---
title: "Well," said the king's son to the guests at the feast, "when I was… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: "Well," said the king's son to the guests at the feast, "when I was a little younger than I am now, I lost the key of a casket that I had. Who acts: son. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of the Birds, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Battle of the Birds, sentence 262

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Well," said the king's son to the guests at the feast, "when I was a little younger than I am now, I lost the key of a casket that I had.

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**Who acts:** son · **What happens:** say, be, lose, have · **To what, where:** guests, key, casket · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of the Birds. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son), 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:pg7885:31:262
# text = "Well," said the king's son to the guests at the feast, "when I was a little younger than I am now, I lost the key of a casket that I had.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	guests	guest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obl	_	_
23	younger	young	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	nsubj	_	_
24	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	key	key	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	casket	casket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	obj	_	_
37	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king's son |  | the guests at the feast |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to guest=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the king's son *= son* |  |  |  |  | a little *obl*; young *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the king's son *= son* |  |  |  |  | now *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lose** *in a quote* | past | the king's son *= son* | the key of a casket |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent key=Eventuality |
| 5 | **have** *in a quote* | past | the king's son *= son* | a casket |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |

<!-- .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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