---
title: “Bather says that he would rather lose Gullfaxi than lose them,” rep… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Bather says that he would rather lose Gullfaxi than lose them,” replied Helga, “for if the man who rides the horse is pursued he has only to throw the twig behind him and it will turn into a forest, so thick that even a bird could hardly fly through. Who acts: Bather, Helga, man, twig. A sentence o
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 34, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Bather says that he would rather lose Gullfaxi than lose them,” replied Helga, “for if the man who rides the horse is pursued he has only to throw the twig behind him and it will turn into a forest, so thick that even a bird could hardly fly through.

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**Who acts:** Bather, Helga, man, twig, bird · **What happens:** say, lose, reply, ride, pursue, have · **To what, where:** Gullfaxi, things, horse, man, twig, forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Bather, Helga, man, twig), 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:pg2435:34:3
# text = “Bather says that he would rather lose Gullfaxi than lose them,” replied Helga, “for if the man who rides the horse is pursued he has only to throw the twig behind him and it will turn into a forest, so thick that even a bird could hardly fly through.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Bather	bather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
9	Gullfaxi	Gullfaxi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
15	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
16	Helga	Helga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	rides	ride	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	pursued	pursue	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	advcl	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
31	only	only	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	twig	twig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
42	into	into	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	so	so	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
49	even	even	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
52	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
54	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	advcl	_	_
55	through	through	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | Bather |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **lose** *in a quote* | would | Bather | Gullfaxi |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gullfaxi=Eventuality |
| 3 | **lose** *in a quote* | infinitive | Bather *not said here* | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Helga |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **ride** *in a quote* | present | the man | the horse |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme |
| 6 | **pursue** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · passive |  | the man |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | present | man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **throw** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the twig |  |  |  | behind man | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent twig=Theme behind he=Destination |
| 9 | **turn** *in a quote* | future | twig |  |  | a forest |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into forest=Trajectory |
| 10 | **fly** *in a quote* | could | a bird |  |  |  |  | hardly, through *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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