---
title: If I had only been willing to assist the Ass a little in his need, I… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: If I had only been willing to assist the Ass a little in his need, I should not now be bearing, together with his burden, himself as well.” Who acts: I, Mule. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/25/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Three hundred Aesop’s fables](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/) / [Aesop’s Fables, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/) / 25

# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 3, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If I had only been willing to assist the Ass a little in his need, I should not now be bearing, together with his burden, himself as well.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Mule · **What happens:** be, assist, not bear, need, burden · **To what, where:** Ass

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Mule), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg21:5:25
# text = If I had only been willing to assist the Ass a little in his need, I should not now be bearing, together with his burden, himself as well.”
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	cop	_	_
6	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	assist	assist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	need	need	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
20	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux	_	_
22	bearing	bear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	together	together	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	burden	burden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obl	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	29	advmod	_	_
31	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | I |  |  |  |  | Mule *obl*; willing *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **assist** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | the Ass |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ass=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **not** **bear** | should · progressive | I |  |  |  | now | with Mule's burden; together *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **need** |  | Mule |  |  |  |  |  | nom need «state transitive»: poss=agent |
| 5 | **burden** |  | Mule |  |  |  |  |  | nom burden «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/24/)
- next →: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/26/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/)