--- title: One day it chanced that, while the March wind’s breath Was softening… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics description: One day it chanced that, while the March wind’s breath Was softening round the daffodil’s first bud, Their shepherd old had saved a lamb from death, And slain the wolf, and in their gateway stood; And, as the wounded creature bled, below A crimson blood-pool stained the last night’s snow. Who acts: --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/3/64/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/3/) / 64 # The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 3, sentence 64 One day it chanced that, while the March wind’s breath Was softening round the daffodil’s first bud, Their shepherd old had saved a lamb from death, And slain the wolf, and in their gateway stood; And, as the wounded creature bled, below A crimson blood-pool stained the last night’s snow. **Who acts:** upward, breath, wounded creature, last night · **What happens:** chance, soften, save, slain, stand, bleed · **To what, where:** shepherd, wolf, gateway, snow, crimson blood pool This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, 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 (upward, breath, wounded creature, last night), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg78491:3:64 # text = One day it chanced that, while the March wind’s breath Was softening round the daffodil’s first bud, Their shepherd old had saved a lamb from death, And slain the wolf, and in their gateway stood; And, as the wounded creature bled, below A crimson blood-pool stained the last night’s snow. 1 One one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 2 nummod _ _ 2 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl:unmarked _ _ 3 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 chanced chance VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 7 while while SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 March March PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 nmod:unmarked _ _ 10 wind wind NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ’s 's PART POS _ 10 case _ _ 12 breath breath NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 13 Was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 softening soften VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 15 round round ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 daffodil daffodil NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ’s 's PART POS _ 17 case _ _ 19 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 20 amod _ _ 20 bud bud NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 Their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 shepherd shepherd NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj:pass _ _ 24 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 saved save VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 parataxis _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 lamb lamb NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 from from ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 And and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 slain slain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 wolf wolf NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 gateway gateway NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 41 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ; ; PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 43 And and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 45 as as SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 47 wounded wounded ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 amod _ _ 48 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 nsubj _ _ 49 bled bleed VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 51 below below ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 52 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 53 crimson crimson ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 amod _ _ 54 blood blood NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 55 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 54 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 56 pool pool NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 obl _ _ 57 stained stain VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 conj _ _ 58 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 60 det _ _ 59 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 60 amod _ _ 60 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 61 ’s 's PART POS _ 60 case _ _ 62 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 63 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **chance** | past | upward | | | | day | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **soften** | past · progressive | the wind March's breath | | | | | round the daffodil's first bud | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **save** | past · perfect · passive | | things's shepherd | | | | a lamb *obj* | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary lamb=Theme | | 4 | **slain** | infinitive | upward *not said here* | the wolf | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **stand** | past | upward *not said here* | | | things's gateway | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in gateway=Location | | 6 | **bleed** | past | the wounded creature | | | | | | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Source | | 7 | **stain** | past | the wounded creature *not said here* | the last night's snow | | a crimson blood pool | | | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent snow=Destination | | 8 | **snow** | | the last night | | | | | | nom snow «phenomenon intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/3/63/) - next →: [sentence 65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/3/65/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/3/)