batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l3504-l3515
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l3504-l3515
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE SICK MAN AND THE DOCTOR / THE TRAVELLERS AND THE PLANE-TREE / THE FLEA
AND THE OX / THE BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BAT; lines 3504-3515
start: '3504'
end: '3515'
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: neither the Birds nor the Beasts would have anything to do with so double-faced
a traitor
summary: During a war between Birds and Beasts, the Bat alternates sides according
to which party is winning. After peace is restored, both groups reject him as
a double-faced traitor, leaving him a solitary outcast.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The Birds and the Beasts are at war, and the fighting has varying success
on both sides.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Bat does not commit definitely to either side.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: When the Birds are doing well, the Bat fights in their ranks; when the Beasts
gain the upper hand, he is found among the Beasts.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: During the war no one pays attention to the Bat’s changing allegiance.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: After peace is restored, both Birds and Beasts reject the Bat as a double-faced
traitor.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The Bat remains a solitary outcast from both groups.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: The Birds
description: One collective side in the war; the Bat joins them when they are doing
well.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: The Beasts
description: The opposing collective side in the war; the Bat joins them when they
gain the upper hand.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: The Bat
description: A figure who alternates between the Birds and the Beasts during the
war and is later rejected by both.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: warring parties
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: The passage states that the Birds were at war with the Beasts and that battles
were fought with varying success.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: shifting ally
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The Bat does not commit to either side and appears with whichever side is
succeeding.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: rejected outcast
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: After peace is restored, both groups reject the Bat, and he remains solitary
and excluded from both.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: bat
literal_form: Bat
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: birds and beasts as opposed groups
literal_form: Birds and Beasts
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: War with shifting success
summary: The Birds and Beasts fight many battles, with success alternating between
the two sides.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: The Bat changes sides
summary: The Bat avoids firm commitment and fights with the Birds when they prosper
and with the Beasts when they have the advantage.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Postwar rejection
summary: After peace returns, both Birds and Beasts refuse association with the
Bat, who is left as a solitary outcast.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: opportunistic shifting allegiance
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: The Bat crosses between opposed parties according to which side is winning,
rather than committing to one group.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents opportunism and boundary-crossing, but the Bat does
not perform deception through explicit disguise or supernatural trickery.
- id: motif:2
label: double allegiance punished by exclusion
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: After occupying both sides during the conflict, the Bat is named double-faced
and rejected by both groups.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference to duality is thematic rather than cosmological;
the fable is moral and social rather than mythic in scale.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 3504-3506
quote_or_summary: The Birds are at war with the Beasts, and many battles are fought
with varying success on either side.
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: 3506-3510
quote_or_summary: The Bat does not definitely choose a party; he joins the Birds
when their side prospers and the Beasts when they gain the upper hand.
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: 3510-3511
quote_or_summary: No one pays attention to the Bat while the war lasts.
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: quote
locator: 3511-3514
quote_or_summary: "“neither the Birds nor the Beasts would have anything to do with
so double-faced a traitor”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 3514-3515
quote_or_summary: "“he remains to this day a solitary outcast from both”"
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: high
notes: The narrative sequence and figures are explicit. Motif taxonomy mapping is
cautious because the available taxonomy is mythological and the passage is an
Aesopic moral fable.
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 comparison claims were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l3504-l3515
passage_sha256=3c5d809ac7ba32056cb1f39e07ccef6ef66093ebaa44cd7f12584259d1029266