--- title: A merchant is flying across a river on the back of an eagle, when he… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics description: A merchant is flying across a river on the back of an eagle, when he drops a magic "snuff-box," which had been entrusted to his charge by that bird, and it disappears beneath the waters. Who acts: merchant, bird, magic. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/28/48/) [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 II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/28/) / 48 # Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 10, sentence 48 A merchant is flying across a river on the back of an eagle, when he drops a magic "snuff-box," which had been entrusted to his charge by that bird, and it disappears beneath the waters. **Who acts:** merchant, bird, magic · **What happens:** fly, drop, entrust, disappear, charge · **To what, where:** river, magic, snuff box, charge This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merchant, bird, magic), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg22373:28:48 # text = A merchant is flying across a river on the back of an eagle, when he drops a magic "snuff-box," which had been entrusted to his charge by that bird, and it disappears beneath the waters. 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 merchant merchant NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 flying fly VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 across across ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 8 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 back back NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 eagle eagle NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 when when SCONJ WRB _ 17 mark _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 drops drop VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 magic magic NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 20 " " PUNCT `` _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 snuff snuff NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 22 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 box box NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 " " PUNCT `` _ 29 punct _ _ 26 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 29 nsubj:pass _ _ 27 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 28 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 29 aux:pass _ _ 29 entrusted entrust VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 23 acl:relcl _ _ 30 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 charge charge NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 33 by by ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 35 det _ _ 35 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 disappears disappear VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 conj _ _ 40 beneath beneath ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 waters water NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fly** | present · progressive | a merchant | | | a river | | on the back of a eagle | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on back=Location | | 2 | **drop** | present | merchant | a magic | | | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent magic=Theme | | 3 | **entrust** | past · perfect · passive | that bird | snuff box | merchant's charge | | | | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Theme to charge=Recipient | | 4 | **disappear** | present | magic | | | | | beneath the waters | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **charge** | | merchant | | | | | | nom charge «act transitive»: poss=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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/28/47/) - next →: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/28/49/) - ↑ back to [Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/28/)