---
title: “There is a very simple stratagem, which I have often seen employed,… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: “There is a very simple stratagem, which I have often seen employed,” replied Father Raven, “which is as follows: a piece of green cloth must first be spread upon a table and well sprinkled with water, and the Lady must bend her ear over this so that the Spiders can see it. Who acts: Father, simple 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, How He Dislodged the Spider., sentence 14

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“There is a very simple stratagem, which I have often seen employed,” replied Father Raven, “which is as follows: a piece of green cloth must first be spread upon a table and well sprinkled with water, and the Lady must bend her ear over this so that the Spiders can see it.

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**Who acts:** Father, simple stratagem, Lady, Spiders · **What happens:** be, see, employ, reply, spread, sprinkle · **To what, where:** simple stratagem, piece, table, ear, this · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How He Dislodged the Spider.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father, simple stratagem, Lady, Spiders), 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:pg75000:24:14
# text = “There is a very simple stratagem, which I have often seen employed,” replied Father Raven, “which is as follows: a piece of green cloth must first be spread upon a table and well sprinkled with water, and the Lady must bend her ear over this so that the Spiders can see it.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	stratagem	stratagem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	often	often	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
14	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
17	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	Raven	Raven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	follows	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	35	advmod	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	parataxis	_	_
36	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	41	advmod	_	_
41	sprinkled	sprinkle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	conj	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	Lady	Lady	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
48	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	bend	bend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
50	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	over	over	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	49	obl	_	_
54	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
55	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	Spiders	spider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nsubj	_	_
58	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	advcl	_	_
60	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | Father *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | a simple stratagem |  |  |  | I *nsubj*; often *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **employ** *in a quote* | participle | a simple stratagem *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Father |  |  |  |  | a simple stratagem *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | Father *obj*; follow *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **spread** *in a quote* | must · passive |  | a piece of green cloth |  | a table |  | first *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon table=Destination |
| 7 | **sprinkle** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with water; well *property* | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme»: with water=Theme |
| 8 | **bend** *in a quote* | must | the Lady | Lady's ear |  | this |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent ear=Theme over this=Location |
| 9 | **see** *in a quote* | can | the Spiders | ear |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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