---
title: Then Ailill spake; ‘Let Fergus seek that champion in the woods, Gift… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Ailill spake; ‘Let Fergus seek that champion in the woods, Gift-laden, and withdraw him from his king:’ But Fergus answered; ‘Sue and be refused! Who acts: Fergus. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 12, with its d
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/12/13/)

<!-- 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/) / [The foray of Queen Meave, and other le…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/) / [Opening, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/12/) / 13

# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 12, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then Ailill spake; ‘Let Fergus seek that champion in the woods, Gift-laden, and withdraw him from his king:’ But Fergus answered; ‘Sue and be refused!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Fergus · **What happens:** let, seek, lade, withdraw, answer, refuse · **To what, where:** Fergus, champion, woods, Gift, Ailill spake

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fergus), 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:pg78491:12:15
# text = Then Ailill spake; ‘Let Fergus seek that champion in the woods, Gift-laden, and withdraw him from his king:’ But Fergus answered; ‘Sue and be refused!
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Ailill	Ailill	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	spake	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	appos	_	_
7	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	champion	champion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	woods	wood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	Gift	Gift	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	laden	lade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	withdraw	withdraw	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’	'	SYM	NFP	_	3	discourse	_	_
27	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
31	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	Sue	Sue	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	refused	refuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	35	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | infinitive |  | Fergus |  |  |  | Gift *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **seek** | infinitive | Fergus *not said here* | that champion |  | the woods |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent champion=Theme in wood=Location |
| 3 | **lade** | participle |  | Gift *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **withdraw** | present |  | Fergus |  |  |  | from Fergus's king | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent he=Theme from king=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Fergus |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **refuse** | infinitive · passive |  | Ailill spake |  |  |  | Sue *nsubj:pass* | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Project Gutenberg book 78491 (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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/12/12/)
- next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/12/14/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/12/)