---
title: The servant ran after his master and told him what had happened, and… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The servant ran after his master and told him what had happened, and then, not wishing to lose the saddle as well as the horse, he went back to fetch it. Who acts: servant. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Riddle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Riddle, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The servant ran after his master and told him what had happened, and then, not wishing to lose the saddle as well as the horse, he went back to fetch it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** servant · **What happens:** run, tell, happen, not wish, lose, go back · **To what, where:** servant, saddle, horse · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Riddle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servant), 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:pg7277:47:18
# text = The servant ran after his master and told him what had happened, and then, not wishing to lose the saddle as well as the horse, he went back to fetch it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	wishing	wish	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	saddle	saddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	27	cc	_	_
24	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	fixed	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	fixed	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
31	back	back	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | the servant |  |  |  | after servant's master |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the servant *not said here* |  | servant |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **wish** | gerund | the servant *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **lose** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the servant *not said here* | the saddle |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent saddle=Eventuality |
| 6 | **go back** | past | servant |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **fetch** | to-infinitive | servant *not said here* | horse |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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 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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