---
title: But there is a proverb which says that ill-gotten gains never prospe… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But there is a proverb which says that ill-gotten gains never prosper, and the Prince found that the stolen ring brought him ill-luck after all. Who acts: proverb, gotten gains, Prince, stolen ring. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2), with its dependency
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 173

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But there is a proverb which says that ill-gotten gains never prosper, and the Prince found that the stolen ring brought him ill-luck after all.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** proverb, gotten gains, Prince, stolen ring · **What happens:** be, say, get, not prosper, find, steal · **To what, where:** ill luck, proverb · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (proverb, gotten gains, Prince, stolen ring), 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:pg640:5:173
# text = But there is a proverb which says that ill-gotten gains never prosper, and the Prince found that the stolen ring brought him ill-luck after all.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
9	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	gotten	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	gains	gain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	prosper	prosper	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
29	after	after	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | a proverb |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a proverb |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **get** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **prosper** | present | gotten gains |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **find** | past | the Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **steal** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **bring** | past | the stolen ring | ill luck | proverb |  | after all |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination luck=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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