---
title: But then a curious thing happened; the three dogs, who had followed… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But then a curious thing happened; the three dogs, who had followed at his heels all the way, now became three cakes again, which Peter put into his bag with the napkins. Who acts: curious thing, three cakes. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 28, wit
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But then a curious thing happened; the three dogs, who had followed at his heels all the way, now became three cakes again, which Peter put into his bag with the napkins.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** curious thing, three cakes · **What happens:** happen, follow, become, put · **To what, where:** three dogs, heels, three cakes, bag

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (curious thing, three cakes), 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:pg2435:28:49
# text = But then a curious thing happened; the three dogs, who had followed at his heels all the way, now became three cakes again, which Peter put into his bag with the napkins.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	20	det:predet	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
23	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
24	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	cakes	cake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	xcomp	_	_
26	again	again	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj:outer	_	_
29	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	napkins	napkin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | a curious thing | the three dogs |  |  | then |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **follow** | past · perfect · passive |  | the three dogs |  | thing's heels |  | all way *obl:unmarked* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme at heel=Trajectory |
| 3 | **become** | past | a curious thing *not said here* | three cakes |  |  | now |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **put** | past | three cakes |  |  | Peter's bag |  | with the napkins | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=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.

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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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