---
title: So he dressed himself up like a bird, and threw a great white sheet… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So he dressed himself up like a bird, and threw a great white sheet over himself; broke off a goose’s wings, and set them on his back; and in this attire climbed into a great maple tree which stood in the Priest’s garden. Who acts: Governor, great maple tree. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by An
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 133

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he dressed himself up like a bird, and threw a great white sheet over himself; broke off a goose’s wings, and set them on his back; and in this attire climbed into a great maple tree which stood in the Priest’s garden.

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**Who acts:** Governor, great maple tree · **What happens:** dress up, throw, break off, set, climb, stand · **To what, where:** Governor, great white sheet, wings, back, attire, garden

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Governor, great maple tree), 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:pg540:9:133
# text = So he dressed himself up like a bird, and threw a great white sheet over himself; broke off a goose’s wings, and set them on his back; and in this attire climbed into a great maple tree which stood in the Priest’s garden.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	dressed	dress	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	sheet	sheet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
19	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	off	off	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	goose	goose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’s	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	det	_	_
36	attire	attire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
37	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
38	into	into	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
40	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
41	maple	maple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	_
42	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
43	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
44	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	acl:relcl	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	Priest	Priest	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	’s	's	PART	POS	_	47	case	_	_
49	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dress up** | past | Governor | Governor |  |  |  | like a bird | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 2 | **throw** | past | Governor *not said here* | a great white sheet |  |  |  | over Governor | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent sheet=Theme over himself=Destination |
| 3 | **break off** | past | Governor *not said here* | a goose's wings |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer wing=Patient |
| 4 | **set** | infinitive | Governor *not said here* | wings *= wing* |  | Governor's back |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme on back=Destination |
| 5 | **climb** | past |  |  |  | this attire |  | into a great maple tree | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into tree=Destination |
| 6 | **stand** | past | a great maple tree |  |  | the Priest's garden |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in garden=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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