---
title: In other parts of Russia, tradition tells that before the crucifixio… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: In other parts of Russia, tradition tells that before the crucifixion the swallows carried off the nails provided for the use of the executioners, but the sparrows brought them back. Who acts: tradition, swallows, nails, sparrows. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite 
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 1, sentence 87

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In other parts of Russia, tradition tells that before the crucifixion the swallows carried off the nails provided for the use of the executioners, but the sparrows brought them back.

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**Who acts:** tradition, swallows, nails, sparrows · **What happens:** tell, carry off, provide, bring back, use · **To what, where:** other parts, that, nails, executioners · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter VI. LEGENDS, 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 (tradition, swallows, nails, sparrows), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg22373:56:87
# text = In other parts of Russia, tradition tells that before the crucifixion the swallows carried off the nails provided for the use of the executioners, but the sparrows brought them back.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	parts	part	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Russia	Russia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	tradition	tradition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
10	before	before	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	crucifixion	crucifixion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	swallows	swallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	nails	nail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	provided	provide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	executioners	executioner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	back	back	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | tradition |  |  | other parts of Russia |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **carry off** | past | the swallows | that |  |  | before the crucifixion |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme |
| 3 | **provide** | past | the nails |  |  |  |  | for the use of the executioners | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-2 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for use=Recipient |
| 4 | **bring back** | past | the sparrows | nails *= nail* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 5 | **use** |  |  | the executioners |  |  |  |  | nom use «act 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:** «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.

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