--- title: On the car of Thespis he sat in the guise of a chattering raven, and… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: On the car of Thespis he sat in the guise of a chattering raven, and flapped his black wings, smeared with the lees of wine; over the sounding harp of Iceland swept the swan's red beak; on Shakspeare's shoulder he sat in the guise of Odin's raven, and whispered in the poet's ear "Immortality!" and a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/144/16/) [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/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Phoenix Bird](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/144/) / 16 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Phoenix Bird, sentence 16 On the car of Thespis he sat in the guise of a chattering raven, and flapped his black wings, smeared with the lees of wine; over the sounding harp of Iceland swept the swan's red beak; on Shakspeare's shoulder he sat in the guise of Odin's raven, and whispered in the poet's ear "Immortality!" and at the minstrels' feast he fluttered through the halls of the Wartburg. **Who acts:** bird · **What happens:** sit, flap, smear, sound, sweep, whisper · **To what, where:** car, black wings, red beak, sounding harp, shoulder, ear This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Phoenix Bird. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird), 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:pg27200:144:16 # text = On the car of Thespis he sat in the guise of a chattering raven, and flapped his black wings, smeared with the lees of wine; over the sounding harp of Iceland swept the swan's red beak; on Shakspeare's shoulder he sat in the guise of Odin's raven, and whispered in the poet's ear "Immortality!" and at the minstrels' feast he fluttered through the halls of the Wartburg. 1 On on ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 car car NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 Thespis Thespis PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 guise guise NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 chattering chattering NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 compound _ _ 14 raven raven NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 flapped flap VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 18 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 19 black black ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 22 smeared smear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 conj _ _ 23 with with ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 lees lee NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 wine wine NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 35 punct _ _ 29 over over ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 31 sounding sound VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 32 amod _ _ 32 harp harp NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 Iceland Iceland PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 nmod _ _ 35 swept sweep VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 swan swan NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 38 's 's PART POS _ 37 case _ _ 39 red red ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 beak beak NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ; ; PUNCT : _ 47 punct _ _ 42 on on ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 Shakspeare Shakspeare PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 44 's 's PART POS _ 43 case _ _ 45 shoulder shoulder NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ _ 46 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 47 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 48 in in ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 guise guise NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ _ 51 of of ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 52 Odin Odin PROPN NNP Number=Sing 54 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 53 's 's PART POS _ 52 case _ _ 54 raven raven NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 55 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 56 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 57 whispered whisper VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 47 conj _ _ 58 in in ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 59 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 60 det _ _ 60 poet poet NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 61 's 's PART POS _ 60 case _ _ 62 ear ear NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 obl _ _ 63 " " PUNCT `` _ 64 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 64 Immortality immortality NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 65 ! ! PUNCT . _ 64 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 66 " " PUNCT '' _ 64 punct _ _ 67 and and CCONJ CC _ 72 cc _ _ 68 at at ADP IN _ 72 case _ _ 69 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 70 det _ _ 70 minstrels minstrel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 72 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 71 ' 's PART POS _ 70 case _ _ 72 feast feast NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 conj _ _ 73 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 74 nsubj _ _ 74 fluttered flutter VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 72 acl:relcl _ _ 75 through through ADP IN _ 77 case _ _ 76 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 77 det _ _ 77 halls hall NOUN NNS Number=Plur 74 obl _ _ 78 of of ADP IN _ 80 case _ _ 79 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 80 det _ _ 80 Wartburg Wartburg PROPN NNP Number=Sing 77 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 81 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | bird | | | the car of Thespis | | in the guise of a chattering raven | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on car=Location | | 2 | **flap** | past | bird *not said here* | bird's black wings | | | | | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient | | 3 | **smear** | participle | bird *not said here* | | | | | with the lees of wine | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent with lee=Theme | | 4 | **sound** | gerund | | | | | | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 5 | **sweep** | past | bird *not said here* | the swan's red beak | | the sounding harp of Iceland | | | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent beak=Theme over harp=Trajectory | | 6 | **sit** | past | bird | | | Shakspeare's shoulder | | in the guise of Odin's raven | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on shoulder=Location | | 7 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | participle | bird *not said here* | | | the poet's ear and the minstrels's feast | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in ear=Location | | 8 | **flutter** | past | bird | the minstrels's feast *not said here* | | the halls of the Wartburg | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location feast=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:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/144/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/144/17/) - ↑ back to [The Phoenix Bird](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/144/)