---
title: In a story, for instance, of a boy who had been carried off by a Bab… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a story, for instance, of a boy who had been carried off by a Baba Yaga (a species of witch), we are told that when his sister came to his rescue she found him "sitting in an arm-chair, while the cat Jeremiah told him skazkas and sang him songs." Who acts: Baba Yaga, sister, cat, boy. A sentence 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/11/62/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collecti…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/) / [Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/11/) / 62

# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 1, sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a story, for instance, of a boy who had been carried off by a Baba Yaga (a species of witch), we are told that when his sister came to his rescue she found him "sitting in an arm-chair, while the cat Jeremiah told him skazkas and sang him songs."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Baba Yaga, sister, cat, boy · **What happens:** carry off, tell, come, find, sit, sing · **To what, where:** boy, we, story, rescue, arm chair, skazkas · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Baba Yaga, sister, cat, boy), 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:pg22373:11:62
# text = In a story, for instance, of a boy who had been carried off by a Baba Yaga (a species of witch), we are told that when his sister came to his rescue she found him "sitting in an arm-chair, while the cat Jeremiah told him skazkas and sang him songs."
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
15	off	off	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	Baba	Baba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	Yaga	Yaga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	species	species	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	appos	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
27	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
31	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	34	mark	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	rescue	rescue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	39	advcl	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
45	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
52	Jeremiah	Jeremiah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	appos	_	_
53	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	parataxis	_	_
54	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	iobj	_	_
55	skazkas	skazka	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	iobj	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	conj	_	_
58	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry off** | past · perfect · passive | a Baba Yaga | a boy |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | we |  | a story and a boy |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **come** | past | boy's sister |  |  | boy's rescue |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to rescue=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **find** | past | sister | boy |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent he=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 5 | **sit** *in a quote* | gerund | sister *not said here* |  |  | a arm chair |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in chair=Location |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | the cat |  | skazkas |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient skazka=Topic |
| 7 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | past | the cat *not said here* | songs | boy |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary song=Theme |
| 8 | **rescue** |  | boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom rescue «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Project Gutenberg book 22373 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/11/61/)
- next →: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/11/63/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/11/)