---
title: The hermit followed at their heels, but seeing it was impossible to… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The hermit followed at their heels, but seeing it was impossible to overtake the thief, he fell on his knees and called his most deadly curse down on her head, praying that if the thief was a man, he might become a woman; and if she was a woman, that she might become a man. Who acts: hermit, thief, 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3, sentence 73

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hermit followed at their heels, but seeing it was impossible to overtake the thief, he fell on his knees and called his most deadly curse down on her head, praying that if the thief was a man, he might become a woman; and if she was a woman, that she might become a man.

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**Who acts:** hermit, thief, man, princess · **What happens:** follow, see, be, overtake, fall, call · **To what, where:** heels, thief, knees, deadly curse, head, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hermit, thief, man, princess), 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:pg641:40:73
# text = The hermit followed at their heels, but seeing it was impossible to overtake the thief, he fell on his knees and called his most deadly curse down on her head, praying that if the thief was a man, he might become a woman; and if she was a woman, that she might become a man.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hermit	hermit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
9	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	expl	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	ccomp	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	overtake	overtake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	csubj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
26	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	27	advmod	_	_
27	deadly	deadly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	curse	curse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	xcomp	_	_
29	down	down	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	praying	pray	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	advcl	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
36	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
50	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
51	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
52	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
57	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
58	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past | the hermit |  |  | shrieks's heels |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at heel=Location |
| 2 | **see** | gerund | hermit *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **overtake** | to-infinitive |  | the thief |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fall** | past | hermit |  |  | hermit's knees |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on knee=Location |
| 6 | **call** | past | hermit *not said here* | hermit's deadly curse |  | princess's head |  | down *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **pray** | gerund | hermit *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 8 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the thief | a man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **become** | might | a man | a woman |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 10 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | princess | a woman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **become** | might | princess | a man |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 12 | **curse** |  | hermit |  |  |  |  |  | nom curse «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 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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