---
title: There is on the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyán, the eldes… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There is on the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyán, the eldest brother of all the crows, and he will fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, he will peck to death the fiery snake, he will gain the seven _pud_ key; but the crow is held back by the evil witch of Kíev. Who acts: ocean, snake, evil witch. A
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 40, sentence 42

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There is on the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyán, the eldest brother of all the crows, and he will fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, he will peck to death the fiery snake, he will gain the seven \_pud\_ key; but the crow is held back by the evil witch of Kíev.

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**Who acts:** ocean, snake, evil witch · **What happens:** be, fly, peck, gain, hold back · **To what, where:** sea, fiery snake, seven, crow

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 40. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ocean, snake, evil 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:pg62509:40:42
# text = There is on the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyán, the eldest brother of all the crows, and he will fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, he will peck to death the fiery snake, he will gain the seven _pud_ key; but the crow is held back by the evil witch of Kíev.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Buyán	Buyán	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	amod	_	_
19	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	23	det:predet	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	Khvalýnsk	Khvalýnsk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	peck	peck	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	fiery	fiery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	gain	gain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	parataxis	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	46	obj	_	_
49	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	pud	pud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	52	punct	_	_
52	key	key	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
54	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj:pass	_	_
57	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux:pass	_	_
58	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
59	back	back	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	by	by	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
64	of	of	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
65	Kíev	Kíev	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	63	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | the ocean |  |  | the sea; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on sea=Location |
| 2 | **fly** | future | ocean |  |  |  |  | to the sea of Khvalýnsk *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to sea=Result |
| 3 | **peck** | future | ocean | the fiery snake |  |  |  | to death *result* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent to death=Result |
| 4 | **gain** | future | snake | the seven and key |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seven=Theme |
| 5 | **hold back** | present · passive | the evil witch of Kíev | the crow |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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