---
title: "It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of you… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: "It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," answered Theseus, "And you, my father, being king over these people, and answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is dearest to you, ra
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 2, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," answered Theseus, "And you, my father, being king over these people, and answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is dearest to you, rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest citizen should come to any harm."

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**Who acts:** right, prince, Theseus, son · **What happens:** be, take, answer, bind, sacrifice, come · **To what, where:** prince, king, you, harm · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (right, prince, Theseus, 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:pg976:4:102
# text = "It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," answered Theseus, "And you, my father, being king over these people, and answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is dearest to you, rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest citizen should come to any harm."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	rightful	rightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	heir	heir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	freely	freely	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	take	take	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
25	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	calamity	calamity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	subjects	subject	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
34	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
35	Theseus	Theseus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
37	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
39	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	cop	_	_
45	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	appos	_	_
46	over	over	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	48	det	_	_
48	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	answerable	answerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	_
52	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
54	for	for	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	welfare	welfare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
58	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux:pass	_	_
59	bound	bind	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	conj	_	_
60	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
61	sacrifice	sacrifice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	xcomp	_	_
62	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	64	nsubj	_	_
63	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	64	cop	_	_
64	dearest	dear	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	61	obj	_	_
65	to	to	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	80	punct	_	_
68	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	80	cc	_	_
69	than	than	ADP	IN	_	68	fixed	_	_
70	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	80	mark	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	nsubj	_	_
73	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	74	cc	_	_
74	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	conj	_	_
75	of	of	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	78	det	_	_
77	poorest	poor	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	78	amod	_	_
78	citizen	citizen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	nmod	_	_
79	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	80	aux	_	_
80	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	conj	_	_
81	to	to	ADP	IN	_	83	case	_	_
82	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	83	det	_	_
83	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
85	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | right | a prince and the rightful heir of your kingdom |  |  |  | your son *vocative* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | present | a prince and the rightful heir of your kingdom |  |  |  |  | upon Theseus; freely *property* | vn require-103 «NP V that S»: agent=Theme clause=Precondition |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Theseus |  |  |  |  | of your subjects | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | gerund |  | king |  |  |  | over this people | tree rules |
| 5 | **bind** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **sacrifice** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  | you |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to you=Recipient |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | dear *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **come** *in a quote* | should | the son or daughter of the poorest citizen |  |  | any harm |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to harm=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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