---
title: Not long after this his wife gave birth to a child, but though the l… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Not long after this his wife gave birth to a child, but though the lower half of the little creature was a fine boy, from the waist upwards it was a hedgehog, so that when his mother first saw him she was quite frightened, and said to her husband, ‘There now, you have cursed the child yourself.’ Who
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Jack My Hedgehog, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not long after this his wife gave birth to a child, but though the lower half of the little creature was a fine boy, from the waist upwards it was a hedgehog, so that when his mother first saw him she was quite frightened, and said to her husband, ‘There now, you have cursed the child yourself.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wife, lower half, half, mother, you · **What happens:** give, be, see, frighten, say, curse · **To what, where:** birth, child, fine boy, waist, hedgehog, farmer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jack My Hedgehog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, lower half, half, mother), 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:pg7277:48:5
# text = Not long after this his wife gave birth to a child, but though the lower half of the little creature was a fine boy, from the waist upwards it was a hedgehog, so that when his mother first saw him she was quite frightened, and said to her husband, ‘There now, you have cursed the child yourself.’
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
3	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obl	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
14	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	amod	_	_
17	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	25	nsubj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	waist	waist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
30	upwards	upwards	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	hedgehog	hedgehog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
36	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	42	mark	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	fixed	_	_
38	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
41	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	42	advmod	_	_
42	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux:pass	_	_
46	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
55	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	61	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	61	expl	_	_
57	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	61	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
59	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
60	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	cursed	curse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	50	conj	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	_
64	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | farmer's wife | birth | a child |  |  | long *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent birth=Theme to child=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the lower half of the little creature | a fine boy |  | the waist |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | half | a hedgehog |  |  |  | upwards *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | past | farmer's mother | farmer |  |  |  | first *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 5 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | mother |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | hedgehog's husband |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to husband=Recipient |
| 7 | **curse** | present · perfect | you | the child |  | there | now | yourself *obl* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=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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