summary: Eumaeus says Ulysses will not come home, though Penelope, Laertes,
Telemachus, and he wish it. He reports that Telemachus went to Pylos for news
and that the suitors lie in wait for him, unless the son of Saturn protects him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 6270-6276
quote_or_summary: 'Eumaeus asks the old man to tell his own story: who he is, where
he comes from, his town and parents, and what ship and crew brought him to Ithaca.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 6277-6288
quote_or_summary: Ulysses begins by saying he could tell his sorrows for twelve
months, then claims to be Cretan, son of Castor son of Hylax and a purchased slave
concubine, once honored like legitimate brothers, later given little inheritance,
enriched through marriage, and inclined to war, ships, weapons, ambushes, and
foreign expeditions before Troy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/odyssey-butler.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Literal extraction is based only on the provided passage. Motif labels are
candidate-level and need review, especially where the passage implies self-concealment
but does not explicitly state recognition status or the truth value of the Cretan
story.
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 added because the passage itself does not make an explicit cross-textual or cross-traditional comparison.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-odyssey-butler-gutenberg__l6196-l6288
passage_sha256=7675ec1fc7841eb6f4bc990a500b46641f39f25b1fe60a0a50bdd5e66635c949