---
title: So the good horse said, “Iván the merchant’s son, let me go free at… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the good horse said, “Iván the merchant’s son, let me go free at will, and do you pull three little hairs out of my tail: whenever I can be of service to you burn a single hair, and I shall appear at once in front of you, like a leaf in front of the grass. Who acts: good horse, Iván, you, service
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 28, sentence 84

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So the good horse said, “Iván the merchant’s son, let me go free at will, and do you pull three little hairs out of my tail: whenever I can be of service to you burn a single hair, and I shall appear at once in front of you, like a leaf in front of the grass.

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**Who acts:** good horse, Iván, you, service · **What happens:** say, let, go, pull, be, burn · **To what, where:** good horse, three little hairs, tail, you, single hair, front · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (good horse, Iván, you, service), 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:pg62509:28:84
# text = So the good horse said, “Iván the merchant’s son, let me go free at will, and do you pull three little hairs out of my tail: whenever I can be of service to you burn a single hair, and I shall appear at once in front of you, like a leaf in front of the grass.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Iván	Iván	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
14	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
25	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
26	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	hairs	hair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	out	out	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
33	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	38	advmod	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
35	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	cop	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	38	nmod	_	_
41	burn	burn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	appear	appear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	conj	_	_
50	at	at	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	49	obl	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
57	like	like	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
60	in	in	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the good horse |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | Iván | the good horse *= horse* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | the good horse *= horse* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | free *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **pull** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you | three little hairs |  | my tail |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent hair=Theme out tail=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | can | the good horse *= horse* |  | you |  |  | of service; whenever *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **burn** *in a quote* | present | service | a single hair |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hair=Theme |
| 7 | **appear** *in a quote* | shall | the good horse *= horse* |  |  | front of you |  | like a leaf in front of the grass | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=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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