---
title: Its trunk was of iron, its leaves were of silk, its flowers of gold,… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Its trunk was of iron, its leaves were of silk, its flowers of gold, and its fruit of diamonds, and one evening, though the girl did not know it, a soft breeze took one of the leaves, and blew it across the sea to the feet of one of the king’s attendants. Who acts: trunk, leaves, girl, soft breeze. 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 22, sentence 94

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Its trunk was of iron, its leaves were of silk, its flowers of gold, and its fruit of diamonds, and one evening, though the girl did not know it, a soft breeze took one of the leaves, and blew it across the sea to the feet of one of the king’s attendants.

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**Who acts:** trunk, leaves, girl, soft breeze · **What happens:** be, not know, take, blow · **To what, where:** trunk, one, feet, sea

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trunk, leaves, girl, soft breeze), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3454:22:94
# text = Its trunk was of iron, its leaves were of silk, its flowers of gold, and its fruit of diamonds, and one evening, though the girl did not know it, a soft breeze took one of the leaves, and blew it across the sea to the feet of one of the king’s attendants.
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	diamonds	diamond	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
26	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
31	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	breeze	breeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
39	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	parataxis	_	_
40	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	obj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	blew	blow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	across	across	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	53	nmod	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	’s	's	PART	POS	_	58	case	_	_
60	attendants	attendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | forest's trunk |  |  |  |  | of iron and silk and trunk's flowers of gold and trunk's fruit of diamonds and one evening | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | trunk's leaves |  |  |  |  | of silk and trunk's flowers of gold | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | the girl | trunk |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 4 | **take** | past | a soft breeze | one of the leaves |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 5 | **blow** | past | a soft breeze *not said here* | trunk | the feet of one of the king's attendants | the sea |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Patient to foot=Recipient |

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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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