---
title: “Gently, gently,” said he, “not so fast, my friend”; and standing st… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Gently, gently,” said he, “not so fast, my friend”; and standing still he waited till the beast was quite near, when he sprang lightly behind a tree; the unicorn ran with all its force against the tree, and rammed its horn so firmly into the trunk that it had no strength left to pull it out again, 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Brave Little Tailor, sentence 114

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Gently, gently,” said he, “not so fast, my friend”; and standing still he waited till the beast was quite near, when he sprang lightly behind a tree; the unicorn ran with all its force against the tree, and rammed its horn so firmly into the trunk that it had no strength left to pull it out again, and was thus successfully captured.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** unicorn, horn · **What happens:** say, stand, wait, be, spring, run · **To what, where:** tree, horn, trunk, strength · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brave Little Tailor. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (unicorn, horn), 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:pg503:42:114
# text = “Gently, gently,” said he, “not so fast, my friend”; and standing still he waited till the beast was quite near, when he sprang lightly behind a tree; the unicorn ran with all its force against the tree, and rammed its horn so firmly into the trunk that it had no strength left to pull it out again, and was thus successfully captured.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	csubj	_	_
21	still	still	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
24	till	till	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	near	near	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
34	lightly	lightly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	unicorn	unicorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
41	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	45	det:predet	_	_
44	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	against	against	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	rammed	ram	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
52	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	horn	horn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	so	so	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
55	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
56	into	into	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
59	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
60	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
61	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	advcl	_	_
62	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	63	det	_	_
63	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	_
64	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	63	acl	_	_
65	to	to	PART	TO	_	66	mark	_	_
66	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	advcl	_	_
67	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	obj	_	_
68	out	out	ADP	RP	_	66	compound:prt	_	_
69	again	again	ADV	RB	_	66	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	75	punct	_	_
71	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	75	cc	_	_
72	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	75	aux:pass	_	_
73	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	75	advmod	_	_
74	successfully	successfully	ADV	RB	_	75	advmod	_	_
75	captured	capture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	61	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | unicorn |  |  |  |  | fast, gently *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stand** | gerund |  |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wait** | past | unicorn |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | till the beast | near *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **spring** | past | unicorn |  |  | a tree |  | lightly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind tree=Trajectory |
| 6 | **run** | past | the unicorn |  |  |  |  | with tree's force against the tree | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent with force=Material |
| 7 | **ram** | past | unicorn *not said here* | tree's horn |  | the trunk |  | firmly *property* | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent horn=Theme into trunk=Destination |
| 8 | **have** | past | horn | no strength |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Patient |
| 9 | **leave** | participle |  | no strength *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **pull out** | to-infinitive |  | strength |  |  | again |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **capture** | past · passive | horn *not said here* |  |  |  |  | successfully, thus *property* | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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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