---
title: But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were enchant… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of handling them. Who acts: secret, Jason, bold way. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 4, wi
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 4, sentence 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of handling them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** secret, Jason, bold way · **What happens:** enchant, be, break, handle, spell · **To what, where:** brazen bulls, enchanted creatures, spell, bulls, fiery fierceness

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., 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 (secret, Jason, bold way), 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:pg976:28:86
# text = But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of handling them.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	brazen	brazen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	bulls	bull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	enchanted	enchant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	Jason	Jason	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	spell	spell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
26	fiery	fiery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	fierceness	fierceness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
28	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	bold	bold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
32	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	handling	handle	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	acl	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enchant** | past · passive |  | the brazen bulls |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the secret of the matter | enchanted creatures |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **break** | past · perfect | Jason | the spell of bulls's fiery fierceness |  |  |  | by Jason's bold way | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer spell=Patient |
| 4 | **handle** | gerund | Jason's bold way *not said here* | bulls *= bull* |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 5 | **spell** |  |  | bulls's fiery fierceness |  |  |  |  | nom spell «state transitive»: of=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:** «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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