--- title: Low-crouching and shadowy forms, as still as the gray morning's foot… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics description: Low-crouching and shadowy forms, as still as the gray morning's footsteps, Creep sly as the serpent that charms, on her nest in the meadow, the plover; In the shadows of pine-trunks they creep, but their panther-eyes gleam in the fire-light, As they peer on the white men asleep, in the glow of the f --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/13/7/) [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/) / [Legends of the Northwest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/) / [The Feast of the Virgins., part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/13/) / 7 # Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 6, sentence 7 Low-crouching and shadowy forms, as still as the gray morning's footsteps, Creep sly as the serpent that charms, on her nest in the meadow, the plover; In the shadows of pine-trunks they creep, but their panther-eyes gleam in the fire-light, As they peer on the white men asleep, in the glow of the fire, on their blankets. **Who acts:** Low forms, serpent, forms, panther eyes, eyes, fire · **What happens:** crouch, creep, charm, gleam, peer, shadow · **To what, where:** shadows, nest, pine trunks, fire light, white men, glow This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Low forms, serpent, forms, panther eyes), 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:pg8122:13:7 # text = Low-crouching and shadowy forms, as still as the gray morning's footsteps, Creep sly as the serpent that charms, on her nest in the meadow, the plover; In the shadows of pine-trunks they creep, but their panther-eyes gleam in the fire-light, As they peer on the white men asleep, in the glow of the fire, on their blankets. 1 Low low ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 3 crouching crouch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 1 advcl _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 5 shadowy shadowy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 1 conj _ _ 6 forms form NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 8 as as ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 9 still still ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 10 as as ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 gray gray ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 14 's 's PART POS _ 13 case _ _ 15 footsteps footstep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 17 Creep creep VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 18 sly sly ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 19 as as ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 serpent serpent NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 22 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 23 charms charm VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 on on ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 nest nest NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 meadow meadow NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 plover plover NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ; ; PUNCT : _ 37 punct _ _ 35 In in ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 shadows shadow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obl _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 pine pine NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 trunks trunk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nmod _ _ 42 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 creep creep VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 41 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 45 but but CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 46 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 49 nmod:poss _ _ 47 panther panther NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 48 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 50 nsubj _ _ 50 gleam gleam VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 parataxis _ _ 51 in in ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 53 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 54 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 53 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 55 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 57 As as SCONJ IN _ 59 mark _ _ 58 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 59 peer peer VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 50 conj _ _ 60 on on ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 62 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 63 amod _ _ 63 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 obj _ _ 64 asleep asleep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 63 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 65 , , PUNCT , _ 68 punct _ _ 66 in in ADP IN _ 68 case _ _ 67 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 68 det _ _ 68 glow glow NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obl _ _ 69 of of ADP IN _ 71 case _ _ 70 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 71 det _ _ 71 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 72 , , PUNCT , _ 75 punct _ _ 73 on on ADP IN _ 75 case _ _ 74 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 75 nmod:poss _ _ 75 blankets blanket NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 76 . . PUNCT . _ 17 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **crouch** | gerund | Low forms and the gray morning's footsteps *not said here* | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **creep** | present | Low forms and the gray morning's footsteps | | | the shadows of pine trunks | | as the serpent; sly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in shadow=Trajectory | | 3 | **charm** | present | the serpent | | | blaze's nest in the meadow and the plover | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **creep** | present | forms *= form* | pine trunks *not said here* | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location trunk=Theme | | 5 | **gleam** | present | forms's panther eyes | | | the fire light | | | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in light=Location | | 6 | **peer** | present | eyes *= eye* | the white men | | the glow of the fire | | on forms's blankets | tree rules | | 7 | **shadow** | | | pine trunks | | | | | nom shadow «state transitive»: of=patient | | 8 | **glow** | | the fire | | | | | | nom glow «state intransitive»: of=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:** «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/13/6/) - next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/13/8/) - ↑ back to [The Feast of the Virgins., part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/13/)