---
title: While he was lying on his straw pallet, pondering mournfully on his… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was lying on his straw pallet, pondering mournfully on his fate, he thought he heard the low whining of his dogs outside; then an idea dawned on him, and he called out as loudly as he could, ‘Mustard, come to my help,’ and in a second he saw the paws of his biggest dog at the window of his 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Three Dogs, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While he was lying on his straw pallet, pondering mournfully on his fate, he thought he heard the low whining of his dogs outside; then an idea dawned on him, and he called out as loudly as he could, ‘Mustard, come to my help,’ and in a second he saw the paws of his biggest dog at the window of his cell, and before he could count two the creature had bitten through the iron bars and stood beside him.

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**Who acts:** stranger, my · **What happens:** lie, ponder, think, hear, dawn, call out · **To what, where:** straw pallet, low whining, idea, Mustard, help, paws · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dogs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stranger, my), 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:pg7277:56:46
# text = While he was lying on his straw pallet, pondering mournfully on his fate, he thought he heard the low whining of his dogs outside; then an idea dawned on him, and he called out as loudly as he could, ‘Mustard, come to my help,’ and in a second he saw the paws of his biggest dog at the window of his cell, and before he could count two the creature had bitten through the iron bars and stood beside him.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	straw	straw	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	pallet	pallet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	pondering	ponder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
11	mournfully	mournfully	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	ccomp	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	whining	whining	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
26	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
31	dawned	dawn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
38	out	out	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
39	as	as	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
41	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	Mustard	mustard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
48	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	parataxis	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	46	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
55	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
58	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obj	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
64	biggest	big	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	65	amod	_	_
65	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod	_	_
66	at	at	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
69	of	of	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	71	nmod:poss	_	_
71	cell	cell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
73	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	77	cc	_	_
74	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	77	mark	_	_
75	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	77	nsubj	_	_
76	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	77	aux	_	_
77	count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
78	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	82	nsubj:pass	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	82	nsubj:pass	_	_
81	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	82	aux	_	_
82	bitten	bite	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	77	parataxis	_	_
83	through	through	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
84	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	86	det	_	_
85	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	86	compound	_	_
86	bars	bar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	82	obl	_	_
87	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	88	cc	_	_
88	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	82	conj	_	_
89	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	90	case	_	_
90	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	88	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
91	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past · progressive | stranger |  |  | stranger's straw pallet |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on pallet=Location |
| 2 | **ponder** | gerund | stranger *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on stranger's fate; mournfully *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent on fate=Topic |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | stranger |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** | past | stranger | the low whining of stranger's dogs |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer whining=Stimulus |
| 5 | **dawn** | participle |  | a idea *not said here* |  |  |  | on stranger | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on he=Location |
| 6 | **call out** *speech: assert* | past | stranger | Mustard |  |  |  | loudly *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **come** | infinitive |  |  |  | my help |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to help=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **see** | past | stranger | the paws of stranger's biggest dog |  | the window of stranger's cell | second |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer paw=Stimulus |
| 9 | **count** | could | stranger |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 10 | **bite** | past · perfect · passive |  | two |  | the iron bars |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient through bar=Location |
| 11 | **stand** | past |  |  |  |  |  | beside stranger | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beside he=Location |
| 12 | **fate** |  | stranger |  |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event transitive»: poss=agent |
| 13 | **help** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom help «act 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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