---
title: The boys then bent the knee to each other and then the mother told h… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The boys then bent the knee to each other and then the mother told her son that she was a second wife; that the first wife was the mother of Ting Lang, and she was also his mother; that Ting Lang was also her son, and they were to care tenderly for each other. Who acts: boys, mother, first wife, Tin
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/65/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [A Story of Old China, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/) / 65

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boys then bent the knee to each other and then the mother told her son that she was a second wife; that the first wife was the mother of Ting Lang, and she was also his mother; that Ting Lang was also her son, and they were to care tenderly for each other.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boys, mother, first wife, Ting Lang, manners · **What happens:** bend, tell, be, care · **To what, where:** knee, son, second wife, mother · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys, mother, first wife, Ting Lang), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:19:65
# text = The boys then bent the knee to each other and then the mother told her son that she was a second wife; that the first wife was the mother of Ting Lang, and she was also his mother; that Ting Lang was also her son, and they were to care tenderly for each other.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	bent	bend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	4	obl	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	fixed	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	iobj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	22	amod	_	_
22	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	27	amod	_	_
27	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Ting	Ting	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
33	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
36	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
38	also	also	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
42	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	44	nsubj	_	_
43	Ting	Ting	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
46	also	also	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
47	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
52	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	care	care	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	acl:relcl	_	_
55	tenderly	tenderly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	xcomp	_	_
56	for	for	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	55	obl	_	_
58	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend** | past | the boys | the knee |  |  | then | to each *result* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent knee=Patient to each=Result |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the mother |  | mother's son |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent son=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | past | mother | a second wife |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | the first wife | the mother |  |  |  | of Ting | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | mother | Son's mother |  |  |  | Son *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | past | Ting Lang  that | mother's son |  |  |  | mother *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 7 | **care** | past | manners |  |  |  |  | tenderly *property* | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/64/)
- next →: [sentence 66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/66/)
- ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/)