---
title: Be this as it may, the version which has come down is that the Night… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Be this as it may, the version which has come down is that the Nightingale Robber was an enormous bird, whose nest spread over seven oaks, who had needed no other weapon than his dreadful beast-like, lion-like, or dragon-like whistle on which every wall and every beast and every man fell down in she
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 40, sentence 88

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Be this as it may, the version which has come down is that the Nightingale Robber was an enormous bird, whose nest spread over seven oaks, who had needed no other weapon than his dreadful beast-like, lion-like, or dragon-like whistle on which every wall and every beast and every man fell down in sheer terror.

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**Who acts:** version, nest, wall · **What happens:** come down, be, spread, need, fall down · **To what, where:** enormous bird, seven oaks, like whistle

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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 (version, nest, wall), 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:pg62509:40:88
# text = Be this as it may, the version which has come down is that the Nightingale Robber was an enormous bird, whose nest spread over seven oaks, who had needed no other weapon than his dreadful beast-like, lion-like, or dragon-like whistle on which every wall and every beast and every man fell down in sheer terror.
1	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	1	nsubj	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	Nightingale	Nightingale	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	Robber	Robber	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
26	over	over	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	oaks	oak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	_
33	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	35	det	_	_
34	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	weapon	weapon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
38	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
39	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	like	like	INTJ	UH	_	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
48	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	appos	_	_
52	on	on	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	62	obl	_	_
54	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	55	det	_	_
55	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
57	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	58	det	_	_
58	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
60	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	61	det	_	_
61	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	_
62	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	acl:relcl	_	_
63	down	down	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
64	in	in	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	sheer	sheer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	_
66	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | present · perfect | the version |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | may | the version | a enormous bird |  |  |  | the Nightingale Robber *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **spread** | past | nest |  |  | seven oaks |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over oak=Location |
| 4 | **need** | past · perfect · passive |  | seven oaks |  |  |  | no other weapon *obj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **fall down** | past | every wall and every beast and every man |  |  | like whistle |  | in sheer terror; down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on which=Location |

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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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