---
title: If you promise not to hurt me, I will lead that foolish creature yon… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: If you promise not to hurt me, I will lead that foolish creature yonder into a pit where he can't get out, and you can feast at your pleasure." Who acts: you, I, Fox, your. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If you promise not to hurt me, I will lead that foolish creature yonder into a pit where he can't get out, and you can feast at your pleasure."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, I, Fox, your · **What happens:** promise, not hurt, lead, not get out, feast, please · **To what, where:** me, foolish creature, pit, pleasure · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, I, Fox, your), 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:pg19994:44:8
# text = If you promise not to hurt me, I will lead that foolish creature yonder into a pit where he can't get out, and you can feast at your pleasure."
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	promise	promise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	lead	lead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	yonder	yonder	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
19	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	23	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl:relcl	_	_
24	out	out	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	feast	feast	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **promise** *speech: promise* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **hurt** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Patient |
| 3 | **lead** | future | I | foolish creature |  | a pit |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent creature=Theme into pit=Destination |
| 4 | **not** **get out** | can | Fox |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **feast** | can | you |  |  | your pleasure |  |  | vn dine-39.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **please** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom pleasure «feeling transitive»: 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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