batch.motif.japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki-gutenberg-l3796-l3896
---
record_id: batch.motif.japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki-gutenberg-l3796-l3896
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
passage_locator:
label: THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT WISH TO DIE / THE BAMBOO-CUTTER AND THE
MOON-CHILD / THE GOBLIN OF ADACHIGAHARA / THE SAGACIOUS MONKEY AND THE BOAR; lines
3796-3896
start: '3796'
end: '3896'
translation: Japanese Fairy Tales
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'A traveling monkey-man decides to sell his aging performing monkey to
the butcher because it no longer performs well. The monkey overhears the plan
and seeks advice from a wise boar in the forest. The boar proposes to seize the
master''s infant child so that the monkey can appear to rescue it. The plan succeeds:
the parents admire the monkey, send the butcher away, order boar meat instead,
and let the monkey live peacefully without further beatings.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A traveling monkey-man earns his living by taking a monkey around and showing
its tricks.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The master says the monkey is too old, forgets its tricks, and should be sold
to the butcher.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The wife feels sorry for the monkey and asks her husband to spare it, but
he refuses.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The monkey overhears the conversation and understands that it is to be killed.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The monkey leaves the house and goes to the forest to ask the boar for counsel.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The boar proposes to carry off the master's infant son so the monkey can chase
after him and return the child safely.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The mother places the child near the porch while she works in the morning.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The boar carries the child away through the gate, and the monkey runs after
him.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The monkey brings the child safely back to the parents.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: The parents decide not to sell the monkey, send the butcher away, and order
boar meat instead.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: The monkey is treated kindly afterward and is not struck by his master again.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: traveling monkey-man
description: A man in Shinshin who earns his living by exhibiting a monkey's tricks
and intends to sell the aging monkey to the butcher.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: wife / mistress
description: The master's wife, who pities the monkey, later witnesses the child
being carried off, and argues that the monkey saved the child.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: monkey
description: An aging performing monkey who overhears that he is to be sold and
killed, seeks the boar's advice, and returns the child to the parents.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:9
- ev:11
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: wild boar
description: A forest-dwelling boar reputed for wisdom who devises and carries out
the child-abduction plan.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: infant son / child
description: The master's infant son, placed near the porch in the morning and carried
away by the boar before being returned by the monkey.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: butcher
description: The butcher whom the master plans to summon to buy or kill the monkey,
and who is later sent away with an order for boar meat.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: harsh master
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He beats the monkey, plans to sell it to the butcher, and only later reverses
the decision.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:2
label: compassionate intercessor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: She pleads for the monkey to be spared and later uses the rescue to argue
against killing it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:10
- id: role:3
label: threatened servant animal
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The monkey has served for years and is threatened with slaughter because
of age and failing performance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: petitioner for counsel
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The monkey goes to the boar and asks what he should do.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: apparent rescuer
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The monkey runs after the boar and brings the child safely back to the parents.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:6
label: distressed parent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: She cries out and wakes her husband when the child is taken.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:7
label: wise animal counselor
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The monkey has heard of the boar's wisdom, and the boar devises the plan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: accomplice in deception
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The boar agrees to seize the child so that the monkey can recover it and
win reprieve.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: role:9
label: endangered child
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The boar carries the child away, producing the crisis that the monkey resolves.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:10
label: agent of threatened slaughter
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The master plans to sell the monkey to the butcher, and the butcher later
arrives.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Threat of sale and slaughter
summary: The master decides that the aging monkey is no longer useful and tells
his wife to summon the butcher, despite her pleas for mercy.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:2
label: Consultation with the boar
summary: The monkey flees to the forest, flatters the boar's wisdom, and receives
a plan to save himself by staging the child's abduction and rescue.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:3
label: Morning abduction and pursuit
summary: The child is placed near the porch; the boar seizes it and runs off, and
the monkey pursues while the parents realize what has happened.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Return, reprieve, and reversal
summary: The monkey returns the child, the parents spare the monkey, send away the
butcher, order boar meat, and allow the monkey to live peacefully.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Threatened animal avoids slaughter through a stratagem
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
- wisdom
basis: The monkey learns he is to be killed and, with the boar's plan, uses a staged
rescue to make the owners spare him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents the stratagem as practical cunning rather than a
supernatural trickster episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Wise animal counselor devises rescue plan
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The monkey seeks out the boar because of his reputed wisdom, and the boar
provides the plan that changes the monkey's fate.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The boar's wisdom is explicitly reported, but his plan is morally ambiguous
because it depends on deceiving the humans.
- id: motif:3
label: Feigning heroic rescue to gain protection
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: The boar's abduction creates a crisis in which the monkey can appear as the
child's rescuer and thereby avoid being sold to the butcher.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The story does not explicitly call the rescue false or staged to the humans;
the staged nature is known from the prior plan.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 3796-3802
quote_or_summary: A traveling monkey-man in Shinshin earns his living by showing
a monkey's tricks.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 3803-3813
quote_or_summary: The master says the monkey is old, forgets tricks, is beaten without
improving, and should be sold to the butcher for money.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 3814-3817
quote_or_summary: The wife feels sorry for the animal and pleads for it to be spared,
but the husband remains determined.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 3818-3829
quote_or_summary: The monkey overhears the conversation, realizes he is to be killed,
laments his master's cruelty, and thinks of seeking the wild boar's counsel.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 3830-3840
quote_or_summary: The monkey goes to the forest, finds the boar, praises his wisdom,
and asks what to do about being sold to the butcher.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 3841-3853
quote_or_summary: The boar, pleased by flattery, proposes to seize the master's
infant child so that the monkey can rescue it and win the parents' pity.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 3854-3863
quote_or_summary: In the morning, the mistress opens the shutters, places the child
near the porch as usual, and begins housework and breakfast preparations.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 3864-3878
quote_or_summary: The boar carries the child through the gate; the mother cries
out, wakes her husband, and the parents see the monkey running after the thief.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 3879-3882
quote_or_summary: The parents admire the monkey's conduct and are grateful when
it brings the child safely back.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 3883-3893
quote_or_summary: The wife argues that the monkey saved their child; the husband
agrees to send the butcher away and feed the monkey too.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 3894-3896
quote_or_summary: The butcher is sent away with an order for boar meat, and the
monkey is petted, lives peacefully, and is never struck again.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Passage details are explicit. Motif-family mapping is cautious because available
taxonomy categories are broad and the tale is non-supernatural.
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 added because the supplied passage does not itself establish cross-textual or historical comparison.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki-gutenberg__l3796-l3896
passage_sha256=8e357797264a485ba4404463c0bbd00f5adb05479c186425fc2f1393c3984fca