---
title: The legends say, “The priest flew like a bird to the canoes” and was… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The legends say, “The priest flew like a bird to the canoes” and was warmly received by Paao. Who acts: legends, priest, Paao. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Paao From Samoa, sentence 65

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The legends say, “The priest flew like a bird to the canoes” and was warmly received by Paao.

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**Who acts:** legends, priest, Paao · **What happens:** say, fly, receive · **To what, where:** canoes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (legends, priest, Paao), 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:pg66357:8:65
# text = The legends say, “The priest flew like a bird to the canoes” and was warmly received by Paao.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	canoes	canoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
18	warmly	warmly	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	received	receive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Paao	Paao	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the legends |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **fly** *in a quote* | past | the priest |  |  | the canoes |  | like a bird | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to canoe=Destination |
| 3 | **receive** | past · passive | Paao |  |  |  |  | warmly *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66357 (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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