---
title: The maiden obeyed her father's command with a heavy heart, for a you… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The maiden obeyed her father's command with a heavy heart, for a young knight contested with heaven his claim on the bride; and however much the novice knelt before the altar in burning tears and hand-wringing, and besought heavenly aid in renouncing all she had hitherto held dear, still her thought
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 2, sentence 90

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The maiden obeyed her father's command with a heavy heart, for a young knight contested with heaven his claim on the bride; and however much the novice knelt before the altar in burning tears and hand-wringing, and besought heavenly aid in renouncing all she had hitherto held dear, still her thoughts would wander beyond the dark convent walls and lonely cell to her lover.

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**Who acts:** maiden, heavenly aid, thoughts, father, portrait · **What happens:** obey, contest, kneel, burn, beseech, renounce · **To what, where:** command, young knight, novice, burning tears, heavenly aid, all · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., 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 (maiden, heavenly aid, thoughts, father), 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:pg74323:3:90
# text = The maiden obeyed her father's command with a heavy heart, for a young knight contested with heaven his claim on the bride; and however much the novice knelt before the altar in burning tears and hand-wringing, and besought heavenly aid in renouncing all she had hitherto held dear, still her thoughts would wander beyond the dark convent walls and lonely cell to her lover.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
17	contested	contest	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	claim	claim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:agent	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	however	however	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	much	much	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	novice	novice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
31	knelt	kneel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
32	before	before	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	altar	altar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	amod	_	_
37	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	wringing	wringing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
45	heavenly	heavenly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	aid	aid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
48	renouncing	renounce	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	46	acl	_	_
49	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	48	obj	_	_
50	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	hitherto	hitherto	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	acl:relcl	_	_
54	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
56	still	still	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
57	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nsubj	_	_
59	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	_
60	wander	wander	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	conj	_	_
61	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
63	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
64	convent	convent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	compound	_	_
65	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	_
66	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	68	cc	_	_
67	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	68	amod	_	_
68	cell	cell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	conj	_	_
69	to	to	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	71	nmod:poss	_	_
71	lover	lover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obey** | past | the maiden | maiden's father's command |  |  |  | with a heavy heart; a young knight *parataxis*; the novice *parataxis* | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent command=Theme |
| 2 | **contest** | participle |  | a young knight *not said here* |  |  |  | with heaven; portrait's claim on the bride *obl:agent* | tree rules |
| 3 | **kneel** | participle |  | the novice *not said here* |  | burning tears and hand wringing | before the altar |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before altar=Location |
| 4 | **burn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **beseech** | past |  | heavenly aid |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **renounce** | gerund | heavenly aid *not said here* | all |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent all=Source |
| 7 | **hold** | past · perfect | maiden |  |  |  |  | dear, hitherto *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **wander** | would | maiden's thoughts |  |  | the dark convent walls and lonely cell to maiden's lover | still |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beyond wall=Trajectory |
| 9 | **command** |  | maiden's father |  |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 10 | **claim** |  | portrait |  |  |  |  | on the bride | nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent on=obl |
| 11 | **think** |  | maiden |  |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: poss=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:** «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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