---
title: At last the eldest of them said: “I have heard that across many seas… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At last the eldest of them said: “I have heard that across many seas, in the Island of Busan, there is a mighty king, whose daughter, the Princess Helena, is so lovely that she can certainly not be plainer than your Majesty, and so clever that the wisest greybeard cannot guess her riddles.” Who acts
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 51

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At last the eldest of them said: “I have heard that across many seas, in the Island of Busan, there is a mighty king, whose daughter, the Princess Helena, is so lovely that she can certainly not be plainer than your Majesty, and so clever that the wisest greybeard cannot guess her riddles.”

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**Who acts:** I, mighty king, Busan, wisest greybeard, greybeard · **What happens:** say, hear, be, not be, not guess, riddle · **To what, where:** last eldest, many seas, riddles · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, mighty king, Busan, wisest greybeard), 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:pg2435:4:51
# text = At last the eldest of them said: “I have heard that across many seas, in the Island of Busan, there is a mighty king, whose daughter, the Princess Helena, is so lovely that she can certainly not be plainer than your Majesty, and so clever that the wisest greybeard cannot guess her riddles.”
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	parataxis	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	obl	_	_
14	across	across	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Island	Island	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Busan	Busan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	25	expl	_	_
25	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	Helena	Helena	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
41	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
42	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
43	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
45	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	cop	_	_
46	plainer	plain	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	39	advcl	_	_
47	than	than	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	Majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	so	so	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	wisest	wise	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	57	amod	_	_
57	greybeard	greybeard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nsubj	_	_
58	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
60	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	csubj	_	_
61	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	riddles	riddle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	53	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  | the last eldest of merchants |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **hear** *in a quote* | present · perfect | I |  |  | many seas |  | in the Island of Busan | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **does** *in a quote* | present | a mighty king and a mighty king and a mighty king's daughter's daughter |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | lovely *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | can | Busan |  |  |  |  | than your Majesty; certainly, plain *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **guess** *in a quote* | can | the wisest greybeard | greybeard's riddles |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent riddle=Theme |
| 7 | **riddle** *in a quote* |  | greybeard |  |  |  |  |  | nom riddle «communication intransitive»: 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.

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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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