---
title: In vain did the poor beast try to free itself; then the good-natured… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In vain did the poor beast try to free itself; then the good-natured Prince came once more to the rescue, and let the fox out of the trap. Who acts: you, natured Prince. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch and Her Servants(22), part 2, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants(22), part 2, sentence 73

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In vain did the poor beast try to free itself; then the good-natured Prince came once more to the rescue, and let the fox out of the trap.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, natured Prince · **What happens:** do, come, let · **To what, where:** poor beast try, more, fox, trap

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch and Her Servants(22), 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 (you, natured Prince), 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:pg640:31:73
# text = In vain did the poor beast try to free itself; then the good-natured Prince came once more to the rescue, and let the fox out of the trap.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	advcl	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	try	try	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
10	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
12	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
14	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	natured	natured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
19	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	20	advmod	_	_
20	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	rescue	rescue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	out	out	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	trap	trap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | you *not said here* | the poor beast try |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent try=Eventuality |
| 2 | **come** | past | the natured Prince | more |  |  | then |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location more=Theme |
| 3 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | the fox |  | the trap |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Theme |

<!-- .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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