---
title: Knowing that the King would certainly have their heads cut off for a… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Knowing that the King would certainly have their heads cut off for allowing the Prince to escape, they then agreed to say that he was ill, and after making the smallest among them look as much like Prince Curlicue as possible, they put him into his bed and sent to inform the King. Who acts: Knowing,
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/35/4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Golden Branch, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/35/) / 4

# The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Branch, part 2, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Knowing that the King would certainly have their heads cut off for allowing the Prince to escape, they then agreed to say that he was ill, and after making the smallest among them look as much like Prince Curlicue as possible, they put him into his bed and sent to inform the King.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Knowing, Prince, guards · **What happens:** know, cut off, allow, escape, agree, say · **To what, where:** Prince, smallest, much, bed, King · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branch, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Knowing, Prince, guards), 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:pg540:35:4
# text = Knowing that the King would certainly have their heads cut off for allowing the Prince to escape, they then agreed to say that he was ill, and after making the smallest among them look as much like Prince Curlicue as possible, they put him into his bed and sent to inform the King.
1	Knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	csubj:pass	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	allowing	allow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
30	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	advcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	obj	_	_
34	among	among	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	_
36	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
37	as	as	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	obj	_	_
39	like	like	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	Curlicue	curlicue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
43	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	into	into	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	conj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	inform	inform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	advcl	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **cut off** | infinitive · perfect | Knowing |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **allow** | gerund | Knowing *not said here* | the Prince |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer prince=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **escape** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | guards *= guard* |  |  |  | then |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | guards *= guard* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | past | Prince |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **make** | gerund |  | the smallest |  |  |  | among guards *= guard* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset small=Product |
| 9 | **look** | present | guards *= guard* *not said here* | much |  |  |  | like Prince Curlicue | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme much=Attribute |
| 10 | **put** | past | guards *= guard* |  | Prince | Prince's bed |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Goal |
| 11 | **send** | participle | guards *= guard* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **inform** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | guards *= guard* *not said here* |  | the King |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent king=Recipient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/35/3/)
- next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/35/5/)
- ↑ back to [The Golden Branch, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/35/)