---
title: Then they told her that they had become the servants of the Dragon f… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then they told her that they had become the servants of the Dragon for seven long years, and how he had given them money as plentifully as blackberries; but as they had signed their names they were his, unless when the seven years had passed they could guess a riddle. Who acts: carriages. A sentence
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon and His Grandmother, sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then they told her that they had become the servants of the Dragon for seven long years, and how he had given them money as plentifully as blackberries; but as they had signed their names they were his, unless when the seven years had passed they could guess a riddle.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** carriages · **What happens:** tell, become, give, sign, be, pass · **To what, where:** woman, servants, One, carriages, seven years, riddle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon and His Grandmother. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (carriages), 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:pg640:9:33
# text = Then they told her that they had become the servants of the Dragon for seven long years, and how he had given them money as plentifully as blackberries; but as they had signed their names they were his, unless when the seven years had passed they could guess a riddle.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	xcomp	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Dragon	Dragon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	plentifully	plentifully	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	blackberries	blackberry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	signed	sign	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
42	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
43	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	48	advmod	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	46	nummod	_	_
46	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
47	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	conj	_	_
49	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
51	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	parataxis	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | carriages *= carriage* |  | woman |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **become** | past · perfect | carriages *= carriage* | the servants of the Dragon |  |  | year |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **give** | past · perfect · passive |  | One |  |  |  | plentifully *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **sign** | past · perfect · passive |  | carriages *= carriage* |  |  |  |  | vn instr\_communication-37.4.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient name=Topic |
| 5 | **is a** | past | carriages *= carriage* | One |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **pass** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | the seven years |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory |
| 7 | **guess** | could | carriages *= carriage* | a riddle |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent riddle=Theme |
| 8 | **name** |  | carriages *= carriage* |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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.

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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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