---
title: The slave trade might take a Greek to Persia, a Persian to Greece; a… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The slave trade might take a Greek to Persia, a Persian to Greece; an Egyptian woman to Phoenicia; a Babylonian to Egypt; a Scandinavian child might be carried with the amber from the Baltic to the Adriatic; or a Sidonian to Ophir, wherever Ophir may have been; while the Portuguese may have borne th
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 1, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The slave trade might take a Greek to Persia, a Persian to Greece; an Egyptian woman to Phoenicia; a Babylonian to Egypt; a Scandinavian child might be carried with the amber from the Baltic to the Adriatic; or a Sidonian to Ophir, wherever Ophir may have been; while the Portuguese may have borne their tales to South Africa, or to Asia, and thence brought back other tales to Egypt.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** slave trade, Portuguese, children · **What happens:** take, carry, bear, bring back, tell · **To what, where:** Greek, Persia, Scandinavian child, Adriatic, Baltic, tales · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, 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 (slave trade, Portuguese, children), 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:pg3027:1:26
# text = The slave trade might take a Greek to Persia, a Persian to Greece; an Egyptian woman to Phoenicia; a Babylonian to Egypt; a Scandinavian child might be carried with the amber from the Baltic to the Adriatic; or a Sidonian to Ophir, wherever Ophir may have been; while the Portuguese may have borne their tales to South Africa, or to Asia, and thence brought back other tales to Egypt.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Greek	greek	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Persia	Persia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Persian	persian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Greece	Greece	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	Egyptian	Egyptian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Phoenicia	Phoenicia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	Babylonian	Babylonian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Scandinavian	scandinavian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	amber	amber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	Baltic	Baltic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	Adriatic	Adriatic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	_
43	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	Sidonian	Sidonian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	Ophir	Ophir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	wherever	wherever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	53	advmod	_	_
50	Ophir	Ophir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
51	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	aux	_	_
53	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	45	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
55	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	Portuguese	Portuguese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	60	nsubj	_	_
58	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	_
59	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	aux	_	_
60	borne	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	csubj	_	_
61	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obj	_	_
63	to	to	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	South	South	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	65	compound	_	_
65	Africa	Africa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
67	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	69	cc	_	_
68	to	to	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	Asia	Asia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
71	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
72	thence	thence	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
73	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	60	conj	_	_
74	back	back	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
75	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	76	amod	_	_
76	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	73	obj	_	_
77	to	to	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
78	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	73	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | might | the slave trade | a Greek | Persia |  |  | a Egyptian woman to Phoenicia *obl*; a Babylonian to Egypt *obl* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument greek=Theme sidonian=Destination |
| 2 | **carry** | might · passive |  | a Scandinavian child | the Adriatic | the Baltic |  | with the amber | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: subject=Theme from baltic=Initial\_Location to adriatic=Destination |
| 3 | **bear** | may · perfect | the Portuguese | children's tales |  |  |  | to South Africa; to Asia | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Patient |
| 4 | **bring back** | participle | the Portuguese *not said here* | other tales | Egypt |  |  | thence *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tale=Theme to egypt=Destination |
| 5 | **tell** |  | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | to South Africa; to Asia | nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent to=obl to=obl |

<!-- .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:** «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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