---
title: But his messengers were so full of gladness that good King Death mig… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: But his messengers were so full of gladness that good King Death might return to the Earth once more, riding on his grey-black buffalo--for that was the meaning of Shiva’s message--that they were drunk with joy, and said the words wrongly. Who acts: messengers, good King Death, that, message. A sent
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/23/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Indian tales of the great ones among m…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/) / [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/) / 23

# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 5, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But his messengers were so full of gladness that good King Death might return to the Earth once more, riding on his grey-black buffalo--for that was the meaning of Shiva’s message--that they were drunk with joy, and said the words wrongly.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** messengers, good King Death, that, message · **What happens:** be, return, ride, drink, say · **To what, where:** gladness, Earth, grey black buffalo, messengers, words · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (messengers, good King Death, that, message), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg69647:5:23
# text = But his messengers were so full of gladness that good King Death might return to the Earth once more, riding on his grey-black buffalo--for that was the meaning of Shiva’s message--that they were drunk with joy, and said the words wrongly.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	gladness	gladness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obj	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	Death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	19	advmod	_	_
19	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	riding	ride	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
24	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	buffalo	buffalo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	33	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	Shiva	Shiva	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’s	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux:pass	_	_
42	drunk	drink	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl:relcl	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
50	wrongly	wrongly	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Shiva's messengers |  |  |  |  | of gladness; full *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** | might | good King Death | gladness | the Earth |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent that=Theme to earth=Destination |
| 3 | **ride** | gerund | Shiva's messengers *not said here* |  |  | Shiva's grey black buffalo |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | for the meaning; of Shiva's message | tree rules |
| 5 | **drink** | past · passive | Shiva's message *not said here* | messengers *= messenger* |  |  |  | with joy | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Shiva's messengers *not said here* | the words |  |  |  | wrongly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Project Gutenberg book 69647 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/22/)
- next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/24/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/)