batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l1172-l1239
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l1172-l1239
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
passage_locator:
label: THE HAWKS AND THEIR FRIENDS / THE BRAVE LITTLE BOWMAN / THE FOOLHARDY WOLF
/ THE STOLEN PLOW; lines 1172-1239
start: '1172'
end: '1239'
translation: More Jataka Tales
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“If birds cannot carry off boys, can mice eat plows?”"
summary: A village trader leaves his plow with a town trader, who sells it and falsely
says mice ate it. The village trader hides the town trader’s son and claims a
bird carried him away. In court, the village trader uses the impossible bird claim
to expose the impossible mouse claim, and the judge orders both the plow and the
son restored.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Two traders, one from a small village and one from a nearby large town, are
described as great friends.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The village trader leaves his plow with the town trader to be mended.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The town trader sells the plow, keeps the money, and later says that mice
have eaten the plow.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: The village trader takes the town trader’s little son to a friend’s house
and asks the friend to keep him there until he returns.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The village trader tells the town trader that a big bird seized the boy at
the river and flew into the air with him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The town trader denies that a bird could carry off a boy and brings the matter
to court.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: In court, the village trader asks whether mice can eat plows if birds cannot
carry off boys.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The judge orders the town trader to give back the plow and says the village
trader will give the son back.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: By night-time, one trader has his son back and the other has his plow.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: village trader
description: A trader from a small village who leaves his plow with the town trader
and later makes the counter-claim about the bird carrying off the son.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: town trader
description: A trader from a nearby large town who sells the plow, says mice ate
it, and later complains that his son is missing.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: town trader’s little son
description: The little boy taken by the village trader to a friend’s house and
later returned.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: friend keeping the boy
description: A friend at whose house the village trader leaves the town trader’s
son.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: judge
description: The court authority who hears the dispute and orders restoration of
the plow and son.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: mice
description: Animals named in the town trader’s false explanation that they ate
the plow.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: big bird
description: A bird named in the village trader’s false explanation that it carried
off the boy.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: owner of entrusted property
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The village trader takes his plow to the town trader and later comes to get
it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: dishonest custodian
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The town trader sells the plow, keeps the money, and gives a false explanation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: maker of reciprocal impossible claim
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The village trader claims a bird carried off the boy and later uses that
claim to question the mouse explanation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: complaining father
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The town trader asks where his son is and brings the claim to court.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: hidden child
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The village trader takes the child to a friend’s house until he returns.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: temporary keeper of the child
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The friend is asked to keep the little boy until the village trader comes
back.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:7
label: adjudicator
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The judge hears the statements and orders the exchange of plow and son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: alleged impossible eaters of the plow
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The town trader says mice ate the plow, a claim later challenged in court.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: role:9
label: alleged impossible abductor of the boy
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The village trader says a big bird seized the son and flew away with him,
a claim the town trader and judge challenge.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: plow
literal_form: The village trader’s plow, entrusted for mending, sold by the town
trader, and later restored.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: mice eating a plow
literal_form: The town trader’s claim that mice ate the plow.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: big bird carrying off a boy
literal_form: The village trader’s claim that a big bird seized the boy and flew
away with him.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: river water
literal_form: The river where the children go swimming and where the village trader
says the bird seized the boy.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: court
literal_form: The court where the judge hears the dispute between the two traders.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Entrusted plow and false mouse explanation
summary: The village trader entrusts his plow to the town trader, who sells it and
later claims mice ate it.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Hidden son and false bird explanation
summary: The village trader hides the town trader’s son at a friend’s house and
later claims that a big bird carried him away from the river.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Court reasoning and restoration
summary: In court, the village trader compares the impossible bird claim with the
impossible mouse claim, and the judge orders the plow and son returned.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: reciprocal false claim exposes theft
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The village trader answers the town trader’s false claim that mice ate the
plow with a parallel false claim that a bird carried off the son, forcing the
contradiction into view.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents a practical legal trick rather than a supernatural
event.
- id: motif:2
label: wisdom through analogy in judgment
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: 'The decisive argument is an analogy: if birds cannot carry off boys, then
mice cannot eat plows; the judge acts on this reasoning.'
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The text does not explicitly label the act as wisdom, but the reasoning
resolves the dispute.
- id: motif:3
label: restoration of stolen property through adjudication
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The judge orders the town trader to return the plow and the village trader
to return the son, restoring both losses by the end of the tale.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The son was hidden rather than permanently stolen; the plow was sold but
is ordered returned.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 1174-1185
quote_or_summary: The two traders are friends; the village trader leaves his plow
with the town trader, who sells it, keeps the money, and says, “The mice have
eaten your plow.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 1187-1190
quote_or_summary: When the children go to the river to swim, the village trader
takes the town trader’s little son to a friend’s house and asks the friend to
keep him until he returns.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 1192-1207
quote_or_summary: The town trader asks where his son is; the village trader says
a big bird seized the boy at the river and flew away. The town trader rejects
this as impossible and goes to court.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: 1209-1228
quote_or_summary: In court, the village trader asks, “If birds cannot carry off
boys, can mice eat plows?” and explains that if mice can eat plows, then birds
can carry off boys.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 1230-1234
quote_or_summary: The judge tells the town trader to give back the plow and says
the village trader will give the son back; by night-time each has recovered what
was missing.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The passage is straightforward and self-contained. Motif labels are inferred
from the tale’s plot and reasoning; no external comparison claims are made.
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. No external tale-type or motif-index identifiers were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg__l1172-l1239
passage_sha256=07910d13977fc87c87ff83da4ac96aab353e24ffc2d40dcb4099ab6e0a26d7db