---
title: But before they began to climb the mountain the boy ordered his slav… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But before they began to climb the mountain the boy ordered his slaves to cook some rice, and they rubbed the stick to make a fire, and when the fire was kindled they cooked the rice and ate it. Who acts: footprints, boy, slaves. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nunda, Eater of People, sentence 191

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But before they began to climb the mountain the boy ordered his slaves to cook some rice, and they rubbed the stick to make a fire, and when the fire was kindled they cooked the rice and ate it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** footprints, boy, slaves · **What happens:** begin, climb, order, cook, rub, make · **To what, where:** mountain, slaves, rice, stick, fire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (footprints, boy, slaves), 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:pg641:29:191
# text = But before they began to climb the mountain the boy ordered his slaves to cook some rice, and they rubbed the stick to make a fire, and when the fire was kindled they cooked the rice and ate it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	cook	cook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	kindled	kindle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
35	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	cooked	cook	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	ccomp	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	conj	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | footprints *= footprint* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **climb** | to-infinitive | footprints *= footprint* *not said here* | the mountain |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location mountain=Theme |
| 3 | **order** | past | the boy | boy's slaves |  |  |  |  | vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **cook** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | boy's slaves *not said here* | some rice |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent rice=Patient |
| 5 | **rub** | past | footprints *= footprint* | the stick |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent stick=Theme |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | footprints *= footprint* *not said here* | a fire |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fire=Product |
| 7 | **kindle** | past · passive |  | the fire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **cook** | past | footprints *= footprint* | the rice |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent rice=Patient |
| 9 | **eat** | past | footprints *= footprint* *not said here* | rice |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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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