batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l1394-l1412
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l1394-l1412
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE FOX AND THE STORK / THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING / THE STAG IN THE OX-STALL
/ THE MILKMAID AND HER PAIL; lines 1394-1412
start: '1394'
end: '1412'
translation: Aesop's Fables; a new translation
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
summary: A farmer's daughter carries a pail of milk, imagines a chain of profits
and social admiration, tosses her head in imagined disdain, spills the milk, and
loses the basis of her plans. The passage ends with a moral warning against counting
future gains too early.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A farmer's daughter has milked cows and is returning to the dairy with a pail
of milk on her head.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: While walking, she imagines turning the milk into cream and butter, selling
it, buying eggs, raising chickens, and building a poultry-yard.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: She further imagines selling fowls, buying a new gown, going to a fair, receiving
admiration from young fellows, and rejecting their advances.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: She forgets the pail and physically tosses her head in accordance with her
imagined gesture.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The pail falls, the milk spills, and her imagined plans vanish.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: 'The passage closes with the moral: “Do not count your chickens before they
are hatched.”'
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: farmer's daughter
description: A young woman returning from milking cows to the dairy with a pail
of milk on her head; she imagines future profits and social admiration, then spills
the milk.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: young fellows
description: Men whom the farmer's daughter imagines admiring her new gown and making
love to her at the fair.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
roles:
- id: role:1
label: milk carrier
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: She returns to the dairy carrying a pail of milk on her head.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: overconfident planner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: She imagines a sequence of future gains before any of them have occurred,
and her action causes the milk to spill.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: imagined admirers
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: They appear only in the farmer's daughter's imagined future, where they admire
her gown and make love to her.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: pail of milk
literal_form: pail of milk carried on the head
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- milk
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: eggs and chickens
literal_form: eggs that, when hatched, will produce chickens
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: head toss
literal_form: gesture of tossing the head
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: castles in the air
literal_form: image used for the farmer's daughter's imagined plans
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Return from milking
summary: The farmer's daughter returns toward the dairy carrying a pail of milk
after milking cows.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Imagined chain of prosperity
summary: As she walks, she imagines converting milk into market goods, buying eggs,
raising chickens, selling fowls, buying a gown, and attracting attention at a
fair.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Gesture and loss
summary: She forgets the pail, tosses her head, spills the milk, and loses the foundation
of her imagined future.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Stated moral
summary: The fable states a warning not to count chickens before they are hatched.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: counting future gains before they are secured
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The stated moral directly warns against treating anticipated results as certain
before they have occurred.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage is a moral fable rather than
a wisdom myth.
- id: motif:2
label: daydream of prosperity undone by careless action
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The farmer's daughter imagines a chain of wealth and admiration, but the
physical gesture prompted by the fantasy causes the milk to spill and the imagined
gains to vanish.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level fable pattern; no broader mythic taxonomy ID is
specifically supplied for this exact motif.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself formulates its narrative as an instance of the proverbial
pattern of not counting chickens before they are hatched.
claim_level: same_function
target: proverbial warning against relying on unrealized future gains
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The claim is limited to the explicit moral and does not assert historical
origin, transmission, or comparison with any external version.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 1394-1398
quote_or_summary: A farmer's daughter has milked cows and returns to the dairy carrying
a pail of milk on her head.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 1398-1404
quote_or_summary: She muses that the milk will become cream and butter for sale,
whose proceeds will buy eggs that will hatch into chickens and a larger poultry-yard.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 1404-1409
quote_or_summary: She imagines selling fowls, buying a new gown for the fair, being
admired by young fellows, and tossing her head while rejecting them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 1409-1411
quote_or_summary: Forgetting the pail, she tosses her head; the pail falls, the
milk spills, and her “castles in the air” vanish.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary with brief public-domain phrase.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: '1412'
quote_or_summary: "“Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The narrative facts and moral are explicit. Motif classification is limited
because the available taxonomy contains only broad categories for this fable pattern.
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 text was used; no external Aesop variants or comparative traditions were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l1394-l1412
passage_sha256=566bad19518ed82a7c09f39d601fc796c34dcf8e2539b33b98897f387ca3c675