---
title: The little Hare obeyed, and when it had run twenty times round the t… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The little Hare obeyed, and when it had run twenty times round the tree, the cord had twisted itself twenty times round the trunk, so that the poor little beast was held a fast prisoner, and it might bite and tear as much as it liked, it couldn’t free itself, and the cord only cut its tender neck. W
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Marvellous Musician, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little Hare obeyed, and when it had run twenty times round the tree, the cord had twisted itself twenty times round the trunk, so that the poor little beast was held a fast prisoner, and it might bite and tear as much as it liked, it couldn’t free itself, and the cord only cut its tender neck.

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**Who acts:** little Hare, tree, cord · **What happens:** obey, run, twist, hold, bite, tear · **To what, where:** tree, cord, poor little beast, much, tender neck

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Marvellous Musician. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little Hare, tree, cord), 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:pg540:50:52
# text = The little Hare obeyed, and when it had run twenty times round the tree, the cord had twisted itself twenty times round the trunk, so that the poor little beast was held a fast prisoner, and it might bite and tear as much as it liked, it couldn’t free itself, and the cord only cut its tender neck.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	Hare	Hare	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	10	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	run	run	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
11	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	round	round	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	twisted	twist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
21	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	_
22	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
23	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	round	round	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
28	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
32	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	conj	_	_
46	as	as	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	obj	_	_
48	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
53	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	55	advmod	_	_
55	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
56	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	_
61	only	only	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
62	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
63	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
64	tender	tender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obey** | past | the little Hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **run** | past · perfect · passive |  | tree |  | the tree | time |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme round tree=Trajectory |
| 3 | **twist** | past · perfect · passive |  | the cord |  |  | time | round the trunk | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP ADJ.result»: subject=Theme itself=Result |
| 4 | **hold** | past · passive |  | the poor little beast |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **bite** | might | tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **tear** | infinitive | tree *not said here* | much |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location much=Theme |
| 7 | **like** | past | tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 8 | **cut** | past | the cord | tree's tender neck |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset neck=Product |

<!-- .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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