---
title: Then Vāsuki, king of the snakes, fearing that the whole race of the… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Vāsuki, king of the snakes, fearing that the whole race of the snakes would be rooted out, begged the griffin to relent, and made the following agreement with him: “O king of birds, every day, on the hill that rises out of the sand of the sea, I will send you a single snake to eat. Who acts: sn
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 82

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Then Vāsuki, king of the snakes, fearing that the whole race of the snakes would be rooted out, begged the griffin to relent, and made the following agreement with him: “O king of birds, every day, on the hill that rises out of the sand of the sea, I will send you a single snake to eat.

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**Who acts:** snakes, Vāsuki, hill · **What happens:** fear, root out, beg, relent, make, follow · **To what, where:** whole race, griffin, following agreement, hill, sand, single snake · **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 (snakes, Vāsuki, hill), 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:pg74064:16:85
# text = Then Vāsuki, king of the snakes, fearing that the whole race of the snakes would be rooted out, begged the griffin to relent, and made the following agreement with him: “O king of birds, every day, on the hill that rises out of the sand of the sea, I will send you a single snake to eat.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
2	Vāsuki	Vāsuki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	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	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	fearing	fear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	rooted	root	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	ccomp	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
22	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	relent	relent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	amod	_	_
32	agreement	agreement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
36	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	O	o	X	GW	_	38	compound	_	_
38	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	43	det	_	_
43	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	on	on	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
48	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	nsubj	_	_
49	rises	rise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	acl:relcl	_	_
50	out	out	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
58	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
59	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	_
60	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
61	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	60	iobj	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obj	_	_
65	to	to	PART	TO	_	66	mark	_	_
66	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fear** | gerund | the snakes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **root out** | would · passive |  | the whole race of the snakes |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | Vāsuki |  | the griffin |  | then |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent griffin=Recipient |
| 4 | **relent** | to-infinitive | Vāsuki *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** | past | Vāsuki *not said here* | the following agreement |  | the hill |  | with Griffin; O king of birds and every day *obl* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset agreement=Product |
| 6 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **rise** *in a quote* | present | the hill |  |  | the sand of the sea |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent out sand=Location |
| 8 | **send** *in a quote* | future | Vāsuki | a single snake | the griffin *= griffin* |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Destination snake=Theme |
| 9 | **eat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Vāsuki *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **race** |  | the snakes |  |  |  |  |  | nom race «event intransitive»: of=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 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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