---
title: Instantly their legs shrivelled up and grew thin and red; their smar… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Instantly their legs shrivelled up and grew thin and red; their smart yellow slippers turned to clumsy stork’s feet, their arms to wings; their necks began to sprout from between their shoulders and grew a yard long; their beards disappeared, and their bodies were covered with feathers. Who acts: sm
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 54

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Instantly their legs shrivelled up and grew thin and red; their smart yellow slippers turned to clumsy stork’s feet, their arms to wings; their necks began to sprout from between their shoulders and grew a yard long; their beards disappeared, and their bodies were covered with feathers.

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**Who acts:** smart yellow slippers, necks, beards · **What happens:** shrivell up, grow, turn, begin, sprout, disappear · **To what, where:** legs, feet, shoulders, yard, bodies

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (smart yellow slippers, necks, beards), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:7:54
# text = Instantly their legs shrivelled up and grew thin and red; their smart yellow slippers turned to clumsy stork’s feet, their arms to wings; their necks began to sprout from between their shoulders and grew a yard long; their beards disappeared, and their bodies were covered with feathers.
1	Instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	shrivelled	shrivell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
13	smart	smart	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	slippers	slipper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	clumsy	clumsy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	stork	stork	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	’s	's	PART	POS	_	19	case	_	_
21	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	necks	neck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	sprout	sprout	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	between	between	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	_
43	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	beards	beard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nsubj	_	_
45	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
48	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nsubj:pass	_	_
50	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux:pass	_	_
51	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	conj	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shrivell up** | participle · passive |  | Caliph's legs |  |  |  | instantly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | past |  |  |  |  |  | thin *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **turn** | past | Caliph's smart yellow slippers |  |  | clumsy stork's feet and Caliph's arms |  | to wings | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme to foot=Source to wing=Trajectory |
| 4 | **begin** | past | Caliph's necks |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **sprout** | to-infinitive | Caliph's necks *not said here* |  |  | Caliph's shoulders |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP.theme V PP.source»: agent=Theme from shoulder=Source |
| 6 | **grow** | past | Caliph's necks *not said here* | a yard |  |  |  | long *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location yard=Theme |
| 7 | **disappear** | past | Caliph's beards |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **cover** | past · passive |  | Caliph's bodies |  |  |  | with feathers | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with feather=Theme |

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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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