batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l1427-l1441
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l1427-l1441
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE STAG IN THE OX-STALL / THE MILKMAID AND HER PAIL / THE DOLPHINS, THE
WHALES, AND THE SPRAT / THE FOX AND THE MONKEY; lines 1427-1441
start: '1427'
end: '1441'
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: ''
summary: A Fox and a Monkey travel together and dispute which is better born. Passing
through a cemetery full of monuments, the Monkey sighs and claims the monuments
honor his eminent forefathers. The Fox replies that the Monkey can lie safely
because none of his ancestors will rise to expose him. The stated moral says boasters
brag most when they cannot be detected.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A Fox and a Monkey are traveling together on a road.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Fox and the Monkey dispute which of them is better born.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The road passes through a cemetery full of monuments.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The Monkey stops, looks around, and gives a great sigh.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The Monkey says the monuments were put up in honor of his forefathers, whom
he calls eminent men.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The Fox replies that the Monkey is safe to lie because none of his ancestors
will rise up and expose him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The appended moral states that boasters brag most when they cannot be detected.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Fox
description: A fox traveling with the Monkey; he questions the Monkey’s sigh and
answers the Monkey’s claim with a retort about lying safely among dead ancestors.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Monkey
description: A monkey traveling with the Fox; he disputes noble birth, sighs in
a cemetery, and claims the monuments honor his forefathers.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Monkey’s ancestors or forefathers
description: Forefathers claimed by the Monkey to have been eminent men honored
by the cemetery monuments; the Fox says they will not rise up to expose the Monkey.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: traveling disputant
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: The Fox and Monkey travel together and argue about which is better born.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: boaster of ancestry
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The Monkey claims the cemetery monuments honor his eminent forefathers, and
the moral identifies the behavior as boasting when detection is impossible.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: witty challenger of false claim
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Fox answers the Monkey by saying he is safe to lie because the ancestors
cannot rise to expose him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: absent dead witnesses
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The ancestors are invoked in the Monkey’s claim, and the Fox stresses that
they cannot rise to expose him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: road
literal_form: road
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: cemetery with monuments
literal_form: cemetery full of monuments; tombs
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: great sigh
literal_form: the Monkey’s great sigh
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Roadside dispute over birth
summary: The Fox and Monkey travel together and argue over which of them is better
born.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Claim among cemetery monuments
summary: At a cemetery full of monuments, the Monkey stops, sighs, and says the
monuments honor his eminent forefathers.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Fox’s retort
summary: The Fox says the Monkey can lie freely because none of his ancestors will
rise up to expose him.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: False noble ancestry claim in a place of the dead
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Monkey claims that cemetery monuments honor his eminent forefathers while
the Fox treats the claim as a lie that cannot be disproved by the dead.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents this as a brief fable episode rather than a developed
genealogy motif.
- id: motif:2
label: Boasting when detection is impossible
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Fox says the dead ancestors cannot expose the Monkey, and the moral generalizes
that boasters brag most when they cannot be detected.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: This is explicitly a moralized fable pattern, not necessarily a mythological
motif family in the supplied taxonomy.
- id: motif:3
label: Witty exposure of deception
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Fox responds to the Monkey’s claim with a clever retort that identifies
the boast as a lie.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference to wisdom is broad; the passage supports clever
speech, not sacred or philosophical wisdom.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 1427-1430
quote_or_summary: A Fox and a Monkey travel together and dispute which of them is
better born.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 1430-1433
quote_or_summary: They come to a place where the road passes through a cemetery
full of monuments; the Monkey stops, looks around, and sighs.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: 1434-1437
quote_or_summary: "“All the monuments that you see here were put up in honour of
my forefathers”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: 1437-1440
quote_or_summary: "“you're quite safe: I'm sure none of your ancestors will rise
up and expose you.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: '1441'
quote_or_summary: "“Boasters brag most when they cannot be detected.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The fable’s figures, actions, and moral are explicit. Motif candidates are
descriptive and mostly outside the supplied comparative taxonomy; no passage-supported
comparison claims were added.
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. Although the locator label lists multiple fables, the provided passage contains only “THE FOX AND THE MONKEY.”
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l1427-l1441
passage_sha256=a77e02b010646f0127c4ca31820d50ef52b8dbb5c454c46ebf92e322a37ae870