---
title: “My friend, watch the deer while I go to bring my children,” said Ik… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: “My friend, watch the deer while I go to bring my children,” said Iktomi, darting lightly through the tall grass. Who acts: friend, Iktomi. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Turtle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Turtle, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“My friend, watch the deer while I go to bring my children,” said Iktomi, darting lightly through the tall grass.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** friend, Iktomi · **What happens:** watch, go, bring, say, dart · **To what, where:** deer, children, tall grass · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Turtle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friend, Iktomi), 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:pg338:10:36
# text = “My friend, watch the deer while I go to bring my children,” said Iktomi, darting lightly through the tall grass.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	deer	deer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	darting	dart	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
21	lightly	lightly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	through	through	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** *in a quote* | infinitive | My friend | the deer |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deer=Theme |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | present | Iktomi |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **bring** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Iktomi *not said here* |  | my children |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument child=Destination |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Iktomi |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **dart** | gerund | Iktomi *not said here* |  |  | the tall grass |  | lightly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through grass=Trajectory |

<!-- .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:** «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Project Gutenberg book 338 (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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