---
title: The lion sprang at the Red Knight, and would have torn him in pieces… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The lion sprang at the Red Knight, and would have torn him in pieces had not the princess held him back, and bidden him to change himself into a man again. Who acts: lion, pieces, princess. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 19, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lion sprang at the Red Knight, and would have torn him in pieces had not the princess held him back, and bidden him to change himself into a man again.

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**Who acts:** lion, pieces, princess · **What happens:** spring, tear, have, hold back, bid, change · **To what, where:** Knight

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lion, pieces, princess), 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:pg3282:19:32
# text = The lion sprang at the Red Knight, and would have torn him in pieces had not the princess held him back, and bidden him to change himself into a man again.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Red	Red	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	flat	_	_
7	Knight	Knight	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	back	back	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	bidden	bid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	28	obj	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	again	again	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spring** | past | the lion |  |  |  |  | at the Red Knight | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at knight=Trajectory |
| 2 | **tear** | would · perfect | the lion *not said here* | Knight |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location he=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | pieces |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **hold back** | past | the princess | Knight |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **bid** | participle | the lion *not said here* | Knight |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **change** | to-infinitive | the lion *not said here* | Knight |  |  | again | into a man *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent himself=Patient into man=Result |

<!-- .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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