batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l2735-l2750
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l2735-l2750
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE VIPER AND THE FILE / THE CAT AND THE COCK / THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE
/ THE SOLDIER AND HIS HORSE; lines 2735-2750
start: '2735'
end: '2750'
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: '"you cannot in a moment turn me back again into a Horse."'
summary: A soldier cares well for his horse during war, neglects and overworks him
during peace, and then finds him too weakened to carry him when war returns. The
horse rebukes the soldier for expecting instant restoration after bad treatment.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: During wartime, the soldier gives the horse plentiful oats and careful attention
so that he will be strong and swift in danger.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: After the war, the soldier uses the horse for drudgery, gives him little attention,
and feeds him chaff.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: When war breaks out again, the soldier saddles and bridles the horse, puts
on a heavy coat of mail, and mounts him.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The half-starved horse sinks down under the soldier's weight.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The horse speaks to the rider and says that hard work and bad food have turned
him from a horse into an ass, and that he cannot be changed back at once.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Soldier
description: A soldier who owns or rides the horse, feeds and uses him differently
in war and peace, and tries to ride him into renewed battle.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Horse
description: The soldier's horse, first well fed and tended, later overworked and
poorly fed, then too weak to carry the soldier and able to speak a rebuke.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: rider and master
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The soldier tends, feeds, saddles, bridles, and mounts the horse.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: negligent caretaker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: After the war, he gives the horse little attention, hard work, and poor food.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: war mount
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The horse is prepared to be strong and swift for field hardship and danger,
and is later mounted for battle.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: neglected dependent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The horse is assigned drudgery, fed chaff, and becomes half-starved.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: speaking animal rebuker
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The horse directly addresses the rider and explains the consequence of hard
work and bad food.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: oats
literal_form: plentiful supply of oats
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: chaff
literal_form: chaff given as food
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: saddle and bridle
literal_form: horse equipment used when the soldier prepares for renewed war
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: heavy coat of mail
literal_form: the soldier's heavy armor while mounting the weakened horse
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Wartime care
summary: In wartime, the soldier feeds the horse oats and tends him carefully to
make him fit for hardship and escape from danger.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Peacetime neglect
summary: After the war, the soldier makes the horse do drudgery, gives him little
attention, and feeds him chaff.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Return of war and failed service
summary: When war returns, the soldier arms himself and mounts the horse, but the
weakened horse collapses and tells him that neglect cannot be undone instantly.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: neglected helper fails in time of need
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The soldier neglects the horse after the war, then needs him again for battle,
but the horse is too weakened to serve.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level motif label derived from the narrative sequence,
not a supplied taxonomy ID.
- id: motif:2
label: bad treatment has lasting consequences
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The speaking horse states that hard work and bad food have changed his condition
and that the soldier cannot immediately restore him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference 'wisdom' is broad; the passage is a fable conveying
practical moral instruction.
- id: motif:3
label: speaking animal delivers moral rebuke
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The horse speaks to the rider and explains the consequence of the rider's
earlier neglect.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: No specific cross-cultural comparison is asserted; this is a generic fable
pattern.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 2735-2739
quote_or_summary: The soldier gives the horse plentiful oats and careful tending
during war so he will be strong for hardship and swift in danger.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 2739-2742
quote_or_summary: After the war, the soldier uses the horse for drudgery, gives
him little attention, and feeds him chaff.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 2742-2745
quote_or_summary: When war breaks out again, the soldier saddles and bridles the
horse, puts on heavy mail, mounts, and prepares to take the field.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 2745-2747
quote_or_summary: The half-starved horse sinks down under the soldier's weight.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from provided passage.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 2747-2750
quote_or_summary: 'The horse says: "Thanks to hard work and bad food, you have turned
me from a Horse into an ass; and you cannot in a moment turn me back again into
a Horse."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from provided passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. No comparison claims are
made because the passage itself does not support a specific external 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: |-
Only the supplied passage text for 'The Soldier and His Horse' was used; other fable titles in the locator label were not treated as part of the passage content.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l2735-l2750
passage_sha256=9009f9817a7ea202729a13d0f2b52eae75d7355cca971320cfb6548f230a76e7