---
title: Now Indra, king of the gods, listened to the conversation, and when… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now Indra, king of the gods, listened to the conversation, and when the griffin, by his mighty prowess, had obtained the drink of immortality, he said to him: “O griffin, take steps to prevent the foolish snakes from consuming the drink of immortality, and to enable me to take it away from them agai
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 68

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Now Indra, king of the gods, listened to the conversation, and when the griffin, by his mighty prowess, had obtained the drink of immortality, he said to him: “O griffin, take steps to prevent the foolish snakes from consuming the drink of immortality, and to enable me to take it away from them again.”

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**Who acts:** Indra, griffin · **What happens:** listen, obtain, say, take, prevent, consume · **To what, where:** gods, griffin, steps, foolish snakes, drink, Indra · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indra, griffin), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74064:16:71
# text = Now Indra, king of the gods, listened to the conversation, and when the griffin, by his mighty prowess, had obtained the drink of immortality, he said to him: “O griffin, take steps to prevent the foolish snakes from consuming the drink of immortality, and to enable me to take it away from them again.”
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	Indra	Indra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	listened	listen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
15	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	25	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	prowess	prowess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl:relcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	immortality	immortality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
36	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	38	discourse	_	_
38	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
41	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	_
47	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
48	consuming	consume	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	immortality	immortality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	enable	enable	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
57	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	xcomp	_	_
60	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	_
61	away	away	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
62	from	from	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obl	_	_
64	again	again	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	40	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | participle |  | the gods *not said here* |  |  |  | to the conversation | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to conversation=Theme |
| 2 | **obtain** | past · perfect · passive |  | the griffin and Griffin's mighty prowess |  |  |  | the drink of immortality *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Indra |  | Griffin |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **take** *in a quote* | infinitive | griffin | steps |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent step=Theme |
| 5 | **prevent** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | griffin *not said here* | the foolish snakes |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer snake=Theme |
| 6 | **consume** *in a quote* | gerund | griffin *not said here* | the drink of immortality |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drink=Asset |
| 7 | **enable** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | griffin *not said here* | Indra |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **take away** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Indra *not said here* | drink |  |  | again | from snakes *= snake*; away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent it=Theme from they=Initial\_Location |

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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 grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (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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