---
title: If you can guard my mares, I will give you a knightly horse; if you… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: If you can guard my mares, I will give you a knightly horse; if you cannot, do not be angry, but your head must also lie on the last of the stakes.” Who acts: you, I, head. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 24, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 24, sentence 54

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If you can guard my mares, I will give you a knightly horse; if you cannot, do not be angry, but your head must also lie on the last of the stakes.”

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**Who acts:** you, I, head · **What happens:** guard, give, not be, lie · **To what, where:** mares, knightly horse, you, last

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, I, head), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:24:54
# text = If you can guard my mares, I will give you a knightly horse; if you cannot, do not be angry, but your head must also lie on the last of the stakes.”
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	guard	guard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mares	mare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	iobj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	knightly	knightly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	cop	_	_
24	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
29	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	also	also	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	stakes	stake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** *a condition, not said to happen* | can | you |  | my mares |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mare=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **give** | future | I | a knightly horse | you |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient horse=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **is** | infinitive · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lie** | must | your head |  |  | the last of the stakes |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on last=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:** «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (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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