---
title: Then they who had spared his life, fearing for their safety, surrend… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: Then they who had spared his life, fearing for their safety, surrendered to him their flocks and begged only for their lives. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 14, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then they who had spared his life, fearing for their safety, surrendered to him their flocks and begged only for their lives.

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**What happens:** spare, fear, surrender, beg · **To what, where:** Panther, flocks, Shepherd, lives

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg21:16:23
# text = Then they who had spared his life, fearing for their safety, surrendered to him their flocks and begged only for their lives.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	spared	spare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	fearing	fear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	advcl	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	surrendered	surrender	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	flocks	flock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spare** | past · perfect · passive |  | Panther |  |  | then |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: subject=Recipient life=Asset |
| 2 | **fear** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for Panther's safety | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for safety=Attribute |
| 3 | **surrender** | past |  | Panther's flocks | Shepherd |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent flock=Theme to he=Recipient |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | past |  | Panther's lives |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent life=Recipient |

<!-- .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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