---
title: The fairies, etc., steal a child, they help a wanderer to a drink an… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The fairies, etc., steal a child, they help a wanderer to a drink and then disappear into a green hill, they help cottagers with their work at night but disappear if their presence is noticed; human midwives are asked to help fairy mothers, fairy maidens marry ordinary men or girls marry and live wi
---

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# English Fairy Tales, XXI. Childe Rowland., sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fairies, etc., steal a child, they help a wanderer to a drink and then disappear into a green hill, they help cottagers with their work at night but disappear if their presence is noticed; human midwives are asked to help fairy mothers, fairy maidens marry ordinary men or girls marry and live with fairy husbands.

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**Who acts:** fairies, human midwives, fairy maidens, ordinary men · **What happens:** steal, help, disappear, notice, ask, marry · **To what, where:** child, wanderer, green hill, cottagers, presence, human midwives

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XXI. Childe Rowland.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fairies, human midwives, fairy maidens, ordinary men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7439:71:60
# text = The fairies, etc., steal a child, they help a wanderer to a drink and then disappear into a green hill, they help cottagers with their work at night but disappear if their presence is noticed; human midwives are asked to help fairy mothers, fairy maidens marry ordinary men or girls marry and live with fairy husbands.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	etc.	etc.	NOUN	FW	Abbr=Yes|Number=Plur	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	steal	steal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	wanderer	wanderer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
19	disappear	disappear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
27	cottagers	cottager	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	disappear	disappear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
35	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	noticed	notice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
41	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	midwives	midwife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	_
48	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	fairy	fairy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	maidens	maiden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nsubj	_	_
52	marry	marry	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	parataxis	_	_
53	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	nsubj	_	_
55	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	conj	_	_
57	marry	marry	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	ccomp	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
60	with	with	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	compound	_	_
62	husbands	husband	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steal** | present | the fairies and etc. | a child |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location child=Theme |
| 2 | **help** | present | fairies *= fairy* | a wanderer |  |  |  | to a drink | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wanderer=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **disappear** | infinitive | fairies *= fairy* *not said here* |  |  | a green hill | then |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **help** | present | fairies *= fairy* | cottagers |  |  | night | with fairies's work | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent cottager=Beneficiary with work=Theme |
| 5 | **disappear** | present | fairies *= fairy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **notice** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | fairies's presence |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 7 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present · passive |  | human midwives |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 8 | **help** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | human midwives *not said here* |  | fairy mothers |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Beneficiary |
| 9 | **marry** | present | fairy maidens |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **marry** | present | ordinary men or girls |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 11 | **live** | present | fairy maidens *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with fairy husbands | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with husband=Location |
| 12 | **work** |  | fairies *= fairy* |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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