---
title: At this the villagers came flocking to see what spoils the turtles h… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At this the villagers came flocking to see what spoils the turtles had won, but, as they approached, each turtle seized some one by the wrist, exclaiming: “You are our spoils; you are our prisoners!” Who acts: villagers, turtle, You. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fai
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At this the villagers came flocking to see what spoils the turtles had won, but, as they approached, each turtle seized some one by the wrist, exclaiming: “You are our spoils; you are our prisoners!”

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**Who acts:** villagers, turtle, You · **What happens:** come, flock, see, spoil, win, approach · **To what, where:** this, turtles, one, prisoners · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (villagers, turtle, You), 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:pg3282:12:20
# text = At this the villagers came flocking to see what spoils the turtles had won, but, as they approached, each turtle seized some one by the wrist, exclaiming: “You are our spoils; you are our prisoners!”
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	villagers	villager	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	flocking	flock	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj	_	_
10	spoils	spoil	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	turtles	turtle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	won	win	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	_
23	turtle	turtle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
25	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	det	_	_
26	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	obj	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	wrist	wrist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	exclaiming	exclaim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
33	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	spoils	spoil	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
39	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
40	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
41	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the villagers |  |  | this |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **flock** | gerund | the villagers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | the villagers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **spoil** | present |  | the turtles |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **win** | past · perfect |  | the turtles *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **approach** | past | villagers *= villager* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **seize** | past | each turtle | some one |  |  |  | by the wrist | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 8 | **exclaim** *speech: express* | gerund | each turtle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **is** *in a quote* | present | You |  |  |  |  | spoil *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | you | our prisoners |  |  |  |  | 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:** «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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