---
title: When the fox felt the first string, he started so that he lifted one… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When the fox felt the first string, he started so that he lifted one leg, from pain, but he bore it, and still kept his tail high in the air; at the second sting, he was forced to put it down for a moment; at the third, he could hold out no longer, screamed, and put his tail between his legs. Who ac
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Willow-wren and the Bear, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the fox felt the first string, he started so that he lifted one leg, from pain, but he bore it, and still kept his tail high in the air; at the second sting, he was forced to put it down for a moment; at the third, he could hold out no longer, screamed, and put his tail between his legs.

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**Who acts:** fox · **What happens:** feel, start, lift, bear, keep, force · **To what, where:** first string, one leg, leg, tail, fox, second sting

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Willow-wren and the Bear. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox), 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:pg2591:12:30
# text = When the fox felt the first string, he started so that he lifted one leg, from pain, but he bore it, and still kept his tail high in the air; at the second sting, he was forced to put it down for a moment; at the third, he could hold out no longer, screamed, and put his tail between his legs.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	amod	_	_
7	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	14	mark	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	fixed	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	lifted	lift	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	still	still	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	39	amod	_	_
39	sting	sting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	_
47	down	down	ADP	RP	_	45	compound:prt	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	at	at	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	parataxis	_	_
59	out	out	ADP	RP	_	58	compound:prt	_	_
60	no	no	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
61	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	58	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
63	screamed	scream	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
66	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
67	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	68	nmod:poss	_	_
68	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	obj	_	_
69	between	between	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	71	nmod:poss	_	_
71	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | the fox | the first string |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent string=Theme |
| 2 | **start** | past | fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **lift** | past | fox | one leg |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Theme |
| 4 | **bear** | past | fox | leg |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 5 | **keep** | past | fox *not said here* | fox's tail |  |  | still | high *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme |
| 6 | **force** | past · passive |  | fox |  | the second sting |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **put down** | to-infinitive | fox *not said here* | tail |  |  | moment |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal |
| 8 | **hold out** | could | fox |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **scream** *speech: express* | participle | fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **put** | past | fox *not said here* | fox's tail |  | fox's legs |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tail=Theme between leg=Destination |

<!-- .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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