---
title: Originally a simple folk-tale, each of these stories has been conver… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Originally a simple folk-tale, each of these stories has been converted into a birth-story by the simple literary device of identifying the highest and noblest character in the story with the Future Buddha. Who acts: simple literary device. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burl
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 2, sentence 35

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Originally a simple folk-tale, each of these stories has been converted into a birth-story by the simple literary device of identifying the highest and noblest character in the story with the Future Buddha.

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**Who acts:** simple literary device · **What happens:** convert, identify · **To what, where:** simple folk tale, birth story, highest character, story

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (simple literary device), 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:pg74064:2:37
# text = Originally a simple folk-tale, each of these stories has been converted into a birth-story by the simple literary device of identifying the highest and noblest character in the story with the Future Buddha.
1	Originally	originally	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	appos	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	converted	convert	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	into	into	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
17	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
23	literary	literary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	device	device	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
25	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	identifying	identify	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
28	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	noblest	noble	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	28	conj	_	_
31	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	Future	Future	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **convert** | present · perfect · passive | the simple literary device | a simple folk tale |  |  |  | into a birth story *result*; originally *property* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent subject=Patient into story=Result |
| 2 | **identify** | gerund | the simple literary device *not said here* | the highest character |  | the story with the Future Buddha |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent character=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 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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