---
title: While he was rubbing briskly two long sticks to start a fire, the su… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was rubbing briskly two long sticks to start a fire, the sun in the west fell out of the sky below the edge of land. Who acts: Iktomi, sun. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi's Blanket, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Old Indian Legends, Iktomi's Blanket, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While he was rubbing briskly two long sticks to start a fire, the sun in the west fell out of the sky below the edge of land.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Iktomi, sun · **What happens:** rub, start, fall · **To what, where:** briskly two long sticks, fire, sky

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This is a sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi's Blanket. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Iktomi, sun), 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:pg338:3:35
# text = While he was rubbing briskly two long sticks to start a fire, the sun in the west fell out of the sky below the edge of land.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	rubbing	rub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
5	briskly	briskly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	west	west	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	below	below	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rub** | past · progressive | Iktomi | briskly two long sticks |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent stick=Theme |
| 2 | **start** | to-infinitive | Iktomi *not said here* | a fire |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fall** | past | the sun in the west |  |  | the sky below the edge of land |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme out sky=Location |

<!-- .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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