---
title: He wished the maiden would let him have it in his hand, but he did n… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He wished the maiden would let him have it in his hand, but he did not quite like to ask her to do so, and after a while she put it back into the box. Who acts: angel, maiden. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2), with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 112

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He wished the maiden would let him have it in his hand, but he did not quite like to ask her to do so, and after a while she put it back into the box.

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**Who acts:** angel, maiden · **What happens:** wish, let, have, not like, ask, do · **To what, where:** angel, ring, hand, maiden, box · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (angel, maiden), 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:pg640:5:112
# text = He wished the maiden would let him have it in his hand, but he did not quite like to ask her to do so, and after a while she put it back into the box.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
18	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
28	after	after	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	back	back	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
35	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | past | angel |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **let** | would | the maiden | angel |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | infinitive | angel *not said here* | ring |  | angel's hand |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **like** | past · do-support | angel |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | angel *not said here* |  | maiden |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | angel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **put back** | past | maiden | ring |  | the box | while |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal |

<!-- .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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