---
title: The first night he slept on a haystack, out in the fields, for there… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The first night he slept on a haystack, out in the fields, for there was no other bed for him; but it seemed to him so nice and comfortable that even a king need not wish for a better. Who acts: John, it, king. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Travelling 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Travelling Companion, part 1, sentence 37

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The first night he slept on a haystack, out in the fields, for there was no other bed for him; but it seemed to him so nice and comfortable that even a king need not wish for a better.

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**Who acts:** John, it, king · **What happens:** sleep, be, seem, not wish · **To what, where:** haystack, other bed, John

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Travelling Companion, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (John, it, king), 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:pg27200:196:37
# text = The first night he slept on a haystack, out in the fields, for there was no other bed for him; but it seemed to him so nice and comfortable that even a king need not wish for a better.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	slept	sleep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	haystack	haystack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	out	out	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	17	expl	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
19	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	comfortable	comfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
34	even	even	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
37	need	need	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	39	advmod	_	_
39	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
40	for	for	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | past | John |  |  | a haystack | night | in the fields | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in field=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | no other bed |  |  |  | for John | tree rules |
| 3 | **seem** | past | it |  | John |  |  | nice *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **wish** | present | a king |  |  |  |  | for a better | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for good=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:** «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.

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