---
title: Nothing could hunt it, because its whole body was covered with scale… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Nothing could hunt it, because its whole body was covered with scales, which were harder than stone or metal; its two great eyes shone by night, and even by day, like the brightest lamps, and anyone who had the ill luck to look into those eyes became as it were bewitched, and was obliged to rush of 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/7/)

<!-- 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/) / 7

# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing could hunt it, because its whole body was covered with scales, which were harder than stone or metal; its two great eyes shone by night, and even by day, like the brightest lamps, and anyone who had the ill luck to look into those eyes became as it were bewitched, and was obliged to rush of his own accord into the monster’s jaws.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Nothing, scales, anyone · **What happens:** hunt, cover, be, shine, have, look · **To what, where:** creature, whole body, two great eyes, ill luck, jaws

<!-- .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 (Nothing, scales, anyone), 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:pg640:5:7
# text = Nothing could hunt it, because its whole body was covered with scales, which were harder than stone or metal; its two great eyes shone by night, and even by day, like the brightest lamps, and anyone who had the ill luck to look into those eyes became as it were bewitched, and was obliged to rush of his own accord into the monster’s jaws.
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	than	than	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
24	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
25	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
27	shone	shine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl	_	_
28	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	even	even	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	like	like	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	brightest	bright	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	39	amod	_	_
39	lamps	lamp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
42	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	53	nsubj	_	_
43	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
44	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	acl:relcl	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	advcl	_	_
50	into	into	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
52	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	_
53	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
54	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj:pass	_	_
56	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux:pass	_	_
57	bewitched	bewitch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
60	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	61	aux:pass	_	_
61	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	conj	_	_
62	to	to	PART	TO	_	63	mark	_	_
63	rush	rush	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	xcomp	_	_
64	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
65	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
66	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	amod	_	_
67	accord	accord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	obl	_	_
68	into	into	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
69	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
70	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	’s	's	PART	POS	_	70	case	_	_
72	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	63	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunt** | could | Nothing | creature |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **cover** | past · passive |  | creature's whole body |  |  |  | with scales | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with scale=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | scales |  |  |  |  | than stone or metal; hard *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **shine** | participle |  | creature's two great eyes and day and the brightest lamps *not said here* |  |  | night |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | past |  | the ill luck |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent luck=Patient |
| 6 | **look** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | into that eyes | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into eye=Theme |
| 7 | **become** | past | anyone |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **bewitch** | past · passive |  | creature |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 9 | **oblige** | past · passive | anyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: clause=Result |
| 10 | **rush** | to-infinitive | anyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the monster's jaws *result*; of neighbourhood's own accord | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into jaw=Result |

<!-- .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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/8/)
- ↑ back to [The Dragon of the North(2)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/)