---
title: It happened one evening, when he was hot and tired with walking, and… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It happened one evening, when he was hot and tired with walking, and had sat down under a tree in a forest to eat his supper, that he saw two gaily-plumaged birds, that were strange to him, sitting at the top of the tree talking to one another about him. Who acts: It, Solomon, that. A sentence of «T
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/26/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 Dragon of the North(2)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/) / 26

# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It happened one evening, when he was hot and tired with walking, and had sat down under a tree in a forest to eat his supper, that he saw two gaily-plumaged birds, that were strange to him, sitting at the top of the tree talking to one another about him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, Solomon, that · **What happens:** happen, be, sit down, eat, see, plumage · **To what, where:** tree, supper, two plumaged birds, Solomon, top, one

<!-- .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 (It, Solomon, that), 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:pg640:5:26
# text = It happened one evening, when he was hot and tired with walking, and had sat down under a tree in a forest to eat his supper, that he saw two gaily-plumaged birds, that were strange to him, sitting at the top of the tree talking to one another about him.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	walking	walking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	sat	sit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
18	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	under	under	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
33	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	37	nummod	_	_
34	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	plumaged	plumage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	amod	_	_
37	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
40	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
41	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	conj	_	_
46	at	at	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
52	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	45	conj	_	_
53	to	to	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	52	obl	_	_
55	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	54	fixed	_	_
56	about	about	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  |  | evening |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | Solomon |  |  |  |  | with walking; hot *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | Solomon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **sit down** | past · perfect |  |  |  | a tree |  | in a forest | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under tree=Location |
| 5 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  | Solomon's supper |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent supper=Patient |
| 6 | **see** | past | Solomon | two plumaged birds |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 7 | **plumage** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | past | that |  | Solomon |  |  | strange *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **sit** | gerund | Solomon *not said here* |  |  | the top of the tree |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at top=Location |
| 10 | **talk** | gerund | Solomon *not said here* |  | one about Solomon |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to one=Co-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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/25/)
- next →: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/27/)
- ↑ back to [The Dragon of the North(2)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/)