--- title: At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perched themselves u… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perched themselves upon his knee, and said: ‘We are the three young ravens whom you saved from starving; when we had grown big, and heard that you were seeking the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Life stand --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/55/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/) / [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/) / 55 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 55 At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perched themselves upon his knee, and said: ‘We are the three young ravens whom you saved from starving; when we had grown big, and heard that you were seeking the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Life stands, and have brought you the apple.’ **Who acts:** three ravens, We, you, Tree · **What happens:** fly down, perch, say, be, save, starve · **To what, where:** youth, ravens, knee, three young ravens, Golden Apple, sea · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three ravens, We, you, Tree), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2591:34:55 # text = At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perched themselves upon his knee, and said: ‘We are the three young ravens whom you saved from starving; when we had grown big, and heard that you were seeking the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Life stands, and have brought you the apple.’ 1 At at ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 5 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 nummod _ _ 6 ravens raven NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nsubj _ _ 7 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 down down ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 9 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 perched perch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 13 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 12 obj _ _ 14 upon upon ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 knee knee NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 : : PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 21 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 23 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 25 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 27 nummod _ _ 26 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 ravens raven NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 ccomp _ _ 28 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 30 obj _ _ 29 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 saved save VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 acl:relcl _ _ 31 from from SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 32 starving starve VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 30 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 37 advmod _ _ 35 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 grown grow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 conj _ _ 38 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 42 that that SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 43 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 seeking seek VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 41 ccomp _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 47 Golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 amod _ _ 48 Apple Apple PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 50 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj _ _ 51 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 52 over over ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ _ 55 to to ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ _ 58 of of ADP IN _ 60 case _ _ 59 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 60 det _ _ 60 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 67 punct _ _ 62 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 67 advmod _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 64 Tree Tree PROPN NNP Number=Sing 67 nsubj _ _ 65 of of ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 66 Life Life PROPN NNP Number=Sing 64 nmod _ _ 67 stands stand VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 57 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 68 , , PUNCT , _ 71 punct _ _ 69 and and CCONJ CC _ 71 cc _ _ 70 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 71 aux _ _ 71 brought bring VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 conj _ _ 72 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 71 obj _ _ 73 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 74 det _ _ 74 apple apple NOUN NN Number=Sing 71 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 75 . . PUNCT . _ 71 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 76 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fly down** | past | three ravens | | youth | | time | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to he=Result | | 2 | **perch** | past | three ravens *not said here* | ravens *= raven* | | youth's knee | | | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme upon knee=Destination | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | three ravens *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is a** | present | We | the three young ravens | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **save** | past | you | the three young ravens | | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Theme | | 6 | **starve** | gerund | you *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **grow** | past · perfect | we | | | | | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **hear** | past | three ravens *not said here* | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 9 | **seek** | past · progressive | you | the Golden Apple | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent apple=Theme | | 10 | **fly** | past | we | | | the sea | to the end of the world | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent over sea=Location | | 11 | **stand** | present | the Tree of Life | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 12 | **bring** | present · perfect | three ravens *not said here* | the apple | you | | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent you=Destination apple=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/54/) - next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/56/) - ↑ back to [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/)