---
title: Then he, poor thing, began ladling the boiling water over himself, w… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he, poor thing, began ladling the boiling water over himself, while she got the table ready and spread the cloth, that the serpent might eat her brother on that very table. Who acts: Tsar, sister, serpent. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Voices At the Window, part 3, wit
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Voices At the Window, part 3, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he, poor thing, began ladling the boiling water over himself, while she got the table ready and spread the cloth, that the serpent might eat her brother on that very table.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Tsar, sister, serpent · **What happens:** begin, ladle, boil, get, spread, eat · **To what, where:** boiling water, table, cloth, brother

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Voices At the Window, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tsar, sister, serpent), 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:pg29672:6:30
# text = Then he, poor thing, began ladling the boiling water over himself, while she got the table ready and spread the cloth, that the serpent might eat her brother on that very table.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	ladling	ladle	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	boiling	boil	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	amod	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	parataxis	_	_
31	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	nsubj	_	_
35	very	very	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | Tsar |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **ladle** | gerund | Tsar *not said here* | the boiling water |  |  |  | over Tsar | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent water=Theme over himself=Trajectory |
| 3 | **boil** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **get** | past | sister | the table |  |  |  | ready *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer table=Stimulus |
| 5 | **spread** | past | Tsar *not said here* | the cloth |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cloth=Theme |
| 6 | **eat** | might | the serpent | sister's brother |  | table |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brother=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Project Gutenberg book 29672 (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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