---
title: Next morning he told this to the maidens, and they said that the cha… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Next morning he told this to the maidens, and they said that the charmed cake had caused it, and advised him to listen well to the birds, and see what they could tell him, and when he had recovered his bride they begged him to return and deliver them from their wretched bondage. Who acts: prince, ma
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners, sentence 81

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Next morning he told this to the maidens, and they said that the charmed cake had caused it, and advised him to listen well to the birds, and see what they could tell him, and when he had recovered his bride they begged him to return and deliver them from their wretched bondage.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prince, maidens, charmed cake, bride · **What happens:** tell, say, charm, cause, advise, listen · **To what, where:** this, maidens, forest, prince, bride, wretched bondage · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, maidens, charmed cake, bride), 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:pg503:26:81
# text = Next morning he told this to the maidens, and they said that the charmed cake had caused it, and advised him to listen well to the birds, and see what they could tell him, and when he had recovered his bride they begged him to return and deliver them from their wretched bondage.
1	Next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	maidens	maiden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	charmed	charm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	cake	cake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	ccomp	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	advised	advise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
26	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
33	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	36	obj	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	43	advmod	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	recovered	recover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	acl:relcl	_	_
48	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	deliver	deliver	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	conj	_	_
53	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	_
54	from	from	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
55	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
56	wretched	wretched	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	bondage	bondage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | prince | this | the maidens |  | morning |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent this=Topic to maiden=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | maidens *= maiden* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **charm** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **cause** | past · perfect | the charmed cake | forest |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition it=Patient |
| 5 | **advise** *speech: other* | past | prince *not said here* | prince |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **listen** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the birds; well *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to bird=Theme |
| 7 | **see** | infinitive | prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | maidens *= maiden* |  | prince |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient what=Topic |
| 9 | **recover** | past · perfect | prince | prince's bride |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | maidens *= maiden* | prince's bride *not said here* | prince |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 11 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | prince's bride *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 12 | **deliver** | infinitive | prince's bride *not said here* | maidens *= maiden* |  | birds's wretched bondage |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent they=Theme from bondage=Initial\_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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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