---
title: And at midnight, when the death-owl hoots and soars over the vale on… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: And at midnight, when the death-owl hoots and soars over the vale on heavy wing, and the fantastic moonlight transforms the dry trunks of the trees into grey spirits of the night, the giant forms of hunters brush past, and the firs whisper, then roar, and a smothered crash rushes on like the swellin
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 5, sentence 60

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And at midnight, when the death-owl hoots and soars over the vale on heavy wing, and the fantastic moonlight transforms the dry trunks of the trees into grey spirits of the night, the giant forms of hunters brush past, and the firs whisper, then roar, and a smothered crash rushes on like the swelling waves of the sea.

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**Who acts:** fantastic moonlight, hunters, firs, smothered crash · **What happens:** transform, brush past, whisper, roar, smother, rush on · **To what, where:** dry trunks, grey spirits, giant forms, sea

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fantastic moonlight, hunters, firs, smothered crash), 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:pg74323:22:60
# text = And at midnight, when the death-owl hoots and soars over the vale on heavy wing, and the fantastic moonlight transforms the dry trunks of the trees into grey spirits of the night, the giant forms of hunters brush past, and the firs whisper, then roar, and a smothered crash rushes on like the swelling waves of the sea.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	hoots	hoot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	appos	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	soars	soar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	conj	_	_
13	over	over	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	vale	vale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	wing	wing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	fantastic	fantastic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	moonlight	moonlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	transforms	transform	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	trunks	trunk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	hunters	hunter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
43	brush	brush	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
44	past	past	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	firs	fir	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
49	whisper	whisper	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	52	advmod	_	_
52	roar	roar	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	smothered	smother	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	amod	_	_
57	crash	crash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
58	rushes	rush	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
59	on	on	ADP	RP	_	58	compound:prt	_	_
60	like	like	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	swelling	swelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	compound	_	_
63	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obl	_	_
64	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **transform** | present | the fantastic moonlight | the dry trunks of the trees |  |  |  | into grey spirits of the night and the giant forms *result* | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent trunk=Patient into spirit=Result |
| 2 | **brush past** | present | hunters | the giant forms *not said here* |  |  |  | past *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent form=Theme |
| 3 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | present | the firs |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **roar** | infinitive | the firs *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **smother** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **rush on** | present | a smothered crash |  |  |  |  | like the swelling waves of the sea | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **wave** |  |  | the sea |  |  |  |  | nom wave «event transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Project Gutenberg book 74323 (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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