---
title: At last it occurred to the lion that if he could only steal the magi… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At last it occurred to the lion that if he could only steal the magic ball he could kill bears and snakes for himself, and then the cat might be as sulky as he liked for anything that it would matter. Who acts: quarrel, brother, cat, it. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 109

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At last it occurred to the lion that if he could only steal the magic ball he could kill bears and snakes for himself, and then the cat might be as sulky as he liked for anything that it would matter.

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**Who acts:** quarrel, brother, cat, it · **What happens:** occur, steal, kill, be, like, matter · **To what, where:** last, magic ball, bears

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (quarrel, brother, cat, it), 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:pg3282:28:109
# text = At last it occurred to the lion that if he could only steal the magic ball he could kill bears and snakes for himself, and then the cat might be as sulky as he liked for anything that it would matter.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	occurred	occur	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl:relcl	_	_
20	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
30	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
32	as	as	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	sulky	sulky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
37	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	36	obl	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	matter	matter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occur** | past | quarrel |  |  | last |  | to the lion | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at last=Location |
| 2 | **steal** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | brother | the magic ball |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location ball=Theme |
| 3 | **kill** | could | brother | bears and snakes |  |  |  | for brother | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bear=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | might | the cat |  |  |  | then | sulky *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **like** | past | brother |  |  |  |  | for anything | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for anything=Attribute |
| 6 | **matter** | would | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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