---
title: ‘O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,’ said the C… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,’ said the Cat, ‘take a strand of the wire that you are spinning and tie it to your spinning-whorl and drag it along the floor, and I will show you a magic that shall make your Baby laugh as loudly as he is now crying.’ Who acts: Enemy, wire, I
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/12/115/)

<!-- 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/) / [Just so stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/) / [The Cat That Walked By Himself](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/12/) / 115

# Just so stories, The Cat That Walked By Himself, sentence 115

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,’ said the Cat, ‘take a strand of the wire that you are spinning and tie it to your spinning-whorl and drag it along the floor, and I will show you a magic that shall make your Baby laugh as loudly as he is now crying.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Enemy, wire, I, magic, Cat · **What happens:** say, take, spin, tie, drag, show · **To what, where:** Cat, strand, you, Baby · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Cat That Walked By Himself. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Enemy, wire, I, magic), 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:pg2781:12:115
# text = ‘O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,’ said the Cat, ‘take a strand of the wire that you are spinning and tie it to your spinning-whorl and drag it along the floor, and I will show you a magic that shall make your Baby laugh as loudly as he is now crying.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	Enemy	Enemy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	Wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	Enemy	Enemy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	Mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	Enemy	Enemy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	strand	strand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	tie	tie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
36	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
37	spinning	spinning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	whorl	whorl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	drag	drag	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	along	along	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
49	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	parataxis	_	_
51	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	50	iobj	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nsubj	_	_
54	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	56	nsubj	_	_
55	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	acl:relcl	_	_
57	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	Baby	Baby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
59	laugh	laugh	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	parataxis	_	_
60	as	as	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
61	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
62	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	66	mark	_	_
63	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	nsubj	_	_
64	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	66	aux	_	_
65	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	66	advmod	_	_
66	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	59	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	50	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy | the Cat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | infinitive |  | a strand of the wire |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strand=Theme |
| 3 | **spin** | present · progressive | the wire |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **tie** | present |  | strand |  |  |  | to your spinning whorl | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient to whorl=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **drag** | infinitive |  | strand |  |  |  | along the floor | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 6 | **show** | future | I |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 7 | **make** | shall | a magic | your Baby |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset baby=Product |
| 8 | **laugh** | present | a magic |  |  |  |  | loudly *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **cry** *speech: express* | present · progressive | Cat |  |  |  | now |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 2781 (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 114](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/12/114/)
- next →: [sentence 116](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/12/116/)
- ↑ back to [The Cat That Walked By Himself](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/12/)