---
title: The legend saith That down before him on his natal morn All Erin’s f… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: The legend saith That down before him on his natal morn All Erin’s fays and sprites from river or rill Their tributes laid. Who acts: legend, tributes. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 15, sentence 40

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The legend saith That down before him on his natal morn All Erin’s fays and sprites from river or rill Their tributes laid.

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**Who acts:** legend, tributes · **What happens:** say down, rill, lay · **To what, where:** That, natal morn

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This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (legend, tributes), 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:pg78491:15:42
# text = The legend saith That down before him on his natal morn All Erin’s fays and sprites from river or rill Their tributes laid.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	legend	legend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saith	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obj	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
6	before	before	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	natal	natal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	morn	morn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
12	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	Erin	Erin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	fays	fay	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	sprites	sprite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	rill	rill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
22	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	tributes	tribute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
24	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say down** *speech: assert* | present | the legend | That |  | spake's natal morn  all Erin's fays from river and sprites | before spake *= speak* |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic |
| 2 | **rill** | infinitive | the legend *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **lay** | participle | sprites's tributes |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «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.

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