---
title: “I,” replied the first Thief, “can withdraw the eggs from under a si… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: “I,” replied the first Thief, “can withdraw the eggs from under a sitting hen without disturbing her.” Who acts: I, first Thief. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Three Thieves., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Three Thieves., sentence 13

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“I,” replied the first Thief, “can withdraw the eggs from under a sitting hen without disturbing her.”

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**Who acts:** I, first Thief · **What happens:** reply, withdraw, sit, disturb · **To what, where:** first Thief, eggs, China · **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 Story of the Three Thieves.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, first Thief), 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:pg75000:15:13
# text = “I,” replied the first Thief, “can withdraw the eggs from under a sitting hen without disturbing her.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
8	Thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	withdraw	withdraw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	under	under	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	amod	_	_
19	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
20	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	disturbing	disturb	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	advcl	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | I | the first Thief |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent thief=Topic |
| 2 | **withdraw** *in a quote* | can | the first Thief *not said here* | the eggs |  |  |  | from a sitting hen | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent egg=Theme from hen=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **sit** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **disturb** *in a quote* | gerund | the first Thief *not said here* | China |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |

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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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