---
title: In the time long ago, when all this district was covered with dense… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: In the time long ago, when all this district was covered with dense forests, swamps, and morasses, where now ripen the golden corn, fruits, and every blessing that crowns the husbandman's toil, and wild beasts preyed on the around-lying mountains, evil spirits practised their devices in the Gegenste
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 8, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the time long ago, when all this district was covered with dense forests, swamps, and morasses, where now ripen the golden corn, fruits, and every blessing that crowns the husbandman's toil, and wild beasts preyed on the around-lying mountains, evil spirits practised their devices in the Gegensteine.

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**Who acts:** blessing, wild beasts, evil spirits, husbandman · **What happens:** cover, ripen, crown, prey, lie, practise · **To what, where:** district, golden corn, toil, lying mountains, devices, Gegensteine

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (blessing, wild beasts, evil spirits, husbandman), 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:pg74323:9:38
# text = In the time long ago, when all this district was covered with dense forests, swamps, and morasses, where now ripen the golden corn, fruits, and every blessing that crowns the husbandman's toil, and wild beasts preyed on the around-lying mountains, evil spirits practised their devices in the Gegensteine.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
4	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
8	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	district	district	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	swamps	swamp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	morasses	morass	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	24	advmod	_	_
23	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
24	ripen	ripen	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	fruits	fruit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	det	_	_
33	blessing	blessing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	crowns	crown	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	husbandman	husbandman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	's	's	PART	POS	_	37	case	_	_
39	toil	toil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
42	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
44	preyed	prey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
45	on	on	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
47	around	around	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	50	amod	_	_
50	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
54	practised	practise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
55	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	devices	device	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obj	_	_
57	in	in	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	Gegensteine	Gegensteine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past · passive |  | all district |  |  | time | with dense forests and swamps; morasses *advcl*; every blessing *conj* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with forest=Theme |
| 2 | **ripen** | present |  | the golden corn and fruits |  |  | now |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent corn=Patient |
| 3 | **crown** | present | every blessing | the husbandman's toil |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent toil=Theme |
| 4 | **prey** | past | wild beasts |  |  | the lying mountains |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **lie** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | around *compound* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **practise** | past | evil spirits | spirits's devices |  | the Gegensteine |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **toil** |  | the husbandman |  |  |  |  |  | nom toil «act intransitive»: 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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