---
title: The devil besought him: “Let me go, Father, I will do you any servic… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The devil besought him: “Let me go, Father, I will do you any service I can; I will, I will!” Who acts: devil, Bátyushka. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 33, sentence 109

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The devil besought him: “Let me go, Father, I will do you any service I can; I will, I will!”

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**Who acts:** devil, Bátyushka · **What happens:** beseech, let, go, do · **To what, where:** archimandrite, Bátyushka, service, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (devil, Bátyushka), 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:pg62509:33:109
# text = The devil besought him: “Let me go, Father, I will do you any service I can; I will, I will!”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	devil	Devil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beseech** | past | the devil | archimandrite |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | the devil *not said here* | Bátyushka |  |  |  | Father *vocative* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | Bátyushka *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | future | Bátyushka | any service | you |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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