batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l4470-l4493
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l4470-l4493
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE FISHERMAN PIPING / THE WEASEL AND THE MAN / THE PLOUGHMAN, THE ASS, AND
THE OX / DEMADES AND HIS FABLE; lines 4470-4493
start: '4470'
end: '4493'
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: In one fable, a ploughman yokes an ox and an ass together because he has
only one ox; after the day's ploughing, the ass asks which animal will carry the
master home, and the ox replies that the ass will do so as usual. In another fable,
Demades addresses an inattentive Athenian assembly, gains attention by beginning
an Aesop fable about Demeter, a swallow, and an eel crossing a bridgeless river,
then rebukes the audience for preferring fables to public business.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A ploughman yoked an ox and an ass together to plough his field.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The team is described as a poor makeshift because the ploughman had only a
single ox.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: At the end of the day, the animals were released from the yoke.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The ass asked the ox which of them would carry the master home.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The ox answered that the ass would carry the master home, as usual.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: Demades was speaking in the Assembly at Athens while the people were inattentive.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: Demades said he would tell one of Aesop's fables, which made everyone listen
intently.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: In Demades' narrated fable, Demeter, a swallow, and an eel were travelling
together and came to a river without a bridge.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The swallow crossed the river by flying, and the eel crossed by swimming.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:10
text: When Demades stopped, several listeners asked what happened to Demeter.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: Demades replied that Demeter was angry with them for listening to fables when
they should be minding public business.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Ploughman
description: A field worker who owns one ox, yokes the ox and ass together, and
is called the master by the ass.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Ox
description: An animal yoked with the ass for ploughing; after the workday it answers
the ass's question.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Ass
description: An animal yoked with the ox for ploughing; after the workday it asks
who will carry the master home and is told it will do so as usual.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Demades
description: An orator speaking in the Assembly at Athens who uses an unfinished
fable to rebuke the audience.
role_refs:
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: People in the Assembly
description: An audience at Athens that is inattentive to Demades' public speech
but listens intently when he offers to tell a fable.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Demeter
description: A figure in Demades' narrated fable, travelling with a swallow and
an eel; later said by Demades to be angry with the listeners.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Swallow
description: A bird in Demades' narrated fable; it flies across the river.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Eel
description: An aquatic animal in Demades' narrated fable; it swims across the river.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Ploughman and master
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He yokes the animals for ploughing, and the ass refers to carrying the master
home.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: Yoked work animal
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:3
basis: The ox and ass are yoked together and set to plough the field.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: Customary carrier
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The ox says the ass will carry the master home as usual.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: Public speaker
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Demades is described as speaking in the Assembly at Athens.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: Rebuking storyteller
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: He begins a fable, stops it, and replies that Demeter is angry because the
audience should be attending to public business.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: Inattentive public audience
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The people are inattentive to Demades' speech but attentive when he offers
a fable.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: Traveller in nested fable
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
basis: Demeter, a swallow, and an eel are described as travelling together.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:8
label: Named figure left unresolved in fable
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: After the swallow and eel cross, the audience asks what happened to Demeter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:9
label: Obstacle-crosser by natural ability
assigned_to:
- fig:7
- fig:8
basis: The swallow flies over the river and the eel swims across it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Yoke
literal_form: The yoke joining the ox and ass for ploughing.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: River without bridge
literal_form: A river lacking a bridge, encountered by Demeter, the swallow, and
the eel.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: Aesop fable as spoken device
literal_form: Demades' announced and unfinished telling of one of Aesop's fables.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Makeshift ploughing team
summary: A ploughman uses an ox and an ass together as a makeshift ploughing team
because he has only one ox.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: End-of-day burden assigned as usual
summary: After the animals are released from the yoke, the ass asks which animal
will carry the master home, and the ox answers that the ass will carry him as
usual.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Demades gains attention with a fable
summary: Demades speaks to an inattentive Assembly at Athens, then gains the people's
attention by saying he will tell an Aesop fable.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Nested river-crossing fable
summary: In the fable begun by Demades, Demeter, a swallow, and an eel travel together
to a bridgeless river; the swallow flies over it and the eel swims across it.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Unfinished fable becomes rebuke
summary: When listeners ask what happened to Demeter, Demades says she is angry
because they listen to fables instead of attending to public business.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Mismatched or makeshift work team
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The ploughman yokes an ox and an ass together because he has only one ox,
and the team is explicitly called a poor makeshift.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: This is a local fable pattern; no supplied taxonomy family directly matches
it.
- id: motif:2
label: Customary burden remains after shared labor
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Although the ass has worked alongside the ox in the field, the ox says the
ass must still carry the master home as usual.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The moral is implied by the exchange rather than stated in the provided
passage.
- id: motif:3
label: Fable used to capture attention
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Demades' audience ignores his public speech but listens intently when he
offers to tell an Aesop fable.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference to wisdom is broad and should be reviewed.
- id: motif:4
label: Unfinished tale used as rebuke
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Demades stops the river-crossing story and uses the audience's curiosity
to criticize them for preferring fables to public business.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is rhetorical and didactic rather than mythic in a narrow sense;
taxonomy reference is broad.
- id: motif:5
label: Different beings cross the same obstacle by their own nature
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: At the bridgeless river, the swallow crosses by flying and the eel crosses
by swimming.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not complete the nested fable's action for Demeter, so
the pattern remains partial.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 4470-4475
quote_or_summary: A ploughman yokes his ox and ass together to plough a field; the
team is described as a poor makeshift because he has only one ox.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 4475-4483
quote_or_summary: At day's end, after the animals are loosed from the yoke, the
ass asks which of them will carry the master home; the ox says the ass will, as
usual.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 4486-4489
quote_or_summary: Demades speaks in the Assembly at Athens; when the people are
inattentive, he offers to tell one of Aesop's fables, and everyone listens intently.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 4490-4492
quote_or_summary: Demades begins a fable in which Demeter, a swallow, and an eel
travel together to a bridgeless river; the swallow flies over and the eel swims
across.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 4492-4493
quote_or_summary: When listeners ask what happened to Demeter, Demades says she
is angry at them for listening to fables when they should mind public business.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from provided passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward. Motif labels are local descriptive
candidates, with broad use of the supplied wisdom taxonomy only for the rhetorical
fable scenes. No comparison claims were added because the passage does not itself
support a specific cross-text comparison beyond naming Aesop's fables.
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 provided passage and metadata were used. The heading mentions additional fables, but the supplied passage text contains only two fables, so extraction is limited to those.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l4470-l4493
passage_sha256=c9c6cc4f2599548a117700aa2a5ad90b1cda7539023bb67d728f8cadb8b3569e