---
title: The Russian peasants believe, it is said, that in order to rescue fr… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: The Russian peasants believe, it is said, that in order to rescue from the fiends the soul of a babe which has been suffocated in its sleep, its mother must spend three nights in a church, standing within a circle traced by the hand of a priest. Who acts: Russian peasants, that, mother, idea. A sent
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 4, sentence 145

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The Russian peasants believe, it is said, that in order to rescue from the fiends the soul of a babe which has been suffocated in its sleep, its mother must spend three nights in a church, standing within a circle traced by the hand of a priest.

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**Who acts:** Russian peasants, that, mother, idea · **What happens:** believe, say, rescue, suffocate, spend, stand · **To what, where:** idea, soul, fiends, babe, sleep, church · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter VI. LEGENDS, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Russian peasants, that, mother, idea), 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:pg22373:59:145
# text = The Russian peasants believe, it is said, that in order to rescue from the fiends the soul of a babe which has been suffocated in its sleep, its mother must spend three nights in a church, standing within a circle traced by the hand of a priest.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Russian	Russian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	peasants	peasant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	believe	believe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	_
11	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	14	mark	_	_
12	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	fixed	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	rescue	rescue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fiends	fiend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	babe	babe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	suffocated	suffocate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	spend	spend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
35	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
42	within	within	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
45	traced	trace	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	acl	_	_
46	by	by	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | present | the Russian peasants |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | idea |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **rescue** | to-infinitive | that | the soul of a babe |  | the fiends |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent soul=Theme from fiend=Source |
| 4 | **suffocate** | present · perfect · passive |  | a babe |  | idea's sleep |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **spend** | must | idea's mother |  |  | a church | night |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **stand** | gerund | idea's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | within a circle | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **trace** | participle |  | a circle *not said here* |  |  |  | by the hand of a priest | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **sleep** |  | idea |  |  |  |  |  | nom sleep «state intransitive»: 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.

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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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