---
title: But before the messenger could reach him the old man had climbed the… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But before the messenger could reach him the old man had climbed the nearest tree and scattered his ashes far and wide, and in an instant the white flowers had flashed into life, and the heart of the Daimio rejoiced, and he gave rich presents to the old man, whom he sent for to his castle. Who acts:
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Envious Neighbour, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But before the messenger could reach him the old man had climbed the nearest tree and scattered his ashes far and wide, and in an instant the white flowers had flashed into life, and the heart of the Daimio rejoiced, and he gave rich presents to the old man, whom he sent for to his castle.

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**Who acts:** old man, heart, man · **What happens:** reach, climb, scatter, flash, rejoice, give · **To what, where:** man, nearest tree, ashes, white flowers, rich presents, old man

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Envious Neighbour. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, heart, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg641:18:48
# text = But before the messenger could reach him the old man had climbed the nearest tree and scattered his ashes far and wide, and in an instant the white flowers had flashed into life, and the heart of the Daimio rejoiced, and he gave rich presents to the old man, whom he sent for to his castle.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	before	before	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	reach	reach	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	climbed	climb	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	parataxis	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	amod	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	scattered	scatter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	ashes	ash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	flashed	flash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	Daimio	Daimio	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	rejoiced	rejoice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	conj	_	_
47	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	presents	present	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	56	obj	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	acl:relcl	_	_
57	for	for	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	to	to	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | could |  | man |  |  | before the messenger |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **climb** | past · perfect | the old man | the nearest tree |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |
| 3 | **scatter** | past | the old man *not said here* | man's ashes |  |  |  | far *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ash=Theme |
| 4 | **flash** | past · perfect · passive |  | the white flowers |  |  |  | into life; in a instant | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: subject=Patient in instant=Topic into life=Recipient |
| 5 | **rejoice** | past | the heart of the Daimio |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **give** | past | man | rich presents | the old man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent present=Theme to man=Recipient |
| 7 | **send** | past | man | the old man |  |  |  | for man's castle | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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