---
title: So he came to the rich man and asked him: “Brother, help me in my so… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So he came to the rich man and asked him: “Brother, help me in my sorrow, for my wife and children sit at home without any bread and are starving.” Who acts: peasant, Brother, wife, my. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 35, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/35/127/)

<!-- 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 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/35/) / 127

# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 35, sentence 127

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he came to the rich man and asked him: “Brother, help me in my sorrow, for my wife and children sit at home without any bread and are starving.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** peasant, Brother, wife, my · **What happens:** come, ask, help, sit, starve, sorrow · **To what, where:** peasant, sorrow, home · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (peasant, Brother, wife, my), 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:pg62509:35:127
# text = So he came to the rich man and asked him: “Brother, help me in my sorrow, for my wife and children sit at home without any bread and are starving.”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
26	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	without	without	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	det	_	_
31	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | peasant |  |  |  |  | to the rich man | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to man=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | peasant *not said here* |  | peasant |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **help** *in a quote* | infinitive | Brother |  | peasant | my sorrow |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **sit** *in a quote* | present | my wife and children |  |  | home |  | without any bread | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at home=Location |
| 5 | **starve** *in a quote* | present · progressive | my wife and children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **sorrow** *in a quote* |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom sorrow «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/35/126/)
- next →: [sentence 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/35/128/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/35/)