---
title: The castle was so entirely hidden, and the way to it was so difficul… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: The castle was so entirely hidden, and the way to it was so difficult to discover, that he himself could not have found it if a wise woman had not given him a ball of cotton which had the wonderful property, when he threw it before him, of unrolling itself and showing him the right path. Who acts: w
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/19/14/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Grimm's Fairy Stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/) / [The Six Swans](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/19/) / 14

# Grimm's Fairy Stories, The Six Swans, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The castle was so entirely hidden, and the way to it was so difficult to discover, that he himself could not have found it if a wise woman had not given him a ball of cotton which had the wonderful property, when he threw it before him, of unrolling itself and showing him the right path.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** way, ball, King · **What happens:** hide, be, discover, not find, not give, have · **To what, where:** castle, King, wise woman, wonderful property, right path

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, The Six Swans. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, ball, King), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg11027:19:14
# text = The castle was so entirely hidden, and the way to it was so difficult to discover, that he himself could not have found it if a wise woman had not given him a ball of cotton which had the wonderful property, when he threw it before him, of unrolling itself and showing him the right path.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nmod	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	discover	discover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
21	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
24	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux	_	_
25	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	cotton	cotton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
39	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	47	advmod	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	before	before	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
53	unrolling	unroll	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	advcl	_	_
54	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	53	obj	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	53	conj	_	_
57	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	iobj	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past · passive |  | the castle |  |  |  | entirely *property* | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | the way to castle |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **discover** | to-infinitive | the way to castle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **find** | could · perfect · passive |  | King |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme it=Attribute |
| 5 | **not** **give** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | a wise woman | King |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **have** | past | a ball of cotton | the wonderful property |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Patient |
| 7 | **throw** | past | King | castle |  |  | before horse |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme before he=Destination |
| 8 | **unroll** | gerund | King *not said here* | castle |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent itself=Patient |
| 9 | **show** | gerund | King *not said here* | the right path | King |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient path=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/19/13/)
- next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/19/15/)
- ↑ back to [The Six Swans](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/19/)