---
title: The stag was afraid of the river; still, he was much more afraid of… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The stag was afraid of the river; still, he was much more afraid of being laughed at, and he plunged in after the puma; but in an instant the current had swept him away, and if it had not borne him by accident to a shallow place on the opposite side, where he managed to scramble up the bank, he woul
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3, sentence 93

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The stag was afraid of the river; still, he was much more afraid of being laughed at, and he plunged in after the puma; but in an instant the current had swept him away, and if it had not borne him by accident to a shallow place on the opposite side, where he managed to scramble up the bank, he would certainly have been drowned.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** stag, accident · **What happens:** be, laugh, plunge in, sweep away, not bear, manage · **To what, where:** current, instant, bank, stag

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stag, accident), 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:pg3282:36:93
# text = The stag was afraid of the river; still, he was much more afraid of being laughed at, and he plunged in after the puma; but in an instant the current had swept him away, and if it had not borne him by accident to a shallow place on the opposite side, where he managed to scramble up the bank, he would certainly have been drowned.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stag	stag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	still	still	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	much	much	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	15	advmod	_	_
15	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
16	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	plunged	plunge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
24	in	in	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	after	after	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	puma	puma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	current	current	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	swept	sweep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	away	away	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	45	advmod	_	_
45	borne	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	conj	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	_
47	by	by	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	accident	accident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	shallow	shallow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
53	on	on	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	opposite	opposite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
58	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	60	advmod	_	_
59	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
60	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
61	to	to	PART	TO	_	62	mark	_	_
62	scramble	scramble	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	xcomp	_	_
63	up	up	ADP	RP	_	62	compound:prt	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
65	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
67	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj	_	_
68	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	72	aux	_	_
69	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	72	advmod	_	_
70	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	72	aux	_	_
71	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	72	aux:pass	_	_
72	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the stag |  |  |  |  | of the river; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | stag |  |  |  | still | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **laugh** | gerund · passive | stag *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V» |
| 4 | **plunge in** | past | stag |  |  |  | after the puma |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 5 | **sweep away** | past · perfect · passive |  | the current |  | a instant |  | away *property* | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme he=Destination |
| 6 | **not** **bear** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive | accident | current |  |  |  | to a shallow place on the opposite side | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary he=Patient |
| 7 | **manage** | past | stag |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **scramble up** | to-infinitive | stag *not said here* | the bank |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location bank=Theme |
| 9 | **drown** | would · perfect · passive |  | stag |  |  |  | certainly *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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