---
title: Then the Master Thief flung off his beggar’s rags, and took one stab… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the Master Thief flung off his beggar’s rags, and took one stable boy after the other and gently set him astride on the partitions which divided the stalls, and then he called his eleven men who were waiting outside, and they rode off with the Governor’s horses. Who acts: Master Thief, partitio
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 195

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the Master Thief flung off his beggar’s rags, and took one stable boy after the other and gently set him astride on the partitions which divided the stalls, and then he called his eleven men who were waiting outside, and they rode off with the Governor’s horses.

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**Who acts:** Master Thief, partitions, first, eleven men, thieves · **What happens:** fling off, take, set, divide, call, wait · **To what, where:** rags, one stable boy, first, partitions, stalls · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Master Thief, partitions, first, eleven men), 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:pg540:9:195
# text = Then the Master Thief flung off his beggar’s rags, and took one stable boy after the other and gently set him astride on the partitions which divided the stalls, and then he called his eleven men who were waiting outside, and they rode off with the Governor’s horses.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	beggar	beggar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’s	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	rags	rag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
15	stable	stable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	after	after	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	astride	astride	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	partitions	partition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	divided	divide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	stalls	stall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	36	advmod	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
38	eleven	eleven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	nummod	_	_
39	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nsubj	_	_
40	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
41	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	ccomp	_	_
43	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
48	off	off	ADP	RP	_	47	compound:prt	_	_
49	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	Governor	Governor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	’s	's	PART	POS	_	51	case	_	_
53	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fling off** | past | the Master Thief | first's beggar's rags |  |  | then |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rag=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | past | the Master Thief *not said here* |  | one stable boy |  | after the other |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument boy=Destination |
| 3 | **set** | infinitive | the Master Thief *not said here* | first |  | the partitions |  | astride, gently *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme on partition=Destination |
| 4 | **divide** | past | the partitions | the stalls |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stall=Theme |
| 5 | **call** *speech: assert* | past | first |  |  |  | then |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **wait** | past · progressive | first's eleven men |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **ride off** | past | thieves *= thief* |  |  |  |  | with the Governor's horses | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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