batch.motif.buddhist-old-india-tales-rouse-gutenberg-l826-l894
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-old-india-tales-rouse-gutenberg-l826-l894
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
passage_locator:
label: THE CROCODILE AND THE MONKEY / THE AXE, THE DRUM, THE BOWL, AND THE DIAMOND
/ THE WISE PARROT AND THE FOOLISH PARROT / THE DISHONEST FRIEND; lines 826-894
start: '826'
end: '894'
translation: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A man entrusts his plough to a friend before a journey. The friend sells
it and later falsely claims that a rat ate it. The owner responds by hiding the
friend's son safely and claiming that a hawk carried the boy away. In court, he
exposes the parallel between the impossible hawk story and the impossible rat
story. The judge requires the dishonest friend to restore the plough, after which
the son is returned safely, and the tale closes with a moral about honesty.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A man going on a journey asks a friend to take charge of his plough until
he returns.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The friend sells the plough and keeps the price for himself.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: When asked for the plough, the friend says a very big rat came one night and
ate it.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The plough owner takes the friend's son to another friend's house and instructs
that the boy be kept safe indoors until he returns.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The plough owner tells the boy's father that a hawk swooped down and carried
the boy away.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The boy's father brings the matter before a judge and accuses the plough owner
of lying and murder.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The judge says it is nonsense that a hawk could carry off a boy.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The plough owner asks who ever heard of a rat eating a plough and then tells
his story.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: The judge understands that the complainant cheated his friend and says that
if the plough is found, the son may be found too.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: The dishonest friend gives the plough back, and his son is returned safely.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: plough owner
description: The man who goes on a journey, entrusts his plough to a friend, and
later uses a counter-trick to expose the friend's dishonesty.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: dishonest friend
description: The friend entrusted with the plough who sells it, lies that a rat
ate it, and later complains when his son is missing.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: friend's son
description: The son of the dishonest friend; he is taken for a walk, kept safely
at another friend's house, and later returned.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: another friend
description: The person asked to keep the boy safe inside the house until the plough
owner returns.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: judge
description: The court authority who hears the complaint, questions the hawk claim,
understands the earlier cheating, and orders a conditional resolution.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: very big rat
description: A rat alleged by the dishonest friend to have eaten the plough.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: hawk
description: A hawk alleged by the plough owner to have carried away the boy.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: entrusting owner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He asks a friend to take charge of his plough before leaving on a journey.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: dishonest custodian
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He is entrusted with the plough but sells it and keeps the money.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: counter-trick exposer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He invents the hawk story to reveal the absurdity of the rat story and expose
the theft.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: safely hidden child
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The boy is kept safely in another friend's house and later returned.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: complainant brought to judgment
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He accuses the plough owner before the judge but is found to have cheated
him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: temporary guardian
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: He is instructed to keep the boy safe and not let him leave the house.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: adjudicator
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: He hears the complaint, questions the truth of the claims, understands the
deception, and states the condition for restoration.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: impossible alleged agent
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: The rat and the hawk are each invoked in an implausible explanation for a
missing possession or person.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: entrusted plough
literal_form: plough
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: sym:2
label: very big rat explanation
literal_form: very big rat that allegedly ate a plough
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: hawk explanation
literal_form: hawk that allegedly carried off a boy
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: court of judgment
literal_form: court and judge
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: returned son
literal_form: son brought back safe
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: entrusting and theft of the plough
summary: A man leaves his plough with a friend while he travels; the friend sells
it and keeps the proceeds.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: false rat explanation
summary: On the owner's return, the friend says a very big rat ate the plough.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: counter-trick with the son
summary: The owner places the friend's son safely in another friend's house and
then claims a hawk carried the boy away.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: court hearing
summary: The dishonest friend complains to the judge, who challenges the claim that
a hawk could carry away a boy.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: exposure and restoration
summary: The plough owner reveals the parallel with the rat story; the judge recognizes
the cheating, the plough is returned, and the son is brought back safely.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: dishonest custodian denies entrusted property through impossible explanation
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The friend entrusted with the plough sells it and then claims an implausible
rat ate it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level motif label based only on the supplied tale, not
a formal taxonomy ID.
- id: motif:2
label: counter-deception exposes prior deception
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: The plough owner uses a similarly impossible hawk claim to expose the dishonest
friend's impossible rat claim.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy reference is broad; the passage presents a moral
counter-trick rather than a boundary-crossing trickster figure in a strict mythological
sense.
- id: motif:3
label: wisdom through analogical judgment
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The judge understands the relation between the two impossible claims and
uses the recovery of the plough as the condition for the recovery of the son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The wisdom taxonomy reference is broad and should be reviewed for fit.
- id: motif:4
label: restoration of stolen property through reciprocal leverage
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The son is returned only after the dishonest friend restores the plough he
had withheld.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a descriptive narrative pattern rather than a confirmed external
motif classification.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 826-833
quote_or_summary: A man going on a journey entrusts his plough to a friend; the
friend sells it and keeps the money.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; passage supplied in request.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 834-842
quote_or_summary: When the man asks for the plough, the friend says his house has
rats and that a very big rat ate the plough.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; passage supplied in request.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 843-856
quote_or_summary: The owner takes the friend's son for a walk, leaves him safely
with another friend, then tells the father that a hawk carried him off.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; passage supplied in request.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 857-872
quote_or_summary: The father brings the case before the judge, accusing the man;
the judge questions the claim that a hawk could carry off a boy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; passage supplied in request.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 873-884
quote_or_summary: The plough owner asks who ever heard of a rat eating a plough
and explains the earlier events; the judge sees that the complainant cheated him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; passage supplied in request.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 885-894
quote_or_summary: The judge says that if the plough is found, the son may be found
too; the plough is returned, the son is brought back safe, and the tale states
that honesty is the best policy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/giant-crab-old-india-tales-rouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; passage supplied in request.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The narrative sequence and figures are explicit in the supplied passage.
Motif labels are descriptive and require human review for taxonomy alignment.
No comparison claims were made because the passage itself does not explicitly
support external 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: |-
Extraction uses only the supplied passage and metadata. Line subranges are approximate divisions within the provided canonical range.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-old-india-tales-rouse-gutenberg__l826-l894
passage_sha256=2481cccaa8b1a6a6e7be5256e02116f69bbdcdf194edfc31c11b7a82d71dce58