---
title: The Ass was so pleased to see the animals running away from him, jus… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: The Ass was so pleased to see the animals running away from him, just as if he were King Lion himself, that he could not keep from expressing his delight by a loud, harsh bray. Who acts: Ass, animals. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Ass in the Lion's Skin, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Ass in the Lion's Skin, sentence 4

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The Ass was so pleased to see the animals running away from him, just as if he were King Lion himself, that he could not keep from expressing his delight by a loud, harsh bray.

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**Who acts:** Ass, animals · **What happens:** be, see, run away, not keep, express, delight · **To what, where:** animals, delight

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Ass in the Lion's Skin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ass, animals), 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:pg19994:147:4
# text = The Ass was so pleased to see the animals running away from him, just as if he were King Lion himself, that he could not keep from expressing his delight by a loud, harsh bray.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	pleased	pleased	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	running	run	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	away	away	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	just	just	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
16	as	as	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	Lion	Lion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
22	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
29	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	expressing	express	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	delight	delight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
35	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
37	harsh	harsh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	bray	bray	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the Ass |  |  |  |  | pleased *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | the Ass *not said here* | the animals |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer animal=Stimulus |
| 3 | **run away** | gerund | the animals *not said here* |  |  |  |  | from Ass; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from he=Trajectory |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Ass |  |  |  |  | as King Lion; Ass *nmod* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **keep** | could | Ass |  |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **express** | gerund | Ass *not said here* | Ass's delight |  |  |  | by a loud harsh bray | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent delight=Theme |
| 7 | **delight** |  | Ass |  |  |  |  |  | nom delight «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:** «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 19994 (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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