---
title: A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: “What ails you, that being so huge and… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: “What ails you, that being so huge and strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?” Who acts: FLEA, that, you. A sentence of
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, sentence 38

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A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: “What ails you, that being so huge and strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?”

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**Who acts:** FLEA, that, you · **What happens:** question, ail, be, submit, receive, feed · **To what, where:** Ox, you, wrongs, blood · **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 (FLEA, that, you), 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:pg21:14:38
# text = A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: “What ails you, that being so huge and strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?”
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	FLEA	flea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	questioned	question	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj	_	_
10	ails	ail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	nsubj	_	_
14	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	cop	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	submit	submit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	wrongs	wrong	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	receive	receive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nmod	_	_
33	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl:unmarked	_	_
34	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
37	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
38	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
40	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	cop	_	_
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	mercilessly	mercilessly	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	feed	feed	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	parataxis	_	_
48	on	on	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	conj	_	_
53	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
55	without	without	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	stint	stint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **question** *speech: other* | past | a FLEA | a Ox |  |  |  | thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **ail** *in a quote* | present |  | you |  |  |  |  | vn pain-40.8.1 «NP V NP.experiencer»: agent=Patient you=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund | that |  |  |  |  | huge *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** *in a quote* |  | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **submit** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | to the wrongs | vn acquiesce-95.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to wrong=Theme |
| 6 | **receive** *in a quote* | present | you | the wrongs *not said here* |  |  |  | from men and slave for Flea | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent wrong=Theme from man=Source |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund | a FLEA *= flea* |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **feed** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | on Flea's flesh; mercilessly *property* | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent on flesh=Patient |
| 9 | **drink** *in a quote* | present |  | Flea's blood |  |  |  | without stint | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blood=Patient |

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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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