---
title: So the Master Thief immediately got hold of an old worn-out mare, an… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the Master Thief immediately got hold of an old worn-out mare, and set himself to work to make a collar for it of green withies and branches of broom; bought a shabby old cart and a great cask, and then he told a poor old beggar woman that he would give her ten dollars if she would get into the c
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 205

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the Master Thief immediately got hold of an old worn-out mare, and set himself to work to make a collar for it of green withies and branches of broom; bought a shabby old cart and a great cask, and then he told a poor old beggar woman that he would give her ten dollars if she would get into the cask and keep her mouth wide-open beneath the tap-hole, into which he was going to stick his finger.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Master Thief, Governor, woman · **What happens:** get, set, work, make, buy, tell · **To what, where:** hold, Governor, collar, shabby old cart, poor old beggar woman, ten dollars · **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, Governor, woman), 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:pg540:9:205
# text = So the Master Thief immediately got hold of an old worn-out mare, and set himself to work to make a collar for it of green withies and branches of broom; bought a shabby old cart and a great cask, and then he told a poor old beggar woman that he would give her ten dollars if she would get into the cask and keep her mouth wide-open beneath the tap-hole, into which he was going to stick his finger.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	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	6	nsubj	_	_
5	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
11	worn	worn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	out	out	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	mare	mare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
18	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	collar	collar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	withies	withy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	broom	broom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
35	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
37	shabby	shabby	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
38	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	cart	cart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	cask	cask	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
46	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	48	advmod	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
50	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
51	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
52	beggar	beggar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	compound	_	_
53	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	ccomp	_	_
58	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	iobj	_	_
59	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	60	nummod	_	_
60	dollars	dollar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obj	_	_
61	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
62	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
63	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	advcl	_	_
65	into	into	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	cask	cask	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	_
68	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	69	cc	_	_
69	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	conj	_	_
70	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	71	nmod:poss	_	_
71	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obj	_	_
72	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	74	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	72	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	xcomp	_	_
75	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	79	case	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	79	det	_	_
77	tap	tap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	79	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	77	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	85	punct	_	_
81	into	into	ADP	IN	_	82	case	_	_
82	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	85	obl	_	_
83	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	85	nsubj	_	_
84	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	85	aux	_	_
85	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	69	advcl	_	_
86	to	to	PART	TO	_	87	mark	_	_
87	stick	stick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	85	xcomp	_	_
88	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	89	nmod:poss	_	_
89	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	87	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
90	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | the Master Thief | hold of a old out mare |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hold=Stimulus |
| 2 | **set** | past | the Master Thief *not said here* | Governor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **work** | to-infinitive | the Master Thief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **make** | to-infinitive | the Master Thief *not said here* | a collar of green withies and branches of broom |  |  |  | for collar | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent collar=Material for it=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **buy** | participle | the Master Thief *not said here* | a shabby old cart and a great cask |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cart=Theme |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Governor |  | a poor old beggar woman |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent woman=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **give** | would | Governor | ten dollars | woman |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient dollar=Theme |
| 8 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | woman |  |  | the cask |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into cask=Destination |
| 9 | **keep** | infinitive | woman *not said here* | woman's mouth |  | the tap hole |  | open *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent mouth=Theme beneath hole=Location |
| 10 | **go** | past · progressive | Governor |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 11 | **stick** | to-infinitive | Governor *not said here* | Governor's finger |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent finger=Theme |
| 12 | **hold** |  |  | a old out mare |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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