batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l596-l622
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l596-l622
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
passage_locator:
label: THE GOLDEN GOOSE / THE STUPID MONKEYS / THE CUNNING WOLF / THE PENNY-WISE
MONKEY; lines 596-622
start: '596'
end: '622'
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 king marching with an army to conquer a faraway small country camps in
a forest. A monkey takes peas meant for horses, loses one pea, drops the rest
to search for it, fails to find it, and regrets losing much to gain little. The
king observes the monkey, applies the lesson to his own campaign, and returns
home.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A king of a large and rich country gathers his army to take a faraway little
country.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The king and soldiers march all morning and camp in a forest.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Horses are fed peas in the camp.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: A forest monkey sees the peas, jumps down, fills his mouth and hands with
them, and returns to a tree to eat.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: One pea falls from the monkey's hand to the ground.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The monkey drops all the peas in his hands to search for the single lost pea.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: The monkey cannot find the single pea and sits in the tree looking glum.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: The monkey says to himself that he threw away what he had in order to get
more.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The king watches the monkey and decides not to lose much to gain a little.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: The king and his men march back home.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: king
description: The king of a large and rich country who leads an army toward a faraway
little country and observes the monkey.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: soldiers / army
description: The king's army and men who march with him and return home with him.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: monkey
description: A monkey living in the forest who takes peas, drops many peas to search
for one, and becomes glum.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: horses
description: Horses in the king's camp that are fed peas.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
roles:
- id: role:1
label: king seeking conquest
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He gathers an army to take a faraway little country.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: foolish exemplar
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The monkey loses many peas while trying to recover one pea and is called
foolish by the king.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: observer who learns a lesson
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The king watches the monkey and changes his own course of action.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: attendant army
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The soldiers march with the king and later return home with him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: peas
literal_form: peas used as horse feed and taken by the monkey
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: tree
literal_form: tree in the forest where the monkey sits to eat and later sits glumly
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: forest camp
literal_form: forest camp where the king's army stops and the monkey is encountered
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: army camps in the forest
summary: The king leads his army toward a faraway little country, marches all morning,
and camps in a forest where the horses are fed peas.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: monkey loses many peas for one
summary: A forest monkey takes peas, drops one, throws away the rest while searching
for the single pea, fails to find it, and regrets the loss.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: king abandons conquest after observing monkey
summary: The king sees the monkey's mistake, decides not to lose much to gain little,
and marches home with his men.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: losing much to gain little
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The monkey drops all the peas he has in order to search for one pea, and
the king explicitly interprets this as losing much to gain a little.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage presents a practical moral
rather than an esoteric or doctrinal wisdom motif.
- id: motif:2
label: animal behavior as moral lesson for ruler
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The king observes the monkey's foolish action and changes his political-military
decision as a result.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: No specific comparative taxonomy ID for animal fable or ruler instruction
is supplied beyond the broad wisdom family.
- id: motif:3
label: renunciation of conquest after cautionary example
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The king is marching to take another country but returns home after reflecting
on the monkey's loss.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not state a doctrinal renunciation; it frames the decision
as avoiding the loss of much for little gain.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 596-602
quote_or_summary: A king of a large and rich country gathers an army to take a faraway
little country, marches all morning, and camps in the forest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 604-608
quote_or_summary: The horses are fed peas; a forest monkey sees the peas, takes
some, and returns to a tree to eat.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 610-614
quote_or_summary: When one pea falls to the ground, the monkey drops all the peas
in his hands to search for the lost one and cannot find it.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 614-615
quote_or_summary: '"To get more, I threw away what I had," he said to himself.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 617-620
quote_or_summary: The king watches the monkey and decides not to be like the foolish
monkey who lost much to gain a little.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: line 622
quote_or_summary: The king and his men march back home.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The passage is a compact fable with explicit moral reasoning by the king.
No comparison claims are made because the passage itself does not compare the
episode to another tradition or motif family beyond broad wisdom classification.
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 supplied passage and metadata were used. The line label includes adjacent tale titles, but the provided passage text is only 'THE PENNY-WISE MONKEY.'
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg__l596-l622
passage_sha256=a5f7f089b9f8649d90fa613c3a21225d9b705ecb84b447670771cd1ead80f979