---
title: But Chanticleer was no coward, and returned the duck’s blows with hi… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But Chanticleer was no coward, and returned the duck’s blows with his sharp spurs so fiercely that she soon began to cry out for mercy; which was only granted her upon condition that she would draw the carriage home for them. Who acts: Chanticleer, joke, duck. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by 
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, 1. How They Went to the Mountains to Eat Nuts, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But Chanticleer was no coward, and returned the duck’s blows with his sharp spurs so fiercely that she soon began to cry out for mercy; which was only granted her upon condition that she would draw the carriage home for them.

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**Who acts:** Chanticleer, joke, duck · **What happens:** be, return, begin, cry out, grant, draw · **To what, where:** coward, blows, carriage

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, 1. How They Went to the Mountains to Eat Nuts. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chanticleer, joke, duck), 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:pg2591:16:9
# text = But Chanticleer was no coward, and returned the duck’s blows with his sharp spurs so fiercely that she soon began to cry out for mercy; which was only granted her upon condition that she would draw the carriage home for them.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	Chanticleer	Chanticleer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	coward	coward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	blows	blow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	spurs	spur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
22	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
31	only	only	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	granted	grant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	acl	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	home	home	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Chanticleer | no coward |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** | past |  | the duck's blows |  |  |  | with Chanticleer's sharp spurs; fiercely *property* | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Theme |
| 3 | **begin** | past | joke |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **cry out** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | joke *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for mercy | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for mercy=Recipient |
| 5 | **grant** | past · passive |  | no coward |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: subject=Goal condition=Theme |
| 6 | **draw** | would | joke | the carriage |  |  |  | for spurs *= spur*; home *property* | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent carriage=Result for they=Beneficiary |
| 7 | **blow** |  | the duck |  |  |  |  | with Chanticleer's sharp spurs | nom blow «act intransitive»: poss=agent with=obl |
| 8 | **spur** |  | Chanticleer |  |  |  |  |  | nom spur «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 9 | **condition** |  | joke |  |  |  |  |  | nom condition «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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