batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l3552-l3565
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l3552-l3565
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BAT / THE MAN AND HIS TWO SWEETHEARTS / THE
EAGLE, THE JACKDAW, AND THE SHEPHERD / THE WOLF AND THE BOY; lines 3552-3565
start: '3552'
end: '3565'
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 wolf finds a boy hiding on the ground and offers to spare him if he can
state three indisputable truths. The boy gives three statements, including that
people hate wolves for attacking flocks, and the wolf accepts them as true from
the boy's point of view and lets him go.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A wolf has recently eaten and is in a playful mood.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The wolf sees a boy lying flat on the ground and understands that the boy
is hiding out of fear of him.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The wolf tells the boy that he will spare his life if the boy can say three
things whose truth cannot be disputed.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The boy gathers courage, thinks, and gives three statements to the wolf.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The boy's third statement says that people hate wolves because wolves make
unprovoked attacks on their flocks.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The wolf accepts the statements as true from the boy's point of view and allows
him to go.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Wolf
description: A wolf who has eaten, finds the hiding boy, sets a three-truth condition
for sparing him, and then releases him.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Boy
description: A boy lying flat on the ground to hide from the wolf; he answers the
wolf with three statements and is spared.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: dangerous animal
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The boy fears the wolf, and the boy says wolves attack flocks.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: conditional life-granter
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The wolf offers to spare the boy's life if he can state three indisputable
truths.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: threatened human
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The boy hides from the wolf out of fear and his life is at stake.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: successful answerer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The boy gives three statements that the wolf accepts as true enough to release
him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: wolf
literal_form: Predatory animal figure threatening or feared by the boy and associated
with attacks on flocks.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: three statements
literal_form: The required number of indisputable truths demanded by the wolf and
supplied by the boy.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: flocks
literal_form: Domestic flocks mentioned as targets of wolf attacks.
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Wolf discovers the hiding boy
summary: A well-fed wolf in a playful mood notices a boy lying flat on the ground
and recognizes that the boy is hiding in fear.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Challenge of three truths
summary: The wolf says he will spare the boy if the boy can state three indisputable
truths.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Boy answers and is released
summary: The boy states three truths, including a complaint about wolves attacking
flocks; the wolf accepts the answer from the boy's viewpoint and lets him go.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: life spared through truthful speech
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The boy avoids death by thinking and giving three statements the wolf cannot
reject as false.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents a clever verbal solution, but the provided excerpt
gives no explicit moral beyond the narrative outcome.
- id: motif:2
label: predator sets a verbal condition for mercy
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The wolf threatens the boy's life but offers release if he can give three
indisputable truths.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level motif label, not tied to a supplied taxonomy family.
- id: motif:3
label: fearful human confronted by dangerous animal
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The boy hides because he fears the wolf, and the wolf discovers him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: This is a broad narrative situation rather than a specialized comparative
motif.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 3552-3554
quote_or_summary: The passage introduces a wolf who has just eaten and is in a playful
mood.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 3554-3557
quote_or_summary: The wolf sees a boy lying flat on the ground and realizes the
boy is trying to hide out of fear of him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 3557-3560
quote_or_summary: '"if you can say three things to me, the truth of which cannot
be disputed, I will spare your life."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 3560-3562
quote_or_summary: The boy gathers courage, thinks briefly, and begins giving three
statements.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 3562-3564
quote_or_summary: The boy says it is a pity the wolf saw him, that he was foolish
to be seen, and that people hate wolves because they attack flocks without provocation.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 3564-3565
quote_or_summary: The wolf says the boy's statements are true enough from the boy's
point of view and lets him go.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. Motif labels are conservative
and passage-level; no comparison claims are made because the passage itself does
not support an 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: |-
No supplied taxonomy symbol applies directly to the literal symbols in this passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l3552-l3565
passage_sha256=353928609c9ea8bcd0e3e6dd86603178711811ddd3e39b581a9115dbf9382f4a