---
title: But the Mouse told him he was not to be alarmed, and she directed hi… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Mouse told him he was not to be alarmed, and she directed him to smear her body all over with poison, and to tie a long string to her tail. Who acts: Mouse. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Mouse’s Three Children., with its dependency tree
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Mouse’s Three Children., sentence 72

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But the Mouse told him he was not to be alarmed, and she directed him to smear her body all over with poison, and to tie a long string to her tail.

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**Who acts:** Mouse · **What happens:** tell, not alarm, direct, smear, tie · **To what, where:** King, body, long string · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Mouse’s Three Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mouse), 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:pg75000:13:72
# text = But the Mouse told him he was not to be alarmed, and she directed him to smear her body all over with poison, and to tie a long string to her tail.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Mouse	Mouse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	alarmed	alarm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	directed	direct	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	smear	smear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	all	all	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	over	over	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	tie	tie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the Mouse |  | King |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **alarm** *not said to happen* | past · passive |  | King |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **direct** | past | Mouse | King |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **smear** | to-infinitive | Mouse *not said here* | Mouse's body |  |  |  | with poison; over *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent body=Destination with poison=Theme |
| 5 | **tie** | to-infinitive | the Mouse *not said here* | a long string |  |  |  | to Mouse's tail | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent string=Patient to tail=Co-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:** «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (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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