---
title: He found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again bein… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: He found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river, where a crocodile caught him and ate him. Who acts: Minerva, crocodile. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river, where a crocodile caught him and ate him.

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**Who acts:** Minerva, crocodile · **What happens:** find, alarm, throw, catch, eat · **To what, where:** serpent, upper branches, Minerva, river

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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 (Minerva, crocodile), 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:pg21:15:45
# text = He found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river, where a crocodile caught him and ate him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	again	again	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	aux:pass	_	_
16	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	alarmed	alarm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	_
22	into	into	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | Minerva | a serpent |  | the upper branches of the tree |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent serpent=Topic |
| 2 | **alarm** | gerund · passive | Minerva *not said here* |  |  |  | again | greatly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 3 | **throw** | past | Minerva | Minerva |  |  |  | into the river *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer himself=Theme into river=Result |
| 4 | **catch** | past | a crocodile | Minerva |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **eat** | past | a crocodile *not said here* | Minerva |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «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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