---
title: In vain he described the bird to his attendants, who rushed at his f… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In vain he described the bird to his attendants, who rushed at his first call; in vain they sought the wonderful creature both on horse and foot, and summoned the fowlers to their aid: the bird could nowhere be found. Who acts: bird, attendants, cures, aid. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by A
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In vain he described the bird to his attendants, who rushed at his first call; in vain they sought the wonderful creature both on horse and foot, and summoned the fowlers to their aid: the bird could nowhere be found.

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**Who acts:** bird, attendants, cures, aid · **What happens:** describe, rush, seek, summon, find, call · **To what, where:** bird, vain, first call, wonderful creature, fowlers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird, attendants, cures, aid), 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:pg640:11:46
# text = In vain he described the bird to his attendants, who rushed at his first call; in vain they sought the wonderful creature both on horse and foot, and summoned the fowlers to their aid: the bird could nowhere be found.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	vain	vain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	described	describe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	attendants	attendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	rushed	rush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	amod	_	_
16	call	call	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	obl	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	both	both	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	summoned	summon	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	fowlers	fowler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	aid	aid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
42	nowhere	nowhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | past | bird | the bird |  | vain |  | to bird's attendants | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent bird=Theme to attendant=be' |
| 2 | **rush** | past | bird's attendants |  |  | bird's first call |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at call=Trajectory |
| 3 | **seek** | past | cures *= cure* | the wonderful creature |  | vain |  | on horse and foot; both *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent creature=Theme in vain=Location |
| 4 | **summon** | past | cures *= cure* *not said here* | the fowlers |  |  |  | to cures's aid | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fowler=Recipient |
| 5 | **find** | could · passive | cures's aid *not said here* | the bird |  |  |  | nowhere *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 6 | **call** |  | bird |  |  |  |  |  | nom call «communication transitive»: poss=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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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