batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l63-l124
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg-l63-l124
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
passage_locator:
label: MORE JATAKA TALES / DEDICATED / RUDYARD KIPLING / FOREWORD; lines 63-124
start: '63'
end: '124'
translation: More Jataka Tales
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The title matter names the reteller, illustrator, and dedicatee. The foreword
explains that the success of an earlier Jataka Tales volume led to this companion
volume; describes children’s interest in the stories; identifies the Jataka tales
as an ancient collection of folklore; and states that related stories appear in
Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, and European languages, including versions associated
with Aesop and later European authors.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The work is titled More Jataka Tales and is described as re-told by Ellen
C. Babbitt with illustrations by Ellsworth Young.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The dedication is addressed to Rudyard Kipling in the name of children who
respond to his call.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The foreword states that the success of an earlier Jataka Tales volume led
to a second companion volume.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The foreword says children have felt the charm of the stories and discovered
that they can read them by themselves.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The foreword says the stories in More Jataka Tales were found in a volume
translated from Sanskrit into English by Cambridge scholars and published by the
University Press.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The foreword describes the Jataka tales as regarded as historic in the Third
Century B.C. and as the oldest collection of folklore extant.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The foreword uses the image of forebears telling tales around a hearth fire
on the roof of the world.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Professor Rhys Davids is quoted as calling the Jataka tales a priceless record
of the childhood of the race.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The foreword states that the same stories are found in Greek, Latin, Arabic,
Persian, and most European languages.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: The foreword states that Greek versions of the Jataka tales were adapted and
ascribed to Aesop.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: The foreword states that a Guild of Jataka Translators under Professor E.
B. Cowell produced the complete edition of the Jataka between 1895 and 1907.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: Professor Cowell is quoted as saying that the stories traveled through literary
channels in Europe and were recognized under different aspects in works by Boccaccio,
Chaucer, or La Fontaine.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Ellen C. Babbitt
description: Named as the person who re-told More Jataka Tales.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Ellsworth Young
description: Named as the illustrator of More Jataka Tales.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Rudyard Kipling
description: Named as the dedicatee of the book.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: children
description: Described as readers or listeners who ask for more stories and can
read the stories to themselves.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Dr. Felix Adler
description: Cited as having written a foreword to Jataka Tales and as saying he
was captivated by the charm of the Jataka Tales.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Cambridge scholars
description: Described as a group that translated a volume from Sanskrit into English.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Professor Rhys Davids
description: Quoted regarding the Jataka tales as a record of the childhood of the
race.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Aesop
description: Named as the famous storyteller to whom Greek versions of the Jataka
tales were ascribed.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Guild of Jataka Translators
description: Named as the group that brought out the complete edition of the Jataka
between 1895 and 1907.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Professor E. B. Cowell
description: Named as professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge, head of the Guild of Jataka
Translators, and quoted on the stories’ literary wanderings.
role_refs:
- role:10
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Boccaccio, Chaucer, and La Fontaine
description: Named as European authors in whose works the stories are said to appear
under different aspects.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
roles:
- id: role:1
label: reteller
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The title matter says the work was re-told by Ellen C. Babbitt.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: illustrator
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The title matter says the illustrations are by Ellsworth Young.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: dedicatee
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The dedication is addressed to Rudyard Kipling.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: child audience and readers
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The foreword describes children asking for more stories and reading them
to themselves.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: previous foreword writer and commentator
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Dr. Felix Adler is cited from his foreword to Jataka Tales.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: translators from Sanskrit into English
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The foreword says a group of Cambridge scholars translated a volume from
Sanskrit into English.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: quoted scholar
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Professor Rhys Davids is quoted on the cultural value of the tales.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:8
label: attributed storyteller
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Greek versions are said to have been adapted and ascribed to Aesop.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:9
label: Jataka edition producers
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The Guild of Jataka Translators is said to have brought out the complete
edition of the Jataka.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: role:10
label: Sanskrit professor and guild leader
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Professor E. B. Cowell is named as professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge and
as heading the translators’ guild.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: role:11
label: quoted commentator on literary transmission
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Professor Cowell is quoted on the stories’ long wanderings through literature.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: role:12
label: European literary recipients or adapters
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The passage names Boccaccio, Chaucer, and La Fontaine as authors under whom
the stories are recognized in different aspects.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: hearth fire
literal_form: hearth fire
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Title, authorship, and dedication
summary: The passage identifies More Jataka Tales, names Babbitt as reteller and
Young as illustrator, and dedicates the book to Rudyard Kipling on behalf of children.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Reason for the companion volume
summary: The foreword says the success of an earlier Jataka Tales volume and children’s
desire for more stories led to the second volume.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Source and antiquity of the tales
summary: The foreword states that the new stories came from a Sanskrit-to-English
scholarly translation and describes the Jataka tales as an ancient collection
of folklore.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Cross-cultural literary transmission
summary: The foreword claims that related stories are found across several languages,
that Greek versions were associated with Aesop, and that the tales circulated
through European literary channels into works of later authors.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
candidate_motifs: []
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The foreword explicitly claims that the same stories occur in Greek, Latin,
Arabic, Persian, and most European languages.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Jataka-related story traditions in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, and European
languages
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage gives a broad literary-historical claim but does not identify
individual tales or provide textual parallels.
- id: claim:2
claim: The foreword claims that Greek versions of Jataka tales were adapted and
attributed to Aesop.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: Aesopic fable tradition
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The claim is reported in the foreword without specific tale titles,
manuscript evidence, or direct comparison.
- id: claim:3
claim: The foreword claims that Jataka stories circulated through European literary
channels and appeared under different aspects in authors such as Boccaccio, Chaucer,
and La Fontaine.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: European literary traditions associated with Boccaccio, Chaucer, and La
Fontaine
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage summarizes Professor Cowell’s claim but does not specify
which stories or versions are meant.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 63-72
quote_or_summary: The title matter gives More Jataka Tales, re-told by Ellen C.
Babbitt, with illustrations by Ellsworth Young.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 74-80
quote_or_summary: The book is dedicated to Rudyard Kipling in the name of children
who troop to his call.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, first paragraph
quote_or_summary: The continued success of the earlier Jataka Tales volume led to
a second companion volume; the paragraph mentions children’s cry for more.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, second paragraph
quote_or_summary: Felix Adler is cited as captivated by the Jataka Tales; children
are said to feel their charm and read them independently.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, second paragraph
quote_or_summary: More Jataka Tales were found in a volume translated from Sanskrit
into English by Cambridge scholars and published by the University Press.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, third paragraph
quote_or_summary: The Jataka tales are described as regarded as historic in the
Third Century B.C. and as the oldest extant collection of folklore.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: FOREWORD, third paragraph
quote_or_summary: "“told tales around the same hearth fire on the roof of the world”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, third paragraph
quote_or_summary: Professor Rhys Davids is quoted as calling the Jataka tales a
priceless record of the childhood of the race.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, third paragraph
quote_or_summary: The passage says the same stories are found in Greek, Latin, Arabic,
Persian, and most European languages.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, third paragraph
quote_or_summary: Greek versions of the Jataka tales are said to have been adapted
and ascribed to Aesop, then handed down for children in the West.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, fourth paragraph
quote_or_summary: A Guild of Jataka Translators under Professor E. B. Cowell brought
out the complete edition of the Jataka between 1895 and 1907.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: FOREWORD, fifth paragraph
quote_or_summary: Professor Cowell says the stories spread over Europe through literary
channels and were recognized under different aspects in Boccaccio, Chaucer, or
La Fontaine.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/more-jataka-tales-babbitt.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: medium
notes: This passage is prefatory and bibliographic rather than a narrative tale;
therefore no narrative candidate motifs are extracted. Comparison claims are included
only because the foreword itself explicitly states cross-cultural literary relationships.
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 invented taxonomy identifiers were used beyond the provided symbol reference fire. No motif-family taxonomy reference was assigned because the passage does not narrate a mythic or folkloric episode.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-more-jataka-tales-babbitt-gutenberg__l63-l124
passage_sha256=7d1f7bfb06a8cdda063b0c29386e1c4076678d009c2d3837a3e7a9c98687fc66