--- title: The bird gradually descended until it perched on a tree close to the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The bird gradually descended until it perched on a tree close to the Prince and said: “The wizard of Finland greets thee and bids me say that thou mayest free the maiden thus: Go to the river and smear thyself all over with mud; then say: ‘From a man into a crab,’ and thou wilt become a crab. Who ac --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/26/98/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/26/) / 98 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners, sentence 98 The bird gradually descended until it perched on a tree close to the Prince and said: “The wizard of Finland greets thee and bids me say that thou mayest free the maiden thus: Go to the river and smear thyself all over with mud; then say: ‘From a man into a crab,’ and thou wilt become a crab. **Who acts:** bird, wizard, thou · **What happens:** descend, perch, say, greet, bid, go · **To what, where:** eagle, tree, thee, bird, river, thyself · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (bird, wizard, thou), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg503:26:98 # text = The bird gradually descended until it perched on a tree close to the Prince and said: “The wizard of Finland greets thee and bids me say that thou mayest free the maiden thus: Go to the river and smear thyself all over with mud; then say: ‘From a man into a crab,’ and thou wilt become a crab. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 gradually gradually ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 descended descend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 until until SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 6 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj:pass _ _ 7 perched perch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 xcomp _ _ 8 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 11 close close ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 : : PUNCT : _ 23 punct _ _ 18 “ " PUNCT `` _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 19 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 wizard wizard NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 Finland Finland PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 nmod _ _ 23 greets greet VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 ccomp _ _ 24 thee thou PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 23 obj _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 bids bid VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 27 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ _ 28 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 30 thou thou PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 32 nsubj _ _ 31 mayest may AUX MD Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 free free ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 ccomp _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl:unmarked _ _ 35 thus thus ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 : : PUNCT : _ 37 punct _ _ 37 Go go VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 28 parataxis _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 smear smear VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 37 conj _ _ 43 thyself thyself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes|Style=Arch 42 obj _ _ 44 all all ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 over over ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 46 with with ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 mud mud NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ; ; PUNCT : _ 50 punct _ _ 49 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 50 advmod _ _ 50 say say VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 51 : : PUNCT : _ 55 punct _ _ 52 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 55 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 53 From from ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 ccomp _ _ 56 into into ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 57 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 58 crab crab NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 59 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 60 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 55 punct _ _ 61 and and CCONJ CC _ 64 cc _ _ 62 thou thou PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 64 nsubj _ _ 63 wilt will AUX MD Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin 64 aux _ _ 64 become become VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 50 conj _ _ 65 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 66 det _ _ 66 crab crab NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **descend** | past | the bird | | | | | gradually *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **perch** | participle · passive | | eagle | | a tree | | | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on tree=Destination | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the bird *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **greet** *speech: greet* *in a quote* | present | the wizard of Finland | thee | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme | | 5 | **bid** *in a quote* | present | the wizard of Finland *not said here* | the bird *= bird* | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive | the wizard of Finland *not said here* | | | | | thus *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | | | | the river | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to river=Initial\_Location | | 8 | **smear** *in a quote* | infinitive | | thyself | | | | with mud; over *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent thyself=Destination with mud=Theme | | 9 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive | | | | | then | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **become** *in a quote* | future | thou | a crab | | | | | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/26/97/) - next →: [sentence 99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/26/99/) - ↑ back to [The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/26/)