---
title: The giant turned to flee, but the Lady Sybil, for she had come desir… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: The giant turned to flee, but the Lady Sybil, for she had come desiring to save the Christian knight, threw a staff between his legs so that he fell headlong to the earth: when Huon saw him lie thus, he smote off his head with one stroke of his sword. Who acts: giant, Sybil, Lady Sybil, Huon. A sent
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Huon, Having Slain a Giant, Came to Babylon, sentence 52

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The giant turned to flee, but the Lady Sybil, for she had come desiring to save the Christian knight, threw a staff between his legs so that he fell headlong to the earth: when Huon saw him lie thus, he smote off his head with one stroke of his sword.

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**Who acts:** giant, Sybil, Lady Sybil, Huon, knight · **What happens:** turn, flee, come, desire, save, throw · **To what, where:** Christian knight, staff, legs, knight, head, sword

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Huon, Having Slain a Giant, Came to Babylon. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (giant, Sybil, Lady Sybil, Huon), 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:pg75339:41:52
# text = The giant turned to flee, but the Lady Sybil, for she had come desiring to save the Christian knight, threw a staff between his legs so that he fell headlong to the earth: when Huon saw him lie thus, he smote off his head with one stroke of his sword.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	flee	flee	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Lady	Lady	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Sybil	Sybil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	parataxis	_	_
16	desiring	desire	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	Christian	Christian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
23	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	between	between	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
29	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	32	mark	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	fixed	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
33	headlong	headlong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
38	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
39	Huon	Huon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
40	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
43	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	smote	smite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
47	off	off	ADP	RP	_	46	compound:prt	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	52	nummod	_	_
52	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | the giant |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **flee** | to-infinitive | the giant *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past · perfect | Sybil |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **desire** | gerund | Sybil *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **save** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Sybil *not said here* | the Christian knight |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knight=Theme |
| 6 | **throw** | past | the Lady Sybil | a staff |  | Huon's legs |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent staff=Theme between leg=Destination |
| 7 | **fall** | past | Huon |  |  |  |  | headlong *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **see** | past | Huon | knight |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **lie** | infinitive | knight *not said here* |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **smite off** | past | Huon | Huon's head |  |  |  | with one stroke of Huon's sword | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent head=Patient with stroke=Instrument |
| 11 | **stroke** |  |  | Huon's sword |  |  |  |  | nom stroke «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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:** «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Project Gutenberg book 75339 (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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