---
title: They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up in… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would go, because he was a Tortoise; and so that was all right, Best Beloved. Who acts: banks, Hedgehog, Solid Tor
---

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# Just so stories, The Beginning of the Armadillos, sentence 11

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They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would go, because he was a Tortoise; and so that was all right, Best Beloved.

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**Who acts:** banks, Hedgehog, Solid Tortoise, that · **What happens:** not run away, curl up, be, draw, go · **To what, where:** Hedgehog, ball, head, Tortoise

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Beginning of the Armadillos. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (banks, Hedgehog, Solid Tortoise, 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:pg2781:8:11
# text = They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would go, because he was a Tortoise; and so that was all right, Best Beloved.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	Stickly	stickly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Prickly	prickly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
12	curled	curl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obj	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
15	into	into	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	Hedgehog	Hedgehog	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	Solid	solid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	Tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
36	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
39	as	as	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	advmod	_	_
41	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	Tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	57	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
53	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
54	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	57	nsubj	_	_
55	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	_
56	all	all	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
59	Best	Good	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	60	flat	_	_
60	Beloved	Beloved	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	57	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **run away** | could | banks *= bank* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **curl up** | participle | banks *= bank* *not said here* | Hedgehog |  | a ball |  |  | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent himself=Theme into ball=Destination |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Hedgehog | a Hedgehog |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **draw** | past | Solid Tortoise | a Hedgehog *not said here* |  | Hedgehog's head and feet |  | into Hedgehog's shell; far *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hedgehog=Theme in head=Destination |
| 5 | **go** | would | banks *= bank* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is a** | past | Hedgehog | a Tortoise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | Best Beloved *vocative*; all, right *property* | tree rules |

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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:** «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 2781 (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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