--- title: A Story About a Darning-needle — The Yellow Fairy Book · full text with trees description: A Story About a Darning-needle, «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: There was once a Darning-needle who thought herself so fine that she believed she was an embroidery-needle. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/) [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/) / A Story About a Darning-needle # A Story About a Darning-needle A Story About a Darning-needle of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole text, 86 sentences and 1220 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself; 1 of them are in the tales treebank and were checked by a teacher model. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/1/) — There was once a Darning-needle who thought herself so fine that she believed she was an embroidery-needle. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/2/) — ‘Take great care to hold me tight!’ said the Darning-needle to the Fingers who were holding her. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/3/) — ‘Don’t let me fall! - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/4/) — If I once fall on the ground I shall never be found again, I am so fine!’ - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/5/) — ‘It is all right!’ said the Fingers, seizing her round the waist. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/6/) — ‘Look, I am coming with my train!’ said the Darning-needle as she drew a long thread after her; but there was no knot at the end of the thread. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/7/) — The Fingers were using the needle on the cook’s shoe. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/8/) — The upper leather was unstitched and had to be sewn together. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/9/) — ‘This is common work!’ said the Darning-needle. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/10/) — ‘I shall never get through it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/11/) — I am breaking! - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/12/) — I am breaking!’ - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/13/) — And in fact she did break. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/14/) — ‘Didn’t I tell you so!’ said the Darning-needle. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/15/) — ‘I am too fine!’ - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/16/) — ‘Now she is good for nothing!’ said the Fingers; but they had to hold her tight while the cook dropped some sealing-wax on the needle and stuck it in the front of her dress. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/17/) — ‘Now I am a breast-pin!’ said the Darning-needle. — checked by a teacher - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/18/) — ‘I always knew I should be promoted. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/19/) — When one is something, one will become something!’ - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/20/) — And she laughed to herself; you can never see when a Darning-needle is laughing. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/21/) — Then she sat up as proudly as if she were in a State coach, and looked all round her. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/22/) — ‘May I be allowed to ask if you are gold?’ she said to her neighbour, the Pin. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/23/) — ‘You have a very nice appearance, and a peculiar head; but it is too small! - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/24/) — You must take pains to make it grow, for it is not everyone who has a head of sealing-wax.’ - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/25/) — And so saying the Darning-needle raised herself up so proudly that she fell out of the dress, right into the sink which the cook was rinsing out. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/26/) — ‘Now I am off on my travels!’ said the Darning-needle. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/27/) — ‘I do hope I sha’n’t get lost!’ - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/28/) — She did indeed get lost. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/29/) — ‘I am too fine for this world!’ said she as she lay in the gutter; ‘but I know who I am, and that is always a little satisfaction!’ - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/30/) — And the Darning-needle kept her proud bearing and did not lose her good-temper. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/31/) — All kinds of things swam over her--shavings, bits of straw, and scraps of old newspapers. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/32/) — ‘Just look how they sail along!’ said the Darning-needle. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/33/) — ‘They don’t know what is underneath them! - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/34/) — Here I am sticking fast! - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/35/) — There goes a shaving thinking of nothing in the world but of itself, a mere chip! - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/36/) — There goes a straw--well, how it does twist and twirl, to be sure! - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/37/) — Don’t think so much about yourself, or you will be knocked against a stone. - [38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/38/) — There floats a bit of newspaper. - [39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/39/) — What is written on it is long ago forgotten, and yet how proud it is! - [40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/40/) — I am sitting patient and quiet. - [41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/41/) — I know who I am, and that is enough for me!’ - [42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/42/) — One day something thick lay near her which glittered so brightly that the Darning-needle thought it must be a diamond. - [43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/43/) — But it was a bit of bottle-glass, and because it sparkled the Darning-needle spoke to it, and gave herself out as a breast-pin. - [44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/44/) — ‘No doubt you are a diamond?’ - [45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/45/) — ‘Yes, something of that kind!’ - [46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/46/) — And each believed that the other was something very costly; and they both said how very proud the world must be of them. - [47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/47/) — ‘I have come from a lady’s work-box,’ said Darning-needle, ‘and this lady was a cook; she had five fingers on each hand; anything so proud as these fingers I have never seen! - [48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/48/) — And yet they were only there to take me out of the work-box and to put me back again!’ - [49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/49/) — ‘Were they of noble birth, then?’ asked the bit of bottle-glass. - [50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/50/) — ‘Of noble birth!’ said the Darning-needle; ‘no indeed, but proud! - [51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/51/) — They were five brothers, all called ‘’Fingers. - [52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/52/) — ’’ They held themselves proudly one against the other, although they were of different sizes. - [53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/53/) — The outside one, the Thumb, was short and fat; he was outside the rank, and had only one bend in his back, and could only make one bow; but he said that if he were cut off from a man that he was no longer any use as a soldier. - [54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/54/) — Dip-into-everything, the second finger, dipped into sweet things as well as sour things, pointed to the sun and the moon, and guided the pen when they wrote. - [55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/55/) — Longman, the third, looked at the others over his shoulder. - [56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/56/) — Goldband, the fourth, had a gold sash round his waist; and little Playman did nothing at all, and was the more proud. - [57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/57/) — There was too much ostentation, and so I came away.’ - [58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/58/) — ‘And now we are sitting and shining here!’ said the bit of bottle-glass. - [59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/59/) — At that moment more water came into the gutter; it streamed over the edges and washed the bit of bottle-glass away. - [60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/60/) — ‘Ah! now he has been promoted!’ said the Darning-needle. - [61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/61/) — ‘I remain here; I am too fine. - [62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/62/) — But that is my pride, which is a sign of respectability!’ - [63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/63/) — And she sat there very proudly, thinking lofty thoughts. - [64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/64/) — ‘I really believe I must have been born a sunbeam, I am so fine! - [65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/65/) — It seems to me as if the sunbeams were always looking under the water for me. - [66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/66/) — Ah, I am so fine that my own mother cannot find me! - [67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/67/) — If I had my old eye which broke off, I believe I could weep; but I can’t--it is not fine to weep!’ - [68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/68/) — One day two street-urchins were playing and wading in the gutter, picking up old nails, pennies, and such things. - [69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/69/) — It was rather dirty work, but it was a great delight to them. - [70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/70/) — ‘Oh, oh!’ cried out one, as he pricked himself with the Darning-needle; ‘he is a fine fellow though!’ - [71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/71/) — ‘I am not a fellow; I am a young lady!’ said the Darning-needle; but no one heard. - [72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/72/) — The sealing-wax had gone, and she had become quite black; but black makes one look very slim, and so she thought she was even finer than before. - [73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/73/) — ‘Here comes an egg-shell sailing along!’ said the boys, and they stuck the Darning-needle into the egg-shell. - [74](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/74/) — ‘The walls white and I black--what a pretty contrast it makes!’ said the Darning-needle. - [75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/75/) — ‘Now I can be seen to advantage! - [76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/76/) — If only I am not sea-sick! - [77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/77/) — I should give myself up for lost!’ - [78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/78/) — But she was not sea-sick, and did not give herself up. - [79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/79/) — ‘It is a good thing to be steeled against sea-sickness; here one has indeed an advantage over man! - [80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/80/) — Now my qualms are over. - [81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/81/) — The finer one is the more one can beat.’ - [82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/82/) — ‘Crack!’ said the egg-shell as a wagon-wheel went over it. - [83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/83/) — ‘Oh! how it presses!’ said the Darning-needle. - [84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/84/) — ‘I shall indeed be sea-sick now. - [85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/85/) — I am breaking!’ - [86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/51/86/) — But she did not break, although the wagon-wheel went over her; she lay there at full length, and there she may lie. - ← previous: [The Steadfast Tin-soldier](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/50/) - ↑ back to [The Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/)