---
title: They stole with silken pad behind my back and snarled when I faced t… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They stole with silken pad behind my back and snarled when I faced them; the long, grey wolves with hanging tongues and staring eyes chased me to my cleft rock; there was no creature so weak but it might hunt me, there was no creature so timid but it might outface me. Who acts: creatures, I, long gr
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter V. “Tell on, my love,” Finnian murmured, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They stole with silken pad behind my back and snarled when I faced them; the long, grey wolves with hanging tongues and staring eyes chased me to my cleft rock; there was no creature so weak but it might hunt me, there was no creature so timid but it might outface me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** creatures, I, long grey wolves, rock, creature · **What happens:** steal, snarl, face, stare, chase, hunt · **To what, where:** creatures, me, cleft rock

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter V. “Tell on, my love,” Finnian murmured. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (creatures, I, long grey wolves, rock), 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:pg2892:6:5
# text = They stole with silken pad behind my back and snarled when I faced them; the long, grey wolves with hanging tongues and staring eyes chased me to my cleft rock; there was no creature so weak but it might hunt me, there was no creature so timid but it might outface me.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	silken	silken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	pad	pad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	snarled	snarl	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	faced	face	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
17	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	hanging	hanging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	tongues	tongue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	staring	stare	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	amod	_	_
26	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
27	chased	chase	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	cleft	cleft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	35	expl	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
36	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	37	det	_	_
37	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
40	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	conj	_	_
44	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	47	expl	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
48	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	49	det	_	_
49	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
50	so	so	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	timid	timid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
52	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	outface	outface	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	conj	_	_
56	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steal** | past | creatures *= creature* |  |  |  |  | with silken pad behind my back | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **snarl** | past | creatures *= creature* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **face** | past | I | creatures *= creature* |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Destination |
| 4 | **stare** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **chase** | past | the long grey wolves with hanging tongues and staring eyes | me |  | my cleft rock |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent i=Theme to rock=Trajectory |
| 6 | **hunt** | might | rock | me |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | no creature |  |  |  |  | timid *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **outface** | might | rock | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (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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