---
title: But the wise king struck at them with his long spear, and sternly ba… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the wise king struck at them with his long spear, and sternly bade them begone out of his path; for he knew that they had once been bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb from limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the mischief that was in their hearts. Who acts: wise king, King
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 4, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the wise king struck at them with his long spear, and sternly bade them begone out of his path; for he knew that they had once been bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb from limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the mischief that was in their hearts.

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**Who acts:** wise king, King, animals, mischief · **What happens:** strike, bade, begone, know, have, be · **To what, where:** animals, path, bloodthirsty men, King, limb, mischief · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wise king, King, animals, mischief), 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:pg976:18:12
# text = But the wise king struck at them with his long spear, and sternly bade them begone out of his path; for he knew that they had once been bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb from limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the mischief that was in their hearts.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	with	with	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	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	sternly	sternly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	bade	bade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	begone	begone	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	_
29	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	31	advmod	_	_
30	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	cop	_	_
31	bloodthirsty	bloodthirsty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
37	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	limb	limb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	limb	limb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	45	mark	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	fixed	_	_
45	fawning	fawn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	advcl	_	_
46	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	mischief	mischief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	58	nsubj	_	_
55	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
56	in	in	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | participle | the wise king |  |  |  |  | at animals *= animal*; with King's long spear | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP PP»: agent=Agent at they=Patient with spear=Instrument |
| 2 | **bade** | past | the wise king *not said here* | animals *= animal* |  |  |  | sternly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **begone** | infinitive | the wise king *not said here* |  |  | King's path |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **have** | past | animals *= animal* | bloodthirsty men |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | bloodthirsty, once *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **tear** | would | King *not said here* | King |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **limb** | infinitive | King *not said here* |  |  | limb |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **fawn** | gerund | King *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon King | vn calve-28.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **do** | could | animals *= animal* | the mischief |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mischief=Eventuality |
| 11 | **is** | past | the mischief |  |  | animals's hearts |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Project Gutenberg book 976 (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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