---
title: Then the queen took pity on the little fish, and threw it back again… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the queen took pity on the little fish, and threw it back again into the river; and before it swam away it lifted its head out of the water and said, ‘I know what your wish is, and it shall be fulfilled, in return for your kindness to me--you will soon have a daughter.’ Who acts: queen, fish, I
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Briar Rose, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the queen took pity on the little fish, and threw it back again into the river; and before it swam away it lifted its head out of the water and said, ‘I know what your wish is, and it shall be fulfilled, in return for your kindness to me--you will soon have a daughter.’

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**Who acts:** queen, fish, I, wish, you, your · **What happens:** take, throw back, swim away, lift, say, know · **To what, where:** pity, fish, river, head, water, return · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Briar Rose. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (queen, fish, I, wish), 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:pg2591:8:4
# text = Then the queen took pity on the little fish, and threw it back again into the river; and before it swam away it lifted its head out of the water and said, ‘I know what your wish is, and it shall be fulfilled, in return for your kindness to me--you will soon have a daughter.’
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	back	back	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
15	again	again	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
21	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	swam	swim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
24	away	away	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	lifted	lift	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	out	out	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	ccomp	_	_
39	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	38	ccomp	_	_
40	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
42	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
46	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	aux:pass	_	_
48	fulfilled	fulfil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nmod	_	_
55	to	to	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
59	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
60	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	61	advmod	_	_
61	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	conj	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the queen | pity |  |  | then | on the little fish | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent pity=Theme on fish=Destination |
| 2 | **throw back** | past | the queen *not said here* | fish |  |  | again | into the river *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer it=Theme into river=Result |
| 3 | **swim away** | past | fish |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **lift** | past | fish | fish's head |  | the water |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent head=Theme out water=Destination |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is a** | present | your wish |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **fulfil** | shall · passive |  | fish |  | return for your kindness to me |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **have** | future | you | a daughter |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |
| 10 | **wish** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: 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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