---
title: But the shepherd answered him: “Sir, if you wish to reward me for sa… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the shepherd answered him: “Sir, if you wish to reward me for saving your daughter, grant me, I pray you, to know the language of beasts. Who acts: shepherd, king. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the shepherd answered him: “Sir, if you wish to reward me for saving your daughter, grant me, I pray you, to know the language of beasts.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** shepherd, king · **What happens:** answer, wish, reward, save, grant, pray · **To what, where:** king, Sir, shepherd, daughter, 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 (shepherd, king), 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:pg2435:6:26
# text = But the shepherd answered him: “Sir, if you wish to reward me for saving your daughter, grant me, I pray you, to know the language of beasts.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Sir	sir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	reward	reward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	saving	save	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
18	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	grant	grant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	know	know	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the shepherd |  | king |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wish** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | king | Sir *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **reward** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | king *not said here* |  | the shepherd *= shepherd* |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 4 | **save** *in a quote* | gerund | king *not said here* | your daughter |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Theme |
| 5 | **grant** *in a quote* | infinitive | king *not said here* | the shepherd *= shepherd* |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 6 | **pray** *in a quote* | present | the shepherd *= shepherd* | Sir |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **know** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the shepherd *= shepherd* *not said here* | 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.

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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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