---
title: The blind man said to Katomá, “Sit on my back and show me the way: I… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The blind man said to Katomá, “Sit on my back and show me the way: I will serve you with my feet and you me with your eyes.” Who acts: blind man. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 38, sentence 125

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The blind man said to Katomá, “Sit on my back and show me the way: I will serve you with my feet and you me with your eyes.”

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**Who acts:** blind man · **What happens:** say, sit, show, serve · **To what, where:** Katomá, back, way, blind man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (blind man), 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:pg62509:38:126
# text = The blind man said to Katomá, “Sit on my back and show me the way: I will serve you with my feet and you me with your eyes.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Katomá	Katomá	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Sit	sit	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	show	show	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	conj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the blind man |  | Katomá |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to katomá=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **sit** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  | my back |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on back=Location |
| 3 | **show** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the way | the blind man *= man* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient way=Topic |
| 4 | **serve** *in a quote* | future | the blind man *= man* |  | Katomá |  |  | with my feet  me; with your eyes | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent you=Recipient with foot=Theme |

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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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