---
title: But Sultan had told his master what the wolf meant to do; so he laid… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But Sultan had told his master what the wolf meant to do; so he laid wait for him behind the barn door, and when the wolf was busy looking out for a good fat sheep, he had a stout cudgel laid about his back, that combed his locks for him finely. Who acts: Sultan, wolf, stout cudgel, that. A sentence
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Old Sultan, sentence 17

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But Sultan had told his master what the wolf meant to do; so he laid wait for him behind the barn door, and when the wolf was busy looking out for a good fat sheep, he had a stout cudgel laid about his back, that combed his locks for him finely.

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**Who acts:** Sultan, wolf, stout cudgel, that · **What happens:** tell, mean, do, lay, wait, be · **To what, where:** master, barn door, locks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Old Sultan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sultan, wolf, stout cudgel, that), 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:pg2591:6:17
# text = But Sultan had told his master what the wolf meant to do; so he laid wait for him behind the barn door, and when the wolf was busy looking out for a good fat sheep, he had a stout cudgel laid about his back, that combed his locks for him finely.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
20	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	barn	barn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
26	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	30	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	advcl	_	_
31	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
32	out	out	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
35	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	stout	stout	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	cudgel	cudgel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
44	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	ccomp	_	_
45	about	about	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj	_	_
50	combed	comb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	locks	lock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
53	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	_
55	finely	finely	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | Sultan | Sultan's master |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent master=Recipient |
| 2 | **mean** | past | the wolf | Sultan's master |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the wolf *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **lay** | past | wolf |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **wait** | infinitive | wolf *not said here* |  |  | the barn door |  | for wolf | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind door=Location |
| 6 | **is** | past | the wolf |  |  |  |  | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **look out** | gerund | the wolf *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a good fat sheep | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for sheep=Theme |
| 8 | **have** | past | wolf |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **lay** | past | a stout cudgel |  |  |  |  | about wolf's back | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent about back=Destination |
| 10 | **comb** | past | that | wolf's locks |  |  |  | for wolf; finely *property* | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent lock=Location for he=Theme |

<!-- .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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