batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l4457-l4467
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l4457-l4467
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE EAGLE AND THE BEETLE / THE FOWLER AND THE LARK / THE FISHERMAN PIPING
/ THE WEASEL AND THE MAN; lines 4457-4467
start: '4457'
end: '4467'
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 man catches a weasel that has been sneaking about the house and prepares
to drown it. The weasel pleads for its life by citing its usefulness in clearing
mice and lizards, but the man replies that it also killed fowls and stole meat,
and decides it must die.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A man catches a weasel that has been sneaking about the house.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The man is about to drown the weasel in a tub of water.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The weasel begs for its life and asks the man to spare it out of gratitude.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The weasel claims it has been useful by clearing the house of mice and lizards.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The man acknowledges that the weasel has not been entirely useless.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The man accuses the weasel of killing fowls and stealing meat.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The man concludes that the weasel does more harm than good and says it will
die.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Man
description: A man who catches the weasel, hears its plea, judges its actions, and
decides it shall die.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Weasel
description: A weasel that has been sneaking about the house, is caught, pleads
for its life, and claims to have cleared mice and lizards.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Mice and lizards
description: Animals said by the weasel to have infested the house and to have been
cleared by it.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Fowls
description: Domestic birds that the man says were killed by the weasel.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Captor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The man catches the weasel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: Captured animal
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The weasel is caught and faces drowning.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: Judge of usefulness and harm
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The man weighs the weasel's claimed usefulness against its harmful acts and
decides its fate.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: Pleader for mercy
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The weasel begs for its life and asks to be spared.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: Infesting creatures removed from the house
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The weasel says the mice and lizards used to infest the house and that it
cleared them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: Victims of the weasel
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The man says the weasel killed the fowls.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Tub of water
literal_form: A tub of water intended for drowning the weasel.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: House
literal_form: The house where the weasel sneaks and where mice and lizards had infested.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: Meat
literal_form: Meat that the man says the weasel stole.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Capture and threatened drowning
summary: A man catches a weasel that has been sneaking about the house and prepares
to drown it in a tub of water.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Weasel's plea for life
summary: The weasel pleads to be spared, arguing that it has helped by clearing
the house of mice and lizards.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Man's judgment against the weasel
summary: The man grants that the weasel had some usefulness, but accuses it of killing
fowls and stealing meat, concludes that its harm exceeds its good, and declares
it must die.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Plea for mercy rejected after weighing benefit against harm
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The captured weasel asks to be spared because it cleared pests, but the man
cites greater damage and refuses mercy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level motif label, not a supplied taxonomy family.
- id: motif:2
label: Predatory helper becomes household threat
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The weasel presents itself as useful for removing mice and lizards, while
the man identifies it as harmful for killing fowls and stealing meat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives only a brief fable situation; broader classification
would require comparison outside the supplied text.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 4457-4460
quote_or_summary: "“A Man once caught a Weasel, which was always sneaking about
the house”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 4460-4461
quote_or_summary: The man was about to drown the weasel in a tub of water.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 4461-4464
quote_or_summary: The weasel begged for its life, saying it had cleared the man's
house of mice and lizards and asking to be spared out of gratitude.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: 4464-4466
quote_or_summary: "“You have not been altogether useless,” the man says, before
asking who killed the fowls and stole the meat."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 4466-4467
quote_or_summary: "“You do much more harm than good, and die you shall.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward from the supplied English passage.
Motif labels are descriptive and not mapped to the provided motif-family taxonomy.
No comparison claims are made because the passage itself does not support a specific
cross-text 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 was used; despite the locator label listing several fables, the extraction covers the supplied text of “THE WEASEL AND THE MAN” only.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l4457-l4467
passage_sha256=d0344271f88a914f6ac6fddd94d5d1a8d81b617a5696e837dd65f7100585864b