---
title: Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children had all… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children had all died, first one and then another, until at last only one little daughter remained, and the Queen was at her wits’ end to know where to find a really good nurse who would take care of her, and bring her up. Who acts: children, Queen
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children had all died, first one and then another, until at last only one little daughter remained, and the Queen was at her wits’ end to know where to find a really good nurse who would take care of her, and bring her up.

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**Who acts:** children, Queen, good nurse · **What happens:** live, die, remain, be, know, find · **To what, where:** King, last one little daughter, end, good nurse, care, Queen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, Queen, good nurse), 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:pg540:3:1
# text = Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children had all died, first one and then another, until at last only one little daughter remained, and the Queen was at her wits’ end to know where to find a really good nurse who would take care of her, and bring her up.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
11	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	all	all	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	advmod	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
23	until	until	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
30	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
37	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	wits	wit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	's	PART	POS	_	38	case	_	_
40	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	acl	_	_
43	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	45	advmod	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	ccomp	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
47	really	really	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
50	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	_
51	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	acl:relcl	_	_
53	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
59	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obj	_	_
60	up	up	ADP	RP	_	58	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past |  | a King and Queen |  | there | until last one little daughter; time | one *obl*; once *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **die** | past · perfect | children |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **remain** | participle |  | last one little daughter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | the Queen |  |  |  | at Queen's wits's end |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **find** | to-infinitive |  | a good nurse |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nurse=Topic |
| 7 | **take** | would | a good nurse | care |  |  |  | of Queen | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent care=Theme of she=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **bring up** | infinitive |  | Queen |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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