---
title: Then the dragon besought Nikíta the tanner: “Do not beat me to death. — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the dragon besought Nikíta the tanner: “Do not beat me to death. Who acts: dragon. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 39

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Then the dragon besought Nikíta the tanner: “Do not beat me to death.

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**Who acts:** dragon · **What happens:** beseech, not beat · **To what, where:** Nikíta, tanner, death

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dragon), 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:pg62509:32:39
# text = Then the dragon besought Nikíta the tanner: “Do not beat me to death.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	Nikíta	Nikíta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tanner	tanner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Do	do	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
13	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beseech** | past | the dragon | Nikíta |  |  | then | the tanner *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **beat** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support | the dragon *not said here* | the tanner *= tanner* | death |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Patient to death=Recipient |

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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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