---
title: They all returned thanks on their knees, and the Black Thief told hi… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They all returned thanks on their knees, and the Black Thief told him the reason they attempted to steal the Steed of Bells, and the necessity they were under in going home. Who acts: Princes, Black Thief, necessity. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of th
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen., sentence 139

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They all returned thanks on their knees, and the Black Thief told him the reason they attempted to steal the Steed of Bells, and the necessity they were under in going home.

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**Who acts:** Princes, Black Thief, necessity · **What happens:** return, tell, attempt, steal, go · **To what, where:** thanks, knees, reason, danger, Steed · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Princes, Black Thief, necessity), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:8:139
# text = They all returned thanks on their knees, and the Black Thief told him the reason they attempted to steal the Steed of Bells, and the necessity they were under in going home.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nsubj	_	_
3	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	thanks	thanks	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	Black	Black	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	attempted	attempt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Bells	Bell	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	necessity	necessity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
31	under	under	ADP	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
34	home	home	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | Princes *= prince* | thanks |  | Princes's knees |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thanks=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the Black Thief | the reason | danger |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient reason=Topic |
| 3 | **attempt** | past | Princes *= prince* | the reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **steal** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Princes *= prince* *not said here* | the Steed of Bells |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location steed=Theme |
| 5 | **go** | past · progressive | the necessity |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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