---
title: When they came to the stairs, the soldier ran on before the princess… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When they came to the stairs, the soldier ran on before the princesses, and laid himself down; and as the twelve sisters slowly came up very much tired, they heard him snoring in his bed; so they said, ‘Now all is quite safe’; then they undressed themselves, put away their fine clothes, pulled off t
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When they came to the stairs, the soldier ran on before the princesses, and laid himself down; and as the twelve sisters slowly came up very much tired, they heard him snoring in his bed; so they said, ‘Now all is quite safe’; then they undressed themselves, put away their fine clothes, pulled off their shoes, and went to bed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sisters, soldier, eldest, all · **What happens:** come, run on, lay down, come up, hear, snore · **To what, where:** stairs, eldest, sisters, fine clothes, shoes, bed · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sisters, soldier, eldest, all), 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:pg2591:10:42
# text = When they came to the stairs, the soldier ran on before the princesses, and laid himself down; and as the twelve sisters slowly came up very much tired, they heard him snoring in his bed; so they said, ‘Now all is quite safe’; then they undressed themselves, put away their fine clothes, pulled off their shoes, and went to bed.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	before	before	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	princesses	princess	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
18	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
26	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
28	up	up	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	very	very	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	much	much	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	snoring	snore	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	xcomp	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
45	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	50	advmod	_	_
47	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	50	nsubj	_	_
48	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	55	punct	_	_
53	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	55	advmod	_	_
54	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	undressed	undress	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
56	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
58	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	conj	_	_
59	away	away	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
61	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
64	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	advcl	_	_
65	off	off	ADP	RP	_	64	compound:prt	_	_
66	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
67	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
69	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
70	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
71	to	to	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
72	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | sisters *= sister* |  |  | the stairs |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to stair=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **run on** | past | the soldier |  |  |  | before the princesses |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before princess=Trajectory |
| 3 | **lay down** | past | the soldier *not said here* | eldest *= eld* |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Result |
| 4 | **come up** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as the twelve sisters; slowly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **hear** | past | sisters *= sister* | eldest *= eld* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **snore** | gerund | eldest *= eld* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in eldest's bed | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in bed=Theme |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | sisters *= sister* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | present | all |  |  |  | now | safe *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **undress** | past | sisters *= sister* | sisters *= sister* |  |  | then |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 10 | **put away** | infinitive | sisters *= sister* *not said here* | sisters's fine clothes |  |  |  | away *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent clothes=Goal |
| 11 | **pull off** | participle | sisters *= sister* *not said here* | sisters's shoes |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shoe=Eventuality |
| 12 | **go** | past | the soldier *not said here* |  |  | bed |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to bed=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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