j-hagedorn
commented
9 months ago Note that such variants are signaled in multiple ways by Uther, in his descriptions. See 1337C, for instance: "This tale exists chiefly in two different forms: (1) Two (male or female) farmers (merchants, master and farmhand) stay overnight at an inn (in a train compartment). When one of them wants to open the window in the morning, he instead opens the door of a cupboard (opens the window but does not realize that the window shutters are still closed). He says that it is still dark outside (and the weather is smelling of cheese) and goes on sleeping throughout the day (three days). Cf. Type 1293C. In some variants, the travelers sleep in an alcove and cannot find the door. (2) A stupid man (several men) is locked in a dark room for several days. He is made to believe that it is continuous night [J2332]. Various reasons are given for this trick: A man wants to get rid of his brother who has been visiting him for too long, or whose unfashionable clothing embarasses him. A father wants to prevent his two sons from going to a party and spending money unnecessarily. People in the city want to stop farmers from going to market to sell their animals. Servants at a hotel want to make fun of one of their guests. Often the victim is a villager who gets the idea that nights in a town must be longer than those in the country. (Previously Type 1684A.)"
@salmonix identified the following issue in the consistency of variant depictions in the original documentation. For instance, in tale 1692 from
atu_df.csv: "A fool joins a band of robbers. They send him into a house to steal while the rest of them wait outside. He bungles the job in one of several ways [J2136]: He takes the robbers instructions literally. They tell him to bring something substantial (i.e. valuable), and he brings something heavy (e.g. a mortar) [J2461.1.7]. They tell him to bring something shiny (i.e. gold), and he brings a mirror [J2461.1.7.1]. The fool awakens the household. He wants to take more than he can carry, so he wakes the owner and asks him for help [J2136.5.6]. The fool finds a musical instrument and plays it loudly [J2136.5.7]. He decides to cook something to eat. Hearing the owner sigh in his sleep, the fool thinks he must be hungry, so he puts hot food in his mouth (hand) [J2136.5.5]."Because the ATU original documents these in separate brackets, this is in our data as: "1692", 1, “J2136", "J2461.1.7", "J2461.1.7.1", "J2136.5.6","J2136.5.7","J2136.5.5". The problem with that this tale should look like: "1692",1,"J2461.1.7",["J2136.5.6","J2136.5.7","J2136.5.5"]. In order to clean this appropriately, we would need to identify textual markers that would let us to combine bracketed motifs and represent them as variants, rather than a prolonged sequence.