--- title: It lay so hidden, and the way to it was so hard to find, that he him… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It lay so hidden, and the way to it was so hard to find, that he himself could not have found it out had not a wise-woman given him a reel of thread which possessed a marvellous property: when he threw it before him it unwound itself and showed him the way. Who acts: stepmother, way, king, wise woma --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/4/14/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Six Swans](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/4/) / 14 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Six Swans, sentence 14 It lay so hidden, and the way to it was so hard to find, that he himself could not have found it out had not a wise-woman given him a reel of thread which possessed a marvellous property: when he threw it before him it unwound itself and showed him the way. **Who acts:** stepmother, way, king, wise woman, thread · **What happens:** lie, be, find, not find out, have, give · **To what, where:** stepmother, wise woman, reel, king, marvellous property, way This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Six Swans. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stepmother, way, king, wise woman), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg640:4:14 # text = It lay so hidden, and the way to it was so hard to find, that he himself could not have found it out had not a wise-woman given him a reel of thread which possessed a marvellous property: when he threw it before him it unwound itself and showed him the way. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 so so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 hidden hidden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 9 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nmod _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 12 so so ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 13 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 conj _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 17 that that SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 19 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes 18 nmod:unmarked _ _ 20 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 23 advmod _ _ 22 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 23 aux _ _ 23 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 conj _ _ 24 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obj _ _ 25 out out ADP RP _ 23 compound:prt _ _ 26 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 27 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 31 advmod _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 29 wise wise ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 32 given give VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 31 acl _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 reel reel NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 thread thread NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ _ 38 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 39 nsubj _ _ 39 possessed possess VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 acl:relcl _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 41 marvellous marvellous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 property property NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 : : PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ _ 44 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 46 advmod _ _ 45 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 46 threw throw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 47 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 obj _ _ 48 before before ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 obl _ _ 50 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj _ _ 51 unwound unwind VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 conj _ _ 52 itself itself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 51 obj _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 54 cc _ _ 54 showed show VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 conj _ _ 55 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 54 iobj _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lie** | past | stepmother | | | | | hidden *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is** | past | the way to stepmother | | | | | hard *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **find** | to-infinitive | the way to stepmother *not said here* | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **not** **find out** | could · perfect | king | stepmother | | | | | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | | 5 | **have** | past | stepmother *not said here* | a wise woman | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **give** | participle | a wise woman *not said here* | a reel of thread | king | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient reel=Theme | | 7 | **possess** | past | thread | a marvellous property | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot property=Theme | | 8 | **throw** | past | king | stepmother | | | before castle | | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme before he=Destination | | 9 | **unwind** | past | stepmother | stepmother | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent itself=Patient | | 10 | **show** | past | stepmother *not said here* | the way | king | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/4/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/4/15/) - ↑ back to [The Six Swans](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/4/)