============================================================================== The reading form for the first 319 folk tales (first study). Each copy of the reader was given this text and a pack of tales. Printed as it was written, except that the path of the working folder is replaced by “[the study’s folder]”. ============================================================================== # Reader task: folk tales You are one reader in an experiment on the shapes of stories. You will read a pack of short tales and, for each tale, record how the protagonist's fortune moves and a few facts about the plot. Your ratings are measurement data, so they must be your own honest reading of the text in front of you. ## Ground rules - Use only the Read tool (to read the pack) and the Write tool (to record your ratings). - Do not call any tool whose name starts with `mcp__`. Do not search the web. Do not start other agents. Do not install anything. - Do not open any other file under [the study’s folder] (no other readers' output, no manifests). - Write only the files named below, inside [the study’s folder]/tales/out/. - Never quote the tales in your messages. Keep your messages short. ## What to read `[the study’s folder]/tales/packs/pack_

.txt` holds several tales. Each tale starts with a line `##### TALE #####` and ends with `##### END OF TALE #####`. Inside, the tale is cut into 8 segments, each starting with `=== SEGMENT k of 8 ===`. Read the pack in order with the Read tool, at most 400 lines per call (`offset`, `limit`). Read every line. Rate what this text says, not your memory of any version of the story you may know. ## What to record for each tale Decide who the protagonist is: the character whose fortunes the tale follows (treat a pair or a group that acts together as one protagonist). For each of the 8 segments: 1. `fortune`: an integer from -5 to +5. The protagonist's good or ill fortune AT THE END OF THE SEGMENT, as the tale presents it at that point. +5 bliss, triumph, everything they want; +2 or +3 things clearly going well; 0 ordinary life, neither good nor bad; -2 or -3 real trouble, loss or danger; -5 catastrophe: death, ruin, utter despair. Rate the level, not the change. Rate each segment as things stand at that moment, ignoring what you know comes later. 2. `tension`: an integer from 0 to 5. How much hangs in the balance at the end of the segment: how uncertain and how important the outcome feels right then. 0 nothing at stake (nothing has started, or everything is settled); 1 or 2 something is stirring; 3 a real problem is open; 4 danger or a deadline is close; 5 the decisive moment, everything at stake. 3. `tone`: an integer from -5 to +5. The emotional colour of the writing in this segment itself. +5 joyful, warm, funny; 0 neutral or mixed; -5 bleak, terrifying, grief-stricken, violent. 4. `event`: at most 12 words saying what happens in this segment. Concrete: who does what. For the tale as a whole: - `protagonist`: who it is. - `protagonist_kind`: one of `human`, `animal`, `supernatural`, `other`. - `role`: one of `hero` (admirable or sympathetic), `trickster`, `fool`, `victim`, `villain`, `other`. - `summary`: the tale in at most 25 words. - `shape`: how the protagonist's fortune moves across the whole tale, one of `rise`, `fall`, `fall-rise`, `rise-fall`, `rise-fall-rise`, `fall-rise-fall`, `other` (for example `fall-rise` = gets into trouble, then gets out of it). - `shape_note`: at most 20 words: why that shape, or what the shape is if `other`. - `ending`: `better`, `worse` or `same`: the protagonist's situation at the very end compared with the very beginning. - `elements`: true or false for each of these sixteen: - `lack_or_harm`: the plot is set in motion by a lack, a loss, a threat or an act of harm - `leaves_home`: the protagonist leaves home or their familiar place - `returns_home`: by the end the protagonist is back home, or settled in a new home - `opponent`: a personal antagonist (person, creature, rival) works against the protagonist - `helper`: the protagonist gets decisive help, advice or a gift from someone else - `test`: the protagonist must pass a test, perform a task or survive an ordeal - `trick`: a deception or trick is central to the plot (by or against the protagonist) - `rule_broken`: a warning, rule or prohibition is given and then broken - `supernatural`: magic or supernatural beings matter to the plot - `transformation`: someone changes form or state (shape-shifting, enchantment, a disguise revealed) - `reward`: the protagonist ends with a concrete gain (marriage, wealth, status, safety, food) - `punishment`: a wrongdoer is punished or comes to a bad end - `protagonist_dies`: the protagonist dies - `deserved`: the ending gives the main characters what their conduct deserved - `explains_origin`: the tale explains how something in the world came to be - `moral_stated`: the tale states a lesson in so many words ## How to record (as you go; this matters) As soon as you have read ONE tale to its end marker, and BEFORE reading the next tale, use the Write tool to save [the study’s folder]/tales/out/..json with exactly this structure: {"tid": "", "reader": "", "protagonist": "...", "protagonist_kind": "human", "role": "hero", "summary": "...", "segments": [{"k": 1, "fortune": 0, "tension": 1, "tone": 0, "event": "..."}, ... eight objects, k = 1 to 8 ...], "shape": "fall-rise", "shape_note": "...", "ending": "better", "elements": {"lack_or_harm": true, "leaves_home": true, "returns_home": false, "opponent": true, "helper": false, "test": true, "trick": false, "rule_broken": false, "supernatural": true, "transformation": false, "reward": true, "punishment": true, "protagonist_dies": false, "deserved": true, "explains_origin": false, "moral_stated": false}} Once written, a tale's file is final: never go back and change it. If the text between two tale markers is plainly not a story at all (for example an editor's essay or a list), write the file as `{"tid": "", "reader": "", "not_a_tale": true, "reason": "..."}` and move on. Finish by replying with a single line: pack number, READER, number of tale files written.