---
title: The old people of the town related how they had heard their parents… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old people of the town related how they had heard their parents speak of a time when the whole country was so overrun with rats and mice that there was not so much as a grain of corn nor an ear of maize to be gathered in the fields; and it might be out of gratitude to the cats who had rid the co
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old people of the town related how they had heard their parents speak of a time when the whole country was so overrun with rats and mice that there was not so much as a grain of corn nor an ear of maize to be gathered in the fields; and it might be out of gratitude to the cats who had rid the country of these plagues that their descendants were allowed to live in peace.

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**Who acts:** old people, people, parents, country, cats, plagues · **What happens:** relate, hear, speak, be, gather, rid · **To what, where:** fields, gratitude, country, descendants, peace · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old people, people, parents, country), 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:pg2435:36:5
# text = The old people of the town related how they had heard their parents speak of a time when the whole country was so overrun with rats and mice that there was not so much as a grain of corn nor an ear of maize to be gathered in the fields; and it might be out of gratitude to the cats who had rid the country of these plagues that their descendants were allowed to live in peace.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	related	relate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	parataxis	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
24	overrun	overrun	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	31	expl	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	nsubj	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	42	cc	_	_
41	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	maize	maize	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
46	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	gathered	gather	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	acl	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
54	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
55	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	cop	_	_
56	out	out	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	gratitude	gratitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	nmod	_	_
62	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	64	nsubj	_	_
63	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	rid	rid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	61	acl:relcl	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obj	_	_
67	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	69	det	_	_
69	plagues	plague	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	nmod	_	_
70	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	74	mark	_	_
71	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	72	nmod:poss	_	_
72	descendants	descendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	74	nsubj:pass	_	_
73	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	74	aux:pass	_	_
74	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	69	acl:relcl	_	_
75	to	to	PART	TO	_	76	mark	_	_
76	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	74	xcomp	_	_
77	in	in	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
78	peace	peace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **relate** | past | the old people of the town |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **hear** | past · perfect | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | people's parents |  |  |  | time |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with rats and mice; overrun *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **gather** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | the fields |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V» |
| 6 | **is** | might | country |  |  | gratitude |  | to the cats | tree rules |
| 7 | **rid** | past · perfect | the cats | the country of this plagues |  |  |  |  | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent country=Source |
| 8 | **allow** | past · passive | this plagues *not said here* | people's descendants |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 9 | **live** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | people's descendants *not said here* |  |  | peace |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in peace=Location |

<!-- .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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