---
title: They cut off the duck’s head with a swing of the king’s sword, and t… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They cut off the duck’s head with a swing of the king’s sword, and took the egg out of its body, but in his triumph the king held it carelessly, and it slipped from his hand, and rolled swiftly down the hill right into the river. Who acts: king, body, sword, hawk. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They cut off the duck’s head with a swing of the king’s sword, and took the egg out of its body, but in his triumph the king held it carelessly, and it slipped from his hand, and rolled swiftly down the hill right into the river.

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**Who acts:** king, body, sword, hawk · **What happens:** cut off, take, hold, slip, roll, swing · **To what, where:** head, egg, body, triumph, river

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, body, sword, hawk), 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:pg3454:10:15
# text = They cut off the duck’s head with a swing of the king’s sword, and took the egg out of its body, but in his triumph the king held it carelessly, and it slipped from his hand, and rolled swiftly down the hill right into the river.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cut	cut	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	swing	swing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	triumph	triumph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	carelessly	carelessly	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
45	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
46	down	down	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
49	right	right	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
50	into	into	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut off** | present | king | the duck's head |  |  |  | with a swing of the king's sword | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 2 | **take** | past |  | the egg |  | egg's body |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent egg=Theme out body=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **hold** | past | the king | body |  | hawk's triumph |  | carelessly *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in triumph=Location |
| 4 | **slip** | past | body |  |  |  |  | from hawk's hand | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from hand=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **roll** | past |  |  |  | the river |  | down the hill; swiftly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme down hill=Source into river=Trajectory |
| 6 | **swing** |  | the king's sword |  |  |  |  |  | nom swing «state intransitive»: of=agent |
| 7 | **triumph** |  | hawk |  |  |  |  |  | nom triumph «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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