---
title: But the thief," says he, "gave me so little to eat, and kept me so h… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the thief," says he, "gave me so little to eat, and kept me so hard at work, that flesh and blood couldn't stand it; and when he asked me once, when I was in a passion, if I was sorry for my bargain, I was mad enough to say I was, and here I am disabled for life." Who acts: thief, work, blood, e
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Jack and His Master, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the thief," says he, "gave me so little to eat, and kept me so hard at work, that flesh and blood couldn't stand it; and when he asked me once, when I was in a passion, if I was sorry for my bargain, I was mad enough to say I was, and here I am disabled for life."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** thief, work, blood, eldest, I, my · **What happens:** say, give, eat, keep, flesh, not stand · **To what, where:** eldest, little, me, work, thief, passion · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack and His Master. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thief, work, blood, eldest), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7885:24:7
# text = But the thief," says he, "gave me so little to eat, and kept me so hard at work, that flesh and blood couldn't stand it; and when he asked me once, when I was in a passion, if I was sorry for my bargain, I was mad enough to say I was, and here I am disabled for life."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	iobj	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
19	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	flesh	flesh	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	advcl	_	_
38	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	iobj	_	_
39	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
41	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	46	advmod	_	_
42	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	passion	passion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
49	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
51	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	conj	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	bargain	bargain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
56	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
58	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
59	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
61	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	advcl	_	_
62	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	66	nsubj	_	_
63	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
66	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	61	ccomp	_	_
67	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	69	nsubj	_	_
68	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	69	aux:pass	_	_
69	disabled	disable	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	66	parataxis	_	_
70	for	for	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
71	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	58	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | the thief | eldest *= eld* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | past |  | little | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient little=Theme |
| 3 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **keep** | past |  | me |  | work |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent i=Theme at work=Location |
| 5 | **flesh** | present | work |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **stand** | could | blood | thief |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 7 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | eldest *= eld* |  | me |  |  | once *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 8 | **is** | past | I |  |  | a passion |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I |  |  |  |  | for my bargain; sorry *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | enough, mad *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |
| 13 | **disable** | present · passive |  | I |  |  |  | for life | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 14 | **bargain** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom bargain «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

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**Text:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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