---
title: And the wolf asked him, "Daddy, what are you sharpening your knife f… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And the wolf asked him, "Daddy, what are you sharpening your knife for?"--"To flay off your skin, that I may make me a warm cap against the winter."--"Oh! don't flay me, daddy dear, and I'll bring you a whole herd of little sheep."--"Well, see that you do it," and he let the wolf go. Who acts: wolf,
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Straw Ox, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the wolf asked him, "Daddy, what are you sharpening your knife for?"--"To flay off your skin, that I may make me a warm cap against the winter."--"Oh! don't flay me, daddy dear, and I'll bring you a whole herd of little sheep."--"Well, see that you do it," and he let the wolf go.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wolf, bear · **What happens:** ask, sharpen, flay off, make, not flay, bring · **To what, where:** bear, Daddy, skin, warm cap, wolf, whole herd · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Straw Ox. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wolf, bear), 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:pg29672:14:46
# text = And the wolf asked him, "Daddy, what are you sharpening your knife for?"--"To flay off your skin, that I may make me a warm cap against the winter."--"Oh! don't flay me, daddy dear, and I'll bring you a whole herd of little sheep."--"Well, see that you do it," and he let the wolf go.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	obj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	sharpening	sharpen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
14	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	To	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	flay	flay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
31	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
35	against	against	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	46	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	42	punct	_	_
44	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	flay	flay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
47	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	daddy	daddy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
50	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
56	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	69	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	69	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
69	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
70	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	72	mark	_	_
71	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj	_	_
72	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	69	ccomp	_	_
73	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	69	punct	_	_
76	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	78	cc	_	_
77	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	78	nsubj	_	_
78	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	78	obj	_	_
81	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	78	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the wolf |  | bear |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **sharpen** *in a quote* | present · progressive | bear | Daddy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **flay off** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | your skin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** *in a quote* | may | the wolf *= wolf* | a warm cap | the wolf *= wolf* |  | winter |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset i=Beneficiary cap=Product |
| 5 | **not** **flay** *in a quote* | present · do-support | the wolf *not said here* | the wolf *= wolf* |  |  |  | daddy *obl*; dear *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **bring** *in a quote* | future | the wolf *= wolf* | a whole herd of little sheep | bear |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent you=Destination herd=Theme |
| 7 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **do** *in a quote* | present | bear | knife |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 9 | **let** | past | bear | the wolf |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **go** | infinitive | the wolf *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Project Gutenberg book 29672 (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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