---
title: The prince was certainly not the least curious among them; but he wa… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The prince was certainly not the least curious among them; but he was a cautious young man, and, as he prepared to open the chest himself, he bade all but a few stand back, and these few to draw their swords, so as to be prepared in case the chest should hold some evil beast, or djinn, or giant. Who
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 82

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prince was certainly not the least curious among them; but he was a cautious young man, and, as he prepared to open the chest himself, he bade all but a few stand back, and these few to draw their swords, so as to be prepared in case the chest should hold some evil beast, or djinn, or giant.

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**Who acts:** prince, few, these, chest · **What happens:** not be, be, prepare, open, bade, stand back · **To what, where:** cautious young man, chest, bade, swords, evil beast, case

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, few, these, chest), 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:pg3454:4:82
# text = The prince was certainly not the least curious among them; but he was a cautious young man, and, as he prepared to open the chest himself, he bade all but a few stand back, and these few to draw their swords, so as to be prepared in case the chest should hold some evil beast, or djinn, or giant.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	least	least	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	8	advmod	_	_
8	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	among	among	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	cautious	cautious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
17	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	bade	bade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
33	all	all	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
34	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	nsubj	_	_
37	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
38	back	back	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
41	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	42	nsubj	_	_
42	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	csubj	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	swords	sword	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
48	so	so	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	cop	_	_
52	prepared	prepared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
53	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
57	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	parataxis	_	_
59	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	61	det	_	_
60	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
63	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
64	djinn	djinn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	67	cc	_	_
67	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | the prince |  |  |  |  | among banks *= bank*; certainly, curious, least *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | prince | a cautious young man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **prepare** | past | prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **open** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* | the chest |  |  |  | man *obl:unmarked* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location chest=Theme |
| 5 | **bade** |  | prince |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **stand back** | present | a few | bade *not said here* |  |  |  | all *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bade=Stimulus |
| 7 | **be** |  | these |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **draw** | to-infinitive |  | banks's swords |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | prepared *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **hold** | should | the chest | some evil beast |  | case |  | djinn *obl* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent beast=Theme in case=Location |

<!-- .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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