---
title: ‘Pray laugh if it pleases your Majesty, I am glad that it is in my p… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Pray laugh if it pleases your Majesty, I am glad that it is in my power to afford you any amusement; but I am not a plaything for these gentlemen, and I must beg them to dismiss any ideas of that kind from their minds at once,’ and with that he turned upon the one who had laughed the loudest and pr
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 3, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘Pray laugh if it pleases your Majesty, I am glad that it is in my power to afford you any amusement; but I am not a plaything for these gentlemen, and I must beg them to dismiss any ideas of that kind from their minds at once,’ and with that he turned upon the one who had laughed the loudest and proudly challenged him to a single combat.

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**Who acts:** laugh, I, Mannikin, one, ideas · **What happens:** pray, please, be, afford, not be, beg · **To what, where:** laugh, Majesty, power, you, plaything, gentlemen

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, 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 (laugh, I, Mannikin, one), 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:pg7277:16:21
# text = ‘Pray laugh if it pleases your Majesty, I am glad that it is in my power to afford you any amusement; but I am not a plaything for these gentlemen, and I must beg them to dismiss any ideas of that kind from their minds at once,’ and with that he turned upon the one who had laughed the loudest and proudly challenged him to a single combat.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Pray	pray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
3	laugh	laugh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	pleases	please	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	Majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	glad	glad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	ccomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	afford	afford	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	amusement	amusement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
27	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	plaything	plaything	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	33	det	_	_
33	gentlemen	gentleman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	beg	beg	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	dismiss	dismiss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
42	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	43	det	_	_
43	ideas	idea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obj	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	46	det	_	_
46	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
47	from	from	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	minds	mind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	_
50	at	at	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	30	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
59	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
62	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	64	nsubj	_	_
63	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	61	acl:relcl	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	loudest	loud	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	64	parataxis	_	_
67	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	69	cc	_	_
68	proudly	proudly	ADV	RB	_	69	advmod	_	_
69	challenged	challenge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	conj	_	_
70	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	obj	_	_
71	to	to	ADP	IN	_	74	case	_	_
72	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
73	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	74	amod	_	_
74	combat	combat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pray** | infinitive | laugh *not said here* | laugh |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **please** | present | laugh | your Majesty |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus majesty=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | glad *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present | laugh |  |  | my power |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **afford** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **is a** | present | I | a plaything |  |  |  | for this gentlemen | tree rules |
| 7 | **beg** *speech: request* | must | I |  | gentlemen *= gentleman* |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 8 | **dismiss** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | any ideas of that kind |  | ideas's minds |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent idea=Theme from mind=Source |
| 9 | **turn** | past | Mannikin |  |  |  |  | upon the one | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme upon one=Trajectory |
| 10 | **laugh** | past · perfect | the one |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **challenge** | past | the one *not said here* | Mannikin |  |  |  | to a single combat; proudly *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **mind** |  | ideas *= idea* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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