batch.motif.sufi-jami-persian-mystics-davis-gutenberg-l1891-l1925
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-jami-persian-mystics-davis-gutenberg-l1891-l1925
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
passage_locator:
label: JUSTICE AND VIRTUE / HOW ALEXANDER ACQUIRED HIS POWER / FOURTH GARDEN / LIBERALITY;
lines 1891-1925
start: '1891'
end: '1925'
translation: 'The Persian Mystics: Jámí'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: "'Abdullah Ibn Ja'far encounters a black slave guarding a date-grove. The
slave gives both loaves of his daily allowance to a hungry stray dog and resolves
to fast. 'Abdullah judges the slave more liberal than himself, purchases the slave
and grove, gives the grove to him, and frees him. A closing exhortation urges
bravery, manliness, beneficence, and requiting evil with good."
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: "'Abdullah Ibn Ja'far intends to travel and stops near a date-grove where
he has seen people."
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The guardian of the date trees is described as a black slave.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Two loaves of bread are sent to the slave from the house as his daily allowance.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: obs:4
text: A dog stands near the slave, and the slave gives it one loaf and then the
other.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The dog eats both loaves.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The slave explains that the dog is a stranger, likely from far away and hungry,
so he did not want to leave it hungry.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: When asked what he will eat that day, the slave says he will fast.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: "'Abdullah says to himself that the slave is more liberal than he is."
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: "'Abdullah purchases both the slave and the date-grove, gives the grove to
the slave, and emancipates him."
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: The closing exhortation advises requiting evil with good and making beneficence
one's rule.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: "'Abdullah Ibn Ja'far"
description: A man who intends to travel, questions the slave about his food, recognizes
the slave's liberality, purchases the slave and grove, gives the grove to the
slave, and frees him.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: black slave / guardian of the trees
description: The guardian of a date-grove who receives two loaves as his daily allowance,
gives them to a hungry stray dog, and says he will fast.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: dog
description: A dog standing near the slave; the slave describes it as a stranger
from a long distance and hungry, and it consumes both loaves.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: liberal giver
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The slave gives away all of his daily food to the hungry dog and chooses
to fast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: observer and moral evaluator
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: "'Abdullah questions the slave and concludes that the slave is more liberal
than himself."
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: role:3
label: emancipator and benefactor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: "'Abdullah buys the slave and date-grove, gives the grove to the slave, and
emancipates him."
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:4
label: date-grove guardian
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The slave is identified as the guardian of the date trees.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: hungry stranger animal
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The slave describes the dog as a stranger from a long distance and hungry.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Encounter at the date-grove
summary: "'Abdullah alights near a date-grove and encounters the slave who guards
the trees."
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Gift of the daily food to the dog
summary: The slave gives both loaves of his daily allowance to a nearby dog, which
eats them.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Explanation and decision to fast
summary: Questioned by 'Abdullah, the slave explains that the dog was a hungry stranger
and says that he will fast for the day.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Recognition, gift, and emancipation
summary: "'Abdullah recognizes the slave's greater liberality, purchases the slave
and the date-grove, presents the grove to him, and frees him."
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:5
label: Poetic moral exhortation
summary: A closing exhortation urges bravery, guarding one's heart and tongue, requiting
evil with good, and practicing beneficence.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: generosity to a hungry stranger
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: The slave gives his entire daily food allowance to a dog he regards as a
hungry stranger, accepting fasting for himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage frames the act as liberality rather than an explicit sacred
exchange; taxonomy assignment is approximate.
- id: motif:2
label: virtue recognized by a superior
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: "'Abdullah observes the slave's conduct, acknowledges him as more liberal
than himself, and responds with gifts and emancipation."
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a moral exemplum rather than a mythic narrative; the wisdom category
is broad.
- id: motif:3
label: requiting harm with good and beneficence returning to the giver
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The concluding verses advise requiting evil with good and state that the
good one does returns to oneself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: This motif is stated didactically in the poem rather than enacted in the
prose anecdote, except broadly through beneficence.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1891-1895
quote_or_summary: "'Abdullah Ibn Ja'far intends to travel and alights near a date-grove
after seeing persons there."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1895-1898
quote_or_summary: The guardian of the trees is a black slave; two loaves of bread
have been sent to him from the house.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1898-1902
quote_or_summary: A dog stands near the slave; he throws it one loaf, then gives
it the other, and the dog consumes both.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1902-1905
quote_or_summary: "'Abdullah asks the slave what his daily allowance is; the slave
answers that it is what 'Abdullah has seen."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 1905-1909
quote_or_summary: The slave explains that the dog is a stranger, has likely come
from a long distance, and is hungry, so he would not leave it in that state.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 1909-1910
quote_or_summary: '"I shall fast."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from public domain text.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1910-1914
quote_or_summary: "'Abdullah says to himself that although people blame him for
liberality, the slave is more liberal than he is."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 1914-1916
quote_or_summary: "'Abdullah purchases the slave and the date-grove, presents the
grove to him, and emancipates him."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 1918-1925
quote_or_summary: The poetic exhortation tells the brave man to learn bravery and
manliness, guard heart and tongue, requite evil with good, and make beneficence
his rule, since the good returns to the doer.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/persian-mystics-jami-davis.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The narrative actions and figures are explicit. Motif labels are broad and
didactic because the passage is a moral exemplum rather than a mythic episode.
No comparison claims are made because the passage itself does not support a specific
cross-textual comparison.
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 symbol entries were created because the available taxonomy symbols are not directly emphasized as symbolic objects in the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-jami-persian-mystics-davis-gutenberg__l1891-l1925
passage_sha256=be04cb14e613dad99960519ebcb658c975c58fb1ff97433f73865190e194f2bb