---
title: “Very well, ancient witch,” said the knights, “show us the well with… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Very well, ancient witch,” said the knights, “show us the well with the waters of Life and Death.” Who acts: ancient witch. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 39, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 39, sentence 23

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“Very well, ancient witch,” said the knights, “show us the well with the waters of Life and Death.”

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**Who acts:** ancient witch · **What happens:** say, show · **To what, where:** knights, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ancient witch), 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:pg62509:39:23
# text = “Very well, ancient witch,” said the knights, “show us the well with the waters of Life and Death.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	show	show	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
15	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	nmod:unmarked	_	_
17	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Life	Life	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	Death	Death	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	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 | ancient witch | the knights |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **show** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | us |  |  | with the waters of Life and Death; well *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=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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