---
title: Then the snakes in despair licked the bed of darbha-grass with their… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the snakes in despair licked the bed of darbha-grass with their tongues, thinking that there might be so much as a drop of the drink of immortality spilt thereon; whereupon--wonderful to relate--their tongues became split, and they became double-tongued for nothing. Who acts: snakes, tongues. A
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/77/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/) / 77

# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the snakes in despair licked the bed of darbha-grass with their tongues, thinking that there might be so much as a drop of the drink of immortality spilt thereon; whereupon--wonderful to relate--their tongues became split, and they became double-tongued for nothing.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** snakes, tongues · **What happens:** lick, think, be, relate, become, split · **To what, where:** bed

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (snakes, tongues), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74064:16:80
# text = Then the snakes in despair licked the bed of darbha-grass with their tongues, thinking that there might be so much as a drop of the drink of immortality spilt thereon; whereupon--wonderful to relate--their tongues became split, and they became double-tongued for nothing.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	licked	lick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	darbha	darbha	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	tongues	tongue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	21	expl	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	obj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	immortality	immortality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	spilt	spilt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
33	thereon	thereon	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	whereupon	whereupon	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	relate	relate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	tongues	tongue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
43	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
44	split	split	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
49	double	double	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	tongued	tongue	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	xcomp	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lick** | past | the snakes in despair | the bed of darbha grass |  |  | then | with snakes's tongues | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent bed=Theme with tongue=Instrument |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | the snakes in despair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | as a drop of the drink of immortality spilt; much, thereon *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **relate** | to-infinitive | the snakes in despair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **become** | past | snakes's tongues |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **split** | participle | snakes's tongues *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **become** | past | snakes *= snake* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **tongue** | participle | snakes *= snake* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for nothing | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/76/)
- next →: [sentence 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/78/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/)