---
title: He was believed, if traditions may be relied upon, to sway the eleme… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: He was believed, if traditions may be relied upon, to sway the elements, often driving across the sky in a flaming car, and launching the shafts of the lightning at his demon foes. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 2, with its 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/57/45/)

<!-- 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 VI. LEGENDS, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/57/) / 45

# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 2, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was believed, if traditions may be relied upon, to sway the elements, often driving across the sky in a flaming car, and launching the shafts of the lightning at his demon foes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** believe, rely, sway, drive, launch · **To what, where:** Perun, traditions, elements, sky, shafts, demon foes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg22373:57:45
# text = He was believed, if traditions may be relied upon, to sway the elements, often driving across the sky in a flaming car, and launching the shafts of the lightning at his demon foes.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	believed	believe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	traditions	tradition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	relied	rely	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	sway	sway	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	elements	element	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	often	often	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	driving	drive	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
19	across	across	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	flaming	flaming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	launching	launch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	shafts	shaft	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	foes	foe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | past · passive |  | Perun |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **rely** *a condition, not said to happen* | may · passive |  | traditions |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **sway** | to-infinitive |  | the elements |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location element=Theme |
| 4 | **drive** | gerund |  |  |  | the sky |  | in a flaming car; often *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent across sky=Trajectory |
| 5 | **launch** | gerund |  | the shafts of the lightning |  | Perun's demon foes |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent shaft=Theme at foe=Destination |

<!-- .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 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/57/44/)
- next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/57/46/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/57/)