---
title: The point of detail, that after the rescue of the maiden the boy has… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The point of detail, that after the rescue of the maiden the boy has to walk backwards until he reaches the high road, is rather similar to the Celtic notion of Widdershins, the superstition that anyone who walked round the churchyard contrary to the direction of the sun would be captured by the fai
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 41, sentence 8

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The point of detail, that after the rescue of the maiden the boy has to walk backwards until he reaches the high road, is rather similar to the Celtic notion of Widdershins, the superstition that anyone who walked round the churchyard contrary to the direction of the sun would be captured by the fairies.

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**Who acts:** boy, detail, point, fairies · **What happens:** have, walk, reach, be, capture, point · **To what, where:** detail, high road, anyone, maiden

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 41. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, detail, point, fairies), 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:pg62509:41:8
# text = The point of detail, that after the rescue of the maiden the boy has to walk backwards until he reaches the high road, is rather similar to the Celtic notion of Widdershins, the superstition that anyone who walked round the churchyard contrary to the direction of the sun would be captured by the fairies.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	detail	detail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rescue	rescue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	reaches	reach	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	similar	similar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	Celtic	celtic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	notion	notion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Widdershins	Widdershin	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	superstition	superstition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	appos	_	_
38	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
39	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	54	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
41	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	round	round	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	churchyard	churchyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	compound	_	_
45	contrary	contrary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
52	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	captured	capture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl	_	_
55	by	by	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the boy | detail |  |  | after the rescue of the maiden |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **walk** | to-infinitive | detail *not said here* |  |  |  |  | backwards *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **reach** | present | boy | the high road |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent road=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | present | the point of detail |  |  |  |  | to the Celtic notion of Widdershins; similar *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **walk** | past |  |  |  |  |  | round the churchyard contrary; to the direction of the sun *result*; who *nsubj* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to direction=Result |
| 6 | **capture** | would · passive | the fairies | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 7 | **point** |  |  | detail |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **rescue** |  |  | the maiden |  |  |  |  | nom rescue «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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