---
title: The Lion said, “Well, since so huge a beast is afraid of a tiny gnat… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Lion said, “Well, since so huge a beast is afraid of a tiny gnat, I will no more complain, nor wish myself dead. Who acts: Lion. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, sentence 115

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The Lion said, “Well, since so huge a beast is afraid of a tiny gnat, I will no more complain, nor wish myself dead.

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**Who acts:** Lion · **What happens:** say, be, know, wish · **To what, where:** more complain, Lion · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lion), 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:pg21:15:115
# text = The Lion said, “Well, since so huge a beast is afraid of a tiny gnat, I will no more complain, nor wish myself dead.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Lion	Lion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	14	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	gnat	gnat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	no	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
23	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	24	amod	_	_
24	complain	complain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	27	cc	_	_
27	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
28	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	27	iobj	_	_
29	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | of a tiny gnat; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | future | the Lion *= lion* | more complain |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer complain=Stimulus |
| 4 | **wish** *in a quote* | present |  |  | the Lion *= lion* |  |  | dead *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot myself=Theme |

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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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