---
title: Hardly had he done so when two ravens flew down and perched on a tre… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Hardly had he done so when two ravens flew down and perched on a tree near by, and began to talk to each other in their own language: “If that shepherd only knew that there is a vault full of gold and silver beneath where that lamb is lying, what would he not do?” Who acts: shepherd, two ravens, tha
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hardly had he done so when two ravens flew down and perched on a tree near by, and began to talk to each other in their own language: “If that shepherd only knew that there is a vault full of gold and silver beneath where that lamb is lying, what would he not do?”

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**Who acts:** shepherd, two ravens, that, vault, lamb · **What happens:** have, do, fly down, perch, begin, talk · **To what, where:** shepherd, tree, own language, vault · **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 (shepherd, two ravens, that, vault), 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:pg2435:6:35
# text = Hardly had he done so when two ravens flew down and perched on a tree near by, and began to talk to each other in their own language: “If that shepherd only knew that there is a vault full of gold and silver beneath where that lamb is lying, what would he not do?”
1	Hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	xcomp	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	ravens	raven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
10	down	down	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	near	near	ADP	IN	_	12	dep	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	22	obl	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	fixed	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
31	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	34	nsubj	_	_
34	shepherd	shepherd	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
35	only	only	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	ccomp	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
38	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	39	expl	_	_
39	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	ccomp	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	vault	vault	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
42	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	conj	_	_
47	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
48	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	52	advmod	_	_
49	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	50	det	_	_
50	lamb	lamb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
51	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	58	obj	_	_
55	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
58	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past |  | shepherd |  |  |  | hardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | participle | shepherd *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fly down** | past | two ravens |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **perch** | participle | two ravens *not said here* |  |  | a tree |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on tree=Location |
| 5 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **talk** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | ravens's own language |  | to each | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to each=Co-Agent |
| 7 | **shepherd** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **know** *in a quote* | past | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a vault |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **lie** *in a quote* | present · progressive | that lamb |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | would | shepherd | a vault |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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