---
title: He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the very… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the very steps of the gallows he sent a message to the king and begged, as a last favour, that he might play a tune on his zither. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14, with 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the very steps of the gallows he sent a message to the king and begged, as a last favour, that he might play a tune on his zither.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** not allow, speak, send, beg, play, defend · **To what, where:** king, own defence, message, tune, zither, gallows · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg2435:14:55
# text = He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the very steps of the gallows he sent a message to the king and begged, as a last favour, that he might play a tune on his zither.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	defence	defence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	very	very	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	gallows	gallows	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	favour	favour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	tune	tune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	zither	zither	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **allow** | past · passive |  | king |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | king *not said here* |  |  | king's own defence |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **send** | past | king | a message | the king |  |  | on the steps of the gallows | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to king=Destination |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as a last favour | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **play** | might | king | a tune |  | king's zither |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tune=Theme |
| 6 | **defend** |  | king |  |  |  |  |  | nom defence «process transitive»: poss=agent |
| 7 | **step** |  |  | the gallows |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: of=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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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