--- title: I. the City. — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · full text with trees description: I. the City., «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: There was once a little boy whose name was Richard Whit'ting-ton; but everybody called him Dick. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/) [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/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / I. the City. # I. the City. I. the City. of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 24 sentences and 538 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/1/) — There was once a little boy whose name was Richard Whit'ting-ton; but everybody called him Dick. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/2/) — His father and mother had died when he was only a babe, and the people who had the care of him were very poor. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/3/) — Dick was not old enough to work, and so he had a hard time of it indeed. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/4/) — Sometimes he had no break-fast, and sometimes he had no dinner; and he was glad at any time to get a crust of bread or a drop of milk. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/5/) — Now, in the town where Dick lived, the people liked to talk about London. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/6/) — None of them had ever been to the great city, but they seemed to know all about the wonderful things which were to be seen there. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/7/) — They said that all the folks who lived in London were fine gen-tle-men and ladies; that there was singing and music there all day long; that nobody was ever hungry there, and nobody had to work; and that the streets were all paved with gold. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/8/) — Dick listened to these stories, and wished that he could go to London. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/9/) — One day a big wagon drawn by eight horses, all with bells on their heads, drove into the little town. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/10/) — Dick saw the wagon standing by the inn, and he thought that it must be going to the fine city of London. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/11/) — When the driver came out and was ready to start, the lad ran up and asked him if he might walk by the side of the wagon. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/12/) — The driver asked him some questions; and when he learned how poor Dick was, and that he had neither father nor mother, he told him that he might do as he liked. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/13/) — It was a long walk for the little lad; but by and by he came to the city of London. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/14/) — He was in such a hurry to see the wonderful sights, that he forgot to thank the driver of the wagon. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/15/) — He ran as fast as he could, from one street to another, trying to find those that were paved with gold. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/16/) — He had once seen a piece of money that was gold, and he knew that it would buy a great, great many things; and now he thought that if he could get only a little bit of the pave-ment, he would have everything that he wanted. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/17/) — Poor Dick ran till he was so tired that he could run no farther. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/18/) — It was growing dark, and in every street there was only dirt instead of gold. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/19/) — He sat down in a dark corner, and cried himself to sleep. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/20/) — When he woke up the next morning, he was very hungry; but there was not even a crust of bread for him to eat. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/21/) — He forgot all about the golden pavements, and thought only of food. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/22/) — He walked about from one street to another, and at last grew so hungry that he began to ask those whom he met to give him a penny to buy something to eat. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/23/) — "Go to work, you idle fellow," said some of them; and the rest passed him by without even looking at him. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/24/) — "I wish I could go to work!" said Dick. - ← previous: [The Inchcape Rock.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/48/) - next →: [II. the Kitchen.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/50/) - ↑ back to [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/)