---
title: The buffalo bore it as long as he could; but, one day, when his mist… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The buffalo bore it as long as he could; but, one day, when his mistress bade him go to the lake and fetch water, his knees almost gave way from hunger. Who acts: buffalo, knees. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 21, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The buffalo bore it as long as he could; but, one day, when his mistress bade him go to the lake and fetch water, his knees almost gave way from hunger.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** buffalo, knees · **What happens:** bear, go, fetch, give · **To what, where:** dish, lake, water, way, hunger

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (buffalo, knees), 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:pg3027:21:53
# text = The buffalo bore it as long as he could; but, one day, when his mistress bade him go to the lake and fetch water, his knees almost gave way from hunger.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	buffalo	buffalo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	mistress	mistress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	bade	bade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	fetch	fetch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
27	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
31	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
33	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past | the buffalo | dish |  |  |  | long *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **go** | present |  |  |  | the lake | day |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to lake=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **fetch** | present |  | water |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |
| 4 | **give** | past | buffalo's knees | way |  | hunger |  | almost *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=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:** «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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