batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l5344-l5365
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg-l5344-l5365
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
passage_locator:
label: THE HUNTER AND THE HORSEMAN / THE GOATHERD AND THE WILD GOATS / THE NIGHTINGALE
AND THE SWALLOW / THE TRAVELLER AND FORTUNE; lines 5344-5365
start: '5344'
end: '5365'
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 Swallow urges a Nightingale to leave leafy coverts and live near humans,
but the Nightingale refuses because of past wrongs suffered among men. A tired
Traveller falls asleep at the edge of a deep well; Dame Fortune wakes him and
warns him to move away, saying that if he fell, people would blame Fortune rather
than his own folly.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A Swallow speaks with a Nightingale and advises her to leave the leafy coverts
where she lives.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Swallow advises the Nightingale to live with men and nest under the shelter
of their roofs.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The Nightingale says she formerly lived among men but now refuses to approach
their dwellings because of cruel wrongs she suffered there.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The moral states that the scene of past sufferings revives painful memories.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: A Traveller, exhausted after a long journey, lies down at the brink of a deep
well and falls asleep.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The Traveller is close to falling into the well.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Dame Fortune appears, touches the Traveller on the shoulder, and cautions
him to move farther away.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Dame Fortune says that if the Traveller fell into the well, blame would be
placed on Fortune rather than on his own folly.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Swallow
description: A bird who converses with the Nightingale and recommends living among
men under roofs.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Nightingale
description: A bird who lives in leafy coverts and refuses to return to human dwellings
because of past wrongs.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: men
description: Human dwellers among whom the Nightingale formerly lived and near whose
roofs the Swallow nests.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Traveller
description: A fatigued person who falls asleep at the brink of a deep well after
a long journey.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Dame Fortune
description: A personified Fortune who appears to the Traveller, touches him, warns
him, and comments on misplaced blame.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: advisor toward human habitation
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Swallow advises the Nightingale to leave her coverts and live with men
under roofs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: former sufferer who refuses return
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The Nightingale says past wrongs among men make their dwellings hateful to
her.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: human collective associated with former wrongs and dwellings
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The Nightingale formerly lived among men and suffered wrongs; the Swallow
nests under human roofs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: endangered negligent sleeper
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Traveller falls asleep at the brink of a deep well and is nearly in danger
of falling in.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: personified warning figure
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Dame Fortune appears, touches the Traveller, warns him to move, and explains
that she would be blamed for his fall.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: leafy coverts
literal_form: Leafy coverts where the Nightingale makes her home.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: human roofs and dwellings
literal_form: The shelter of human roofs and the dwellings of men.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: deep well
literal_form: A deep well at whose brink the Traveller falls asleep.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: warning touch on the shoulder
literal_form: Dame Fortune touches the Traveller on the shoulder before cautioning
him.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: The Nightingale refuses the Swallow's advice
summary: The Swallow advises the Nightingale to leave her leafy home and live under
human roofs, but the Nightingale refuses because living among men recalls past
wrongs.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Fortune warns the sleeping Traveller
summary: A fatigued Traveller sleeps at the brink of a deep well; Dame Fortune wakes
him and warns him to move, saying that otherwise his fall would be blamed on Fortune
instead of his own folly.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: place of past suffering revives painful memory
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Nightingale refuses to return to human dwellings because of cruel wrongs
suffered there, and the stated moral generalizes this as past suffering reviving
painful memories.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This is a fable moral rather than a developed mythic episode.
- id: motif:2
label: warning against negligent proximity to danger
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Traveller sleeps at the brink of a deep well and is warned to move away
before falling in.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage presents practical caution
rather than esoteric wisdom.
- id: motif:3
label: misplaced blame on Fortune for one's own folly
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Dame Fortune says that if the Traveller fell into the well, the blame would
be placed on Fortune rather than on his own folly.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is explicitly moralizing but not necessarily mythological beyond
the personification of Fortune.
- id: motif:4
label: personified Fortune intervenes to prevent blame
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Dame Fortune appears, wakes the Traveller, and explains that she would be
blamed if his own folly caused him to fall.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The intervention is brief and serves the fable's moral point; no wider
mythic narrative is supplied.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 5344-5348
quote_or_summary: A Swallow converses with a Nightingale and advises her to leave
her leafy coverts, live with men, and nest under their roofs.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 5349-5352
quote_or_summary: The Nightingale replies that she once lived among men, suffered
cruel wrongs, and will never again approach their dwellings.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: '5354'
quote_or_summary: '"The scene of past sufferings revives painful memories."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 5358-5360
quote_or_summary: A Traveller exhausted after a long journey lies down at the brink
of a deep well, falls asleep, and is nearly about to fall in.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 5360-5362
quote_or_summary: Dame Fortune appears, touches the Traveller on the shoulder, and
cautions him to move farther away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 5362-5365
quote_or_summary: Dame Fortune says that if the Traveller fell into the well, the
blame would be put on Fortune rather than on his own folly.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/aesops-fables-vernon-jones.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward from two short fables. Motif labels
are cautious and moral-pattern oriented. No comparison claims were made because
the passage does not itself support comparison to an external tradition or motif
family beyond broad candidate taxonomy tagging.
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; available taxonomy references were applied sparingly.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-aesop-fables-vernon-jones-gutenberg__l5344-l5365
passage_sha256=37e55b373f9796302121eb94942e844015e462ac832d10ab15979d25f363260c