---
title: They come to a well, and the old man gives the Prince a sword, and t… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They come to a well, and the old man gives the Prince a sword, and tells him to cut his head off, and throw it in that well. Who acts: horns, old man. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 13, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They come to a well, and the old man gives the Prince a sword, and tells him to cut his head off, and throw it in that well.

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**Who acts:** horns, old man · **What happens:** come, give, tell, cut off, throw · **To what, where:** well, sword, Prince, head, that · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (horns, old man), 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:pg14241:27:39
# text = They come to a well, and the old man gives the Prince a sword, and tells him to cut his head off, and throw it in that well.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	off	off	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	obl	_	_
31	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | horns *= horn* |  |  | a well |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to well=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **give** | present | the old man | a sword | the Prince |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent prince=Recipient sword=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the old man *not said here* |  | Prince |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **cut off** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* | Prince's head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 5 | **throw** | infinitive | the old man *not said here* | head |  | that |  | well *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme in that=Destination |

<!-- .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.

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**Text:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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