---
title: The King of the Snakes, then turning to the shepherd, said to him: “… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The King of the Snakes, then turning to the shepherd, said to him: “What reward will you choose for saving my child?” Who acts: Snakes, King, reward. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The King of the Snakes, then turning to the shepherd, said to him: “What reward will you choose for saving my child?”

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**Who acts:** Snakes, King, reward · **What happens:** turn, say, choose, save · **To what, where:** snake, child · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Snakes, King, reward), 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:pg2435:6:23
# text = The King of the Snakes, then turning to the shepherd, said to him: “What reward will you choose for saving my child?”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	19	det	_	_
19	reward	reward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
20	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	saving	save	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | gerund | the Snakes *not said here* |  |  |  | then | to the shepherd *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to shepherd=Result |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the King of the Snakes |  | snake |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **choose** *in a quote* | future | what reward |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **save** *in a quote* | gerund | what reward *not said here* | my child |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=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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