---
title: “When we are come to my father’s house,” said his own snake to him,… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “When we are come to my father’s house,” said his own snake to him, “he will reward you with anything you like to ask—silver, gold, jewels, or whatever on this earth is most precious; but take none of all these things, ask rather to understand the language of beasts. Who acts: own snake, snake, eart
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/6/19/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/6/) / 19

# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“When we are come to my father’s house,” said his own snake to him, “he will reward you with anything you like to ask—silver, gold, jewels, or whatever on this earth is most precious; but take none of all these things, ask rather to understand the language of beasts.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** own snake, snake, earth · **What happens:** come, say, reward, like, ask, be · **To what, where:** we, whatever, snake, none, language · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (own snake, snake, earth), 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:pg2435:6:19
# text = “When we are come to my father’s house,” said his own snake to him, “he will reward you with anything you like to ask—silver, gold, jewels, or whatever on this earth is most precious; but take none of all these things, ask rather to understand the language of beasts.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’s	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	reward	reward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	obl	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	jewels	jewel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
40	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
41	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
42	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
43	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
44	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	45	advmod	_	_
45	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
47	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
49	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	48	obj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	53	det:predet	_	_
52	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	53	det	_	_
53	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
55	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	48	conj	_	_
56	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | we |  |  |  | to my father's house | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | snake's own snake | whatever | snake |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **reward** *in a quote* | future | snake |  | snake |  |  | with anything | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient with anything=Theme |
| 4 | **like** *in a quote* | present | snake |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | snake *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | this earth |  |  |  |  | precious *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **take** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | none |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent none=Theme |
| 8 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **understand** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | the language of beasts |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/6/18/)
- next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/6/20/)
- ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/6/)