batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l552-l594
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l552-l594
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
passage_locator:
label: THE WOODPECKER, TURTLE, AND DEER / THE GOLDEN GOOSE / THE STUPID MONKEYS
/ THE CUNNING WOLF; lines 552-594
start: '552'
end: '594'
translation: More Jataka Tales
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A holiday party in the woods runs out of meat. One man goes to a lake with
a club and pretends to be dead so he can kill an animal for supper. The King of
the Wolves suspects the trick, tests the man by pulling at the club, and proves
he is not dead when the man pulls back. The man throws the club and misses; the
animals escape. He returns and admits that the wolf's trick was better than his
own.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: People from a town go into the woods for a holiday with baskets of food, but
by noon they have eaten all the meat and have none left for supper.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: One man says he will get fresh meat and that they will make a fire and roast
it.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The man takes a club to the lake where animals come to drink and lies down
pretending to be dead.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The animals see the man lying by the lake and watch him for some time.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The King of the Wolves suspects the man is playing a trick and says he will
test whether the man is truly dead.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The King of the Wolves creeps up and pulls at the man's club; the man immediately
pulls back on it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The King of the Wolves says the man would not have pulled back if he had been
dead and identifies the man's purpose as killing one of the animals for supper.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The man throws his club at the King of the Wolves, misses, and finds that
all the other animals have run away.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The man returns to his friends and says he tried to get meat by tricking the
animals, but the cunning Wolf played a better trick on him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the man
description: A member of the holiday party who tries to obtain fresh meat by pretending
to be dead while holding a club.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: King of the Wolves
description: A wolf leader described as cunning who suspects the man's trick, tests
him by pulling at the club, and escapes.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the animals
description: Animals that come to the lake to drink, watch the man, and eventually
run away.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: holiday party / friends
description: People from a town who go into the woods for a holiday and later hear
the man's account.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: deceiver by feigned death
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The man lies by the lake pretending to be dead in order to kill an animal
for supper.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: tester of deception
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The King of the Wolves suspects the man's trick and tests him by pulling
at his club.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: counter-trickster / wiser opponent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The man later states that the wolf played a better trick on him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:4
label: failed hunter
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The man throws his club, misses, and gets none of the animals.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:5
label: intended prey
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The man's stated purpose is to kill one of the animals for supper.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: listeners to the failed hunter's report
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The man goes back to his friends and tells them what happened.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: lake / drinking place
literal_form: lake where animals came to drink
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: club
literal_form: club held by the man and pulled by the wolf
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: sym:3
label: feigned corpse
literal_form: the man lying down and pretending to be dead
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: fire for roasting
literal_form: fire proposed for roasting fresh meat
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Holiday meal runs out of meat
summary: A town party in the woods eats all the meat it brought, leaving none for
supper.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Man sets ambush at the lake
summary: The man takes a club to the animals' drinking place and pretends to be
dead.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Wolf tests the supposed corpse
summary: The King of the Wolves suspects deception, pulls at the club, and sees
the man pull back.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:4
label: Failed attack and admission
summary: The man throws the club and misses; the animals escape, and he admits the
wolf outwitted him.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: feigned death used as a hunting trick
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: The man lies by the lake pretending to be dead so that he may kill one of
the animals for supper.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy does not include a precise hunting-by-feigned-death
category; the trickster_boundary reference is a broad fit.
- id: motif:2
label: deception exposed by a cautious animal
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The King of the Wolves suspects a trick, tests the supposed corpse by pulling
the club, and correctly explains the deception.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage frames the wolf's success as cunning rather than explicitly
as moral wisdom.
- id: motif:3
label: counter-trick defeats the original trick
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
- wisdom
basis: The man admits that he tried to trick the animals but that the cunning Wolf
played a better trick on him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level pattern; broader comparative placement would require
other texts.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage can be cautiously compared to a trickster-contest pattern in
which one attempted deception is defeated by a sharper counter-deception.
claim_level: same_function
target: trickster or counter-trickster contest pattern
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage itself only contrasts the man's trick with the wolf's better
trick; it does not name a broader tradition or establish historical contact.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 552-560
quote_or_summary: People from a town go to the woods for a holiday with baskets
of food; by noon they have eaten all the meat and have none for supper.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 561-562
quote_or_summary: '"I will get some fresh meat. We will make a fire here and roast
it," said one of the men.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 564-566
quote_or_summary: The man takes a club to the lake where animals come to drink and
lies down with the club in hand, pretending to be dead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 568-570
quote_or_summary: The animals come to the lake, see the man lying there, and watch
him for some time.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: lines 572-575
quote_or_summary: '"That man is playing a trick on us, I believe," said the King
of the Wolves; he tells the others to stay while he tests whether the man is dead
or pretending.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 577-581
quote_or_summary: The King of the Wolves creeps up and pulls at the man's club;
the man immediately pulls back on the club.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: lines 583-586
quote_or_summary: The wolf says the man would not have pulled back if dead and says,
"You pretend you are dead so that you may kill one of us for your supper."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 588-591
quote_or_summary: The man jumps up and throws his club at the King of the Wolves,
misses, and sees that all the other animals have run away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:9
type: quote
locator: lines 592-594
quote_or_summary: The man tells his friends that he tried to get meat by tricking
the animals, "but the cunning Wolf played a better trick on me."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is short and explicit about the trick and counter-trick. Taxonomy
alignment is broad because the available motif families do not include a precise
animal-fable or feigned-death hunting category.
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 and metadata were used. No historical-contact or inheritance claim is made.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg__l552-l594
passage_sha256=99f659c33af9a8d199d84cb9c6f71f9a627a57eb9c02a118c766e9c05e15780a