---
title: At first the King would not believe this, but after a long, long tim… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At first the King would not believe this, but after a long, long time, they prevailed with him, and he crept on tip-toe to the door, peeped through, and saw the youth on his knees, with his hands clasped together before a picture which was hanging on the wall. Who acts: King, brother, hands, picture
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Bushy Bride, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At first the King would not believe this, but after a long, long time, they prevailed with him, and he crept on tip-toe to the door, peeped through, and saw the youth on his knees, with his hands clasped together before a picture which was hanging on the wall.

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**Who acts:** King, brother, hands, picture · **What happens:** not believe, prevail, creep, peep, see, clasp · **To what, where:** this, tip toe, door, youth, knees, wall

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Bushy Bride. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, brother, hands, picture), 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:pg540:47:40
# text = At first the King would not believe this, but after a long, long time, they prevailed with him, and he crept on tip-toe to the door, peeped through, and saw the youth on his knees, with his hands clasped together before a picture which was hanging on the wall.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	obl	_	_
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	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
11	after	after	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	prevailed	prevail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	tip	tip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	toe	toe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	peeped	peep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	acl	_	_
35	through	through	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	on	on	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj	_	_
48	clasped	clasp	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
49	together	together	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
50	before	before	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
53	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
54	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	acl:relcl	_	_
56	on	on	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **believe** | would | the King | this |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 2 | **prevail** | past | brother |  |  |  | time | with King | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **creep** | past | King |  |  | tip toe |  | to the door | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to door=Destination |
| 4 | **peep** | participle |  | the door *not said here* |  |  |  | through *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **see** | past |  | the youth |  | King's knees |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer youth=Stimulus |
| 6 | **clasp** | past | King's hands |  |  |  | before a picture | together *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **hang** | past · progressive | a picture |  |  | the wall |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on wall=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 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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