batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l3710-l3720
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l3710-l3720
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE SICK STAG / THE ASS AND THE MULE / BROTHER AND SISTER / THE HEIFER AND
THE OX; lines 3710-3720
start: '3710'
end: '3720'
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 heifer patronizes an ox for having to labor at the plough. During a village
festival, the ox is released to pasture while the heifer is taken for sacrifice,
and the ox remarks that her earlier idleness was because she had been intended
for the altar.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A heifer approaches an ox while the ox is straining at a plough.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The heifer sympathizes with the ox in a patronizing way about his hard work.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: A village festival occurs, and everyone keeps holiday.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: During the festival, the ox is turned loose into pasture.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: During the festival, the heifer is seized and led away for sacrifice.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: 'The ox says that he now understands the reason for the heifer''s idle time:
she had been intended for the altar.'
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Heifer
description: A heifer who has had an idle time and is later led off to sacrifice.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Ox
description: An ox who strains at the plough, is released to pasture during the
festival, and comments on the heifer's fate.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Village people
description: Unspecified people at the village festival who keep holiday; the passage
uses passive language for the seizure and leading away of the heifer.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
roles:
- id: role:1
label: idle animal destined for sacrifice
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The heifer has not been working and is later identified as always intended
for the altar.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: laboring animal spared from sacrifice
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The ox strains at the plough but is turned loose into pasture during the
festival.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: patronizing speaker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The heifer sympathizes with the ox in a patronizing way over his hard work.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: commentator on revealed fate
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The ox remarks that the heifer's idle time was because she was intended for
the altar.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: festival participants
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The village festival is described as a time when everyone kept holiday.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: plough labor
literal_form: plough
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: festival sacrifice
literal_form: sacrifice at the altar during a village festival
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: pasture release
literal_form: pasture
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: altar
literal_form: altar
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Heifer patronizes laboring ox
summary: The heifer approaches the ox while he works at the plough and comments
on the hardship of his labor in a patronizing manner.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Festival reverses apparent fortune
summary: At a village festival, the ox is released to pasture, but the heifer is
seized and led away for sacrifice.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: idleness revealed as preparation for sacrifice
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The heifer's prior leisure is reinterpreted as the result of being destined
for the altar, while the laboring ox is spared and released to pasture.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is a fable using animal figures; the sacrifice motif is explicit,
but no broader ritual context is given.
- id: motif:2
label: apparent hardship becomes safer fate
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The ox's hard labor initially appears pitiable, but the later festival reveals
that the idle heifer faces sacrifice while the ox is released.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The wisdom association is thematic and based on the fable's reversal;
the passage does not state a formal moral in the provided excerpt.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 3710-3713
quote_or_summary: A heifer goes up to an ox straining at the plough and patronizingly
sympathizes with him about having to work hard.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 3713-3717
quote_or_summary: At a village festival everyone keeps holiday; the ox is turned
loose into pasture, while the heifer is seized and led away to sacrifice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 3717-3720
quote_or_summary: The ox remarks that the heifer's idle time was because she was
always intended for the altar.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The literal sequence and explicit sacrifice are clear. Broader motif labels
beyond sacrifice are interpretive and should be reviewed.
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 and metadata were used. The passage locator label includes neighboring fable titles, but the provided passage text contains only 'THE HEIFER AND THE OX'.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l3710-l3720
passage_sha256=e49d95d1c8c587587a3b0df4e427d7a729e76c1e5d1720fa8aae63b8a5cc4467