---
title: And his father had three sons—the first was Fafnir, the Dragon; the… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And his father had three sons—the first was Fafnir, the Dragon; the next was Otter, who could put on the shape of an otter when he liked; and the next was himself, Regin, and he was a great smith and maker of swords. Who acts: father, next Otter, next. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Story of Sigurd, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And his father had three sons—the first was Fafnir, the Dragon; the next was Otter, who could put on the shape of an otter when he liked; and the next was himself, Regin, and he was a great smith and maker of swords.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** father, next Otter, next · **What happens:** have, be, put, like · **To what, where:** three sons, first Fafnir, next Otter, shape, Sigurd, great smith

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Sigurd. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, next Otter, next), 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:pg540:51:35
# text = And his father had three sons—the first was Fafnir, the Dragon; the next was Otter, who could put on the shape of an otter when he liked; and the next was himself, Regin, and he was a great smith and maker of swords.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	amod	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	Fafnir	Fafnir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Dragon	Dragon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	Otter	Otter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	parataxis	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	otter	otter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	Regin	Regin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	smith	smith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	maker	maker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	swords	sword	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Sigurd's father | three sons |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | first Fafnir and the Dragon |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Sigurd's father *not said here* | next Otter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **put** | could | next Otter |  |  | the shape of a otter |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on shape=Destination |
| 5 | **like** | past | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **is a** | past | the next | Sigurd |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** | past | father | a great smith and maker of swords |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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