---
title: By dint of spying through keyholes and listening at doors, he learne… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: By dint of spying through keyholes and listening at doors, he learned that the king, old and ugly though he was, had fallen in love with the Princess Bella-Flor, who would have nothing to say to him, and had hidden herself in some mountain castle, no one knew where. Who acts: dint, king, one. A sent
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 101

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By dint of spying through keyholes and listening at doors, he learned that the king, old and ugly though he was, had fallen in love with the Princess Bella-Flor, who would have nothing to say to him, and had hidden herself in some mountain castle, no one knew where.

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**Who acts:** dint, king, one · **What happens:** spy, listen, learn, fall, have, say · **To what, where:** keyholes, king, love, nothing, Princess, mountain castle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dint, king, one), 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:pg3027:31:101
# text = By dint of spying through keyholes and listening at doors, he learned that the king, old and ugly though he was, had fallen in love with the Princess Bella-Flor, who would have nothing to say to him, and had hidden herself in some mountain castle, no one knew where.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	dint	dint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	spying	spy	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	keyholes	keyhole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	conj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
21	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	advcl	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
31	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
32	Bella	Bella	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	Flor	Flor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
39	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	38	obj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	acl	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	parataxis	_	_
48	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	47	obj	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	52	det	_	_
51	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	compound	_	_
52	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	55	det	_	_
55	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj	_	_
56	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	conj	_	_
57	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spy** | gerund | dint *not said here* |  |  | keyholes |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **listen** | gerund | dint *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at doors | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at door=Theme |
| 3 | **learn** | past | king |  |  |  |  | by dint | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **fall** | past · perfect · passive |  | king |  | love |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: subject=Result |
| 5 | **have** | would |  | nothing |  |  |  | with the Bella Flor | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  | nothing *not said here* | king |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 7 | **hide** | past · perfect |  | Princess |  | some mountain castle |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent herself=Patient in castle=Location |
| 8 | **know** | past | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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