---
title: Then the old man drew his sword and said to it, “Set to work, self-s… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the old man drew his sword and said to it, “Set to work, self-slaying sword, and despoil all the dreamy forest.” Who acts: old man. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/115/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/) / 115

# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 34, sentence 115

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the old man drew his sword and said to it, “Set to work, self-slaying sword, and despoil all the dreamy forest.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old man · **What happens:** draw, say, set, slay, despoil · **To what, where:** sword, dreamy forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:34:115
# text = Then the old man drew his sword and said to it, “Set to work, self-slaying sword, and despoil all the dreamy forest.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	self	self	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	slaying	slay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	amod	_	_
21	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	despoil	despoil	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
25	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	28	det:predet	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	dreamy	dreamy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | past | the old man | man's sword |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man *not said here* |  | sword |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to it=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **set** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to work and slaying sword | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **slay** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | self *compound* | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **despoil** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | all dreamy forest |  |  |  |  | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Source |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 114](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/114/)
- next →: [sentence 116](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/116/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/)