---
title: Den dey all lie down en Brer Fox en Brer Possum dey soon drapt off t… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: Den dey all lie down en Brer Fox en Brer Possum dey soon drapt off ter sleep, but Brer Rabbit he stay 'wake, en w'en de time come he raise up easy en smear Brer Possum mouf wid de butter on his paws, en den he run off en nibble up de bes' er de dinner w'at dey lef' layin' out, en den he come back en
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XVII. Mr. Rabbit Nibbles Up the Butter, sentence 44

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Den dey all lie down en Brer Fox en Brer Possum dey soon drapt off ter sleep, but Brer Rabbit he stay 'wake, en w'en de time come he raise up easy en smear Brer Possum mouf wid de butter on his paws, en den he run off en nibble up de bes' er de dinner w'at dey lef' layin' out, en den he come back en wake up Brer Fox, en show 'im de butter on Brer Possum mouf.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, Brer Rabbit, easy en smear, en, dey · **What happens:** den, lie down, drapt off, stay, come, raise up · **To what, where:** dey, en, ter sleep, wake, en den

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XVII. Mr. Rabbit Nibbles Up the Butter. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, Brer Rabbit, easy en smear, en), 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:pg2306:20:44
# text = Den dey all lie down en Brer Fox en Brer Possum dey soon drapt off ter sleep, but Brer Rabbit he stay 'wake, en w'en de time come he raise up easy en smear Brer Possum mouf wid de butter on his paws, en den he run off en nibble up de bes' er de dinner w'at dey lef' layin' out, en den he come back en wake up Brer Fox, en show 'im de butter on Brer Possum mouf.
1	Den	den	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	dey	dey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	lie	lie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
8	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
11	Possum	Possum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	flat	_	_
12	dey	dey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
13	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
14	drapt	drapt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
15	off	off	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	ter	ter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
24	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	wake	wake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
28	w'en	w'en	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	30	amod	_	_
29	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	28	flat	_	_
30	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl:unmarked	_	_
31	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	raise	raise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	up	up	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	smear	smear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
38	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	Possum	Possum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
40	mouf	mouf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
41	wid	wid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	43	compound	_	_
43	butter	butter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
44	on	on	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	_
49	den	den	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
50	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	parataxis	_	_
52	off	off	ADP	RP	_	51	compound:prt	_	_
53	en	en	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
54	nibble	nibble	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	advcl	_	_
55	up	up	ADP	RP	_	54	compound:prt	_	_
56	de	de	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
57	bes	be	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	'	's	PART	POS	_	57	case	_	_
59	er	er	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
60	de	de	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
61	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	compound	_	_
62	w'at	w'at	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	compound	_	_
63	dey	dey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	compound	_	_
64	lef	lef	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	66	punct	_	_
66	layin	layin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	66	punct	_	_
68	out	out	ADP	RP	_	54	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	71	punct	_	_
70	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	compound	_	_
71	den	den	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obl	_	_
72	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	nsubj	_	_
73	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	advcl	_	_
74	back	back	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
75	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	nsubj	_	_
76	wake	wake	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	73	conj	_	_
77	up	up	ADP	RP	_	76	compound:prt	_	_
78	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	76	vocative	_	_
79	Fox	Fox	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	78	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	82	punct	_	_
81	en	en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	82	compound	_	_
82	show	show	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	78	appos	_	_
83	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	84	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	im	im	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	82	conj	_	_
85	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	84	flat:foreign	_	_
86	butter	butter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	84	conj	_	_
87	on	on	ADP	IN	_	90	case	_	_
88	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	89	compound	_	_
89	Possum	Possum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	90	compound	_	_
90	mouf	mouf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	86	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
91	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **den** | imperative | you *not said here* | dey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie down** | present | you *not said here* | en |  |  |  | Brer Fox en and dey *obl* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **drapt off** | present | you *not said here* | ter sleep |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **stay** | infinitive | Brer Rabbit | wake and en |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **come** | infinitive | Brer Rabbit *not said here* | dey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **raise up** | infinitive | Brer Rabbit *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **run off** | infinitive | easy en smear |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **nibble up** | present | en |  |  |  |  | de bes's er de dey lef | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **come back** | present | dey | en den |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **wake up** | present | en |  |  |  |  | Brer *vocative* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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:** «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, Project Gutenberg book 2306 (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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