--- title: I. the Three Questions. — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · full text with trees description: I. the Three Questions., «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: There was once a king of England whose name was John. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/) [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 Three Questions. # I. the Three Questions. I. the Three Questions. of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 34 sentences and 588 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/pg18442/9/1/) — There was once a king of England whose name was John. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/2/) — He was a bad king; for he was harsh and cruel to his people, and so long as he could have his own way, he did not care what became of other folks. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/3/) — He was the worst king that England ever had. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/4/) — Now, there was in the town of Can'ter-bur-y a rich old abbot who lived in grand style in a great house called the Abbey. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/5/) — Every day a hundred noble men sat down with him to dine; and fifty brave knights, in fine velvet coats and gold chains, waited upon him at his table. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/6/) — When King John heard of the way in which the abbot lived, he made up his mind to put a stop to it. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/7/) — So he sent for the old man to come and see him. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/8/) — "How now, my good abbot?" he said. " - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/9/) — I hear that you keep a far better house than I. How dare you do such a thing? - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/10/) — Don't you know that no man in the land ought to live better than the king? - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/11/) — And I tell you that no man shall." - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/12/) — "O king!" said the abbot, "I beg to say that I am spending nothing but what is my own. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/13/) — I hope that you will not think ill of me for making things pleasant for my friends and the brave knights who are with me." - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/14/) — "Think ill of you?" said the king. " - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/15/) — How can I help but think ill of you? - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/16/) — All that there is in this broad land is mine by right; and how do you dare to put me to shame by living in grander style than I? - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/17/) — One would think that you were trying to be king in my place." - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/18/) — "Oh, do not say so!" said the abbot "For I"-- - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/19/) — "Not another word!" cried the king. " - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/20/) — Your fault is plain, and unless you can answer me three questions, your head shall be cut off, and all your riches shall be mine." - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/21/) — "I will try to answer them, O king!" said the abbot. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/22/) — "Well, then," said King John, "as I sit here with my crown of gold on my head, you must tell me to within a day just how long I shall live. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/23/) — Sec-ond-ly, you must tell me how soon I shall ride round the whole world; and lastly, you shall tell me what I think." - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/24/) — "O king!" said the abbot, "these are deep, hard questions, and I cannot answer them just now. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/25/) — But if you will give me two weeks to think about them, I will do the best that I can." - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/26/) — "Two weeks you shall have," said the king; "but if then you fail to answer me, you shall lose your head, and all your lands shall be mine." - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/27/) — The abbot went away very sad and in great fear. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/28/) — He first rode to Oxford. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/29/) — Here was a great school, called a u-ni-ver'si-ty, and he wanted to see if any of the wise pro-fess-ors could help him. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/30/) — But they shook their heads, and said that there was nothing about King John in any of their books. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/31/) — Then the abbot rode down to Cam-bridge, where there was another u-ni-ver-si-ty. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/32/) — But not one of the teachers in that great school could help him. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/33/) — At last, sad and sor-row-ful, he rode toward home to bid his friends and his brave knights good-by. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/9/34/) — For now he had not a week to live. - ← previous: [He Never Smiled Again.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/8/) - next →: [II. the Three Answers.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/10/) - ↑ back to [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/)