---
title: On his saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the w… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: On his saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a second time, returned with a silver axe in his hand, and again asked the Workman if it were his. Who acts: saying, Mercury, Jackdaw. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, with its dep
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, sentence 130

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On his saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a second time, returned with a silver axe in his hand, and again asked the Workman if it were his.

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**Who acts:** saying, Mercury, Jackdaw · **What happens:** not be, disappear, return, ask, be, say · **To what, where:** Jackdaw, saying, second time, Workman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (saying, Mercury, Jackdaw), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg21:14:130
# text = On his saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a second time, returned with a silver axe in his hand, and again asked the Workman if it were his.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	17	amod	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	silver	silver	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	again	again	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	Workman	Workman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past | saying | Jackdaw |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **disappear** | past | Mercury |  |  | Jackdaw's saying | time | beneath the water | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **return** | participle |  | a second time *not said here* |  |  |  | with a silver axe in Jackdaw's hand | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Mercury *not said here* |  | the Workman |  | again |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent workman=Recipient |
| 5 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | saying | Jackdaw |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** |  | Jackdaw |  |  |  |  |  | nom saying «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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:** «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 21 (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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