batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l11773-l11903
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l11773-l11903
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: END OF THE STORY OF THE THOROUGHBRED. / END OF THE STORY OF THE FORD. / END
OF THE STORY ON CONSTANCY. / END OF THE STORY OF THE BULL WHO WON THE BET.; lines
11773-11903
start: '11773'
end: '11903'
translation: Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The Bodisat, identified in the passage as Magha the young Brāhman, improves
village spaces, reconciles thirty men, and leads them in the Five Commandments
and public works. A village headman, angered by losing income from misconduct,
falsely reports them as robbers to the king, who orders them trampled by elephants.
The Bodisat exhorts the men to maintain the Commandments and show kindness even
to the slanderer, king, and elephant; the elephants refuse to trample them. When
asked for their spell, the Bodisat says their only spell is ethical conduct, love,
giving, and public works. The king rewards them and punishes the slanderer. Later
the men build a rest-house at a crossroads but exclude women from the merit. Piety,
one of the Bodisat’s household women, arranges through the builder to supply the
prepared pinnacle, and the hall is completed with her contribution.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The Bodisat repeatedly clears and smooths standing places until all thirty
men have convenient room.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Bodisat has a shed, then a hall with benches and a water-pot, put up in
the village space.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The Bodisat reconciles the thirty men and confirms them in the Five Commandments.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: 'The villagers perform public works: removing road obstructions, making rough
places plain, forming causeways, digging ponds, building public halls, giving
gifts, and keeping the Commandments.'
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The village headman falsely tells the king that the men are robbers sacking
villages.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The king orders the accused men to be trampled to death by elephants without
inquiry.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The Bodisat tells the men to keep the Commandments in mind and to regard the
slanderer, the king, and the elephant with kindness like that they hold toward
themselves.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Elephants brought to trample the men refuse to begin, cry out, and run away.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: When asked for their spell, the Bodisat states that their spell, defence,
and strength consist in not killing, not stealing, avoiding unchastity, falsehood,
and intoxicants, exercising love, giving gifts, making rough places plain, digging
ponds, and building rest-houses.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: The king trusts the men, gives them the slanderer’s property, makes the slanderer
their slave, gives them the elephant, and grants them the village.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: The men build a large rest-house at the place where the four roads meet, but
initially allow no woman to share in the good work.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:12
text: Piety gives the builder a bribe and asks him to arrange for her to have a
share in the rest-house.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:13
text: The builder prepares and hides a pinnacle beforehand, later claims a prepared
pinnacle is needed, and the searchers find one on Piety’s premises.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:14
text: The men refuse Piety’s offer at first because they had settled that women
should have no share in the work.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:15
text: The builder argues that, except in the heavenly world of the Brahma-angels,
there is no place where womankind is not; the men accept the pinnacle and complete
the hall.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: obs:16
text: The completed hall is furnished with benches, water-pots, boiled rice, a wall,
a gate, sand, and a row of palmyra-trees outside.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Bodisat / Magha the young Brāhman
description: The Bodisat who clears space, reconciles the men, confirms them in
the Commandments, exhorts them before execution, and explains their ethical conduct
as their spell.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Thirty men / villagers
description: Thirty men who are reconciled by the Bodisat, keep the Commandments,
perform public works, are falsely accused, and later build a rest-house.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:10
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Village headman / slanderer
description: The village headman who resents losing gain from fines, taxes, and
pot-money and falsely reports the men as robbers.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: King
description: The ruler who first orders the accused men trampled by elephants and
later rewards them after hearing the Bodisat’s explanation.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Elephants
description: Elephants brought as instruments of execution who refuse to trample
the men and run away.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Builder
description: The builder hired for the crossroads rest-house who arranges for Piety’s
prepared pinnacle to become necessary for completing the hall.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:14
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Piety
description: One of four women in the Bodisat’s household who seeks a share in the
rest-house by arranging to provide the prepared pinnacle.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Thoughtful, Pleasing, and Well-born
description: The other three named women in the Bodisat’s household.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
roles:
- id: role:1
label: ethical instructor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Bodisat confirms the men in the Five Commandments and tells them to keep
the Commandments in mind before the elephant ordeal.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: public-benefit organizer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Bodisat initiates improved public spaces and describes road work, ponds,
gifts, and rest-houses as the group’s practice.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: reconciled community workers
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The men are reconciled, keep the Commandments, and carry out collective works
of piety and public utility.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: false accuser
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The village headman falsely tells the king that the men are robbers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: royal judge and rewarder
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The king first orders punishment without inquiry, then gives rewards after
hearing the Bodisat’s explanation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
- id: role:6
label: execution animals who refuse
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The elephants are brought to trample the men but will not perform the act
and flee.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: intermediary craftsman
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The builder prepares the conditions by which Piety’s pinnacle becomes necessary
for completing the hall.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:14
- id: role:8
label: excluded contributor seeking inclusion
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Piety asks the builder to secure her a share in the rest-house after women
have been excluded from the work.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Five Commandments as spell
literal_form: Ethical precepts named as the group’s spell, defence, and strength
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: sym:2
label: elephant ordeal
literal_form: Elephants brought to trample the accused men
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: crossroads rest-house
literal_form: Large rest-house at the place where four roads met
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:15
- id: sym:4
label: water for hospitality
literal_form: Water-pot and pots of water placed in public halls
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:15
- id: sym:5
label: pinnacle
literal_form: Prepared timber pinnacle used to complete the hall
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: sym:6
label: four roads
literal_form: The place where four roads met
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:7
label: palmyra-trees
literal_form: A row of palmyra-trees planted outside the completed hall
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Village space made usable and men reconciled
summary: The Bodisat clears standing places for thirty men, arranges public shelter
and water, reconciles the men, and confirms them in the Five Commandments.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Public works under the Bodisat’s exhortation
summary: The villagers remove obstacles from roads and paths, make rough places
plain, build causeways and halls, dig ponds, give gifts, and keep the Commandments.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: False accusation and royal death sentence
summary: The village headman, angered by lost income from villagers’ former misconduct,
accuses the men of being robbers, and the king orders their execution by elephants
without inquiry.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Elephants refuse the execution
summary: The Bodisat instructs the accused men to maintain the Commandments and
kindness toward all involved; the elephants refuse to trample them and flee.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: The ethical spell explained and royal reversal
summary: Asked for their spell, the Bodisat names non-harming, honesty, chastity,
truthfulness, sobriety, love, gifts, and public works as their protection; the
king trusts them and rewards them.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:6
label: Piety gains a share in the rest-house
summary: After the men exclude women from the crossroads rest-house project, Piety
arranges through the builder to provide the necessary pinnacle, and the hall is
completed with her contribution.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: scene:7
label: Completed hall furnished for public use
summary: The hall is supplied with benches, water-pots, boiled rice, a wall, a gate,
sand, and palmyra-trees outside.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: ethical conduct as protective power
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Bodisat identifies the group’s only spell, defence, and strength as non-harming,
moral restraint, love, giving, and public works; this follows the elephants’ refusal
to execute them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage uses the term spell, but the explanation is explicitly ethical
rather than magical.
- id: motif:2
label: false accusation overturned by demonstrated virtue
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The headman falsely accuses the men, the king orders punishment without inquiry,
and after the Bodisat’s explanation the king trusts and rewards them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: No broader comparative claim is made from the passage alone.
- id: motif:3
label: public works as communal piety
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The villagers’ pious conduct is described through road clearing, causeways,
ponds, rest-houses, gifts, and keeping the Commandments.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level pattern rather than a mapped taxonomy motif family.
- id: motif:4
label: excluded contributor completes sacred or meritorious work
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Women are initially excluded from the rest-house project, but Piety’s prepared
pinnacle becomes necessary, and the hall is completed with it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents a stratagem for inclusion in a meritorious work;
the label should not be expanded beyond this episode without external evidence.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 11773-11781
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat clears and smooths standing places, repeating the
act until all thirty men have convenient standing room.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 11782-11788
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat has a shed and then a hall with benches and a water-pot
built; he reconciles the thirty men and confirms them in the Five Commandments.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 11789-11799
quote_or_summary: The men rise early to remove stones and trees from roads, make
rough places plain, build causeways, dig ponds, build halls, give gifts, and keep
the Commandments.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 11800-11811
quote_or_summary: The village headman resents losing gain from fines, taxes, and
pot-money and tells the king that robbers are sacking villages.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 11812-11818
quote_or_summary: The headman brings the men as prisoners, and the king orders them
all trampled to death by elephants without asking what they had done.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 11819-11824
quote_or_summary: "“Keep the Commandments in mind. Regard them all--the slanderer,
and the king, and the elephant--with feelings as kind as you harbour towards yourselves!”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 11825-11831
quote_or_summary: Elephants are led up to the condemned men, but each refuses to
begin the trampling, cries out, and runs away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 11832-11849
quote_or_summary: Asked for their spell, the Bodisat says their spell, defence,
and strength are that they do not kill, steal, commit unchastity, speak falsehood,
or drink intoxicants; they practice love, give gifts, make rough places plain,
dig ponds, and put up rest-houses.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 11850-11854
quote_or_summary: The king trusts the men, gives them the slanderer’s property,
makes the slanderer their slave, gives them the elephant, and grants them the
village.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 11856-11863
quote_or_summary: The men continue works of charity and build a large rest-house
where four roads meet, but because they no longer delight in womankind, they allow
no woman to share in the good work.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 11864-11870
quote_or_summary: Four women in the Bodisat’s household are named Piety, Thoughtful,
Pleasing, and Well-born; Piety secretly gives the builder a bribe and asks for
a share in the rest-house.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 11871-11884
quote_or_summary: The builder prepares a timber pinnacle in advance, wraps it and
sets it aside, then later announces that a prepared pinnacle is needed for the
hall.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 11885-11894
quote_or_summary: A finished pinnacle is found on Piety’s premises, but she will
give it only if she is allowed to partake in building the hall; the men refuse
because women were to have no share.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: quote
locator: lines 11895-11900
quote_or_summary: "“Save the heavenly world of the Brahma-angels, there is no place
where womankind is not. Accept the pinnacle; and so will our work be accomplished!”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:15
type: summary
locator: lines 11900-11903
quote_or_summary: The men accept the pinnacle, complete the hall, set benches and
water-pots in it, provide boiled rice, surround it with a wall and gate, spread
sand inside, and plant palmyra-trees outside.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.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 passage-level
candidates; no external comparative claims were added.
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 comparison claims were recorded because the passage itself does not explicitly support a comparison to another named tradition or motif family beyond the available taxonomy candidate for wisdom.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l11773-l11903
passage_sha256=cd1d12ae1284893080f9114bb3babc0716bf07b564cbc5123bc22832438a7f82