---
title: But the labourer, who was used to the loneliness of the forest, repl… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the labourer, who was used to the loneliness of the forest, replied, "Very well, eat me if thou hast a mind to!"--Then the Serpent said, "Nay! Who acts: labourer, thou, Serpent. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Serpent-wife, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Serpent-wife, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the labourer, who was used to the loneliness of the forest, replied, "Very well, eat me if thou hast a mind to!"--Then the Serpent said, "Nay!

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**Who acts:** labourer, thou, Serpent · **What happens:** use, reply, eat, have, say · **To what, where:** labourer, me, mind · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Serpent-wife. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (labourer, thou, Serpent), 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:pg29672:9:4
# text = But the labourer, who was used to the loneliness of the forest, replied, "Very well, eat me if thou hast a mind to!"--Then the Serpent said, "Nay!
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	labourer	labourer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	loneliness	loneliness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	replied	reply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	25	nsubj	_	_
25	hast	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Serpent	Serpent	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
35	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
37	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	Nay	nay	INTJ	UH	_	35	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past · passive |  | the labourer |  |  |  | to the loneliness of the forest | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: express* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **eat** *in a quote* | infinitive | the labourer | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | thou | a mind |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mind=Patient |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Serpent |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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.

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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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