---
title: Wemicus told Muskrat that he was starving and Muskrat said to his wi… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wemicus told Muskrat that he was starving and Muskrat said to his wife, “You had better make a fire in the hot sand.” Who acts: Wemicus, Muskrat. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 2, sentence 185

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Wemicus told Muskrat that he was starving and Muskrat said to his wife, “You had better make a fire in the hot sand.”

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**Who acts:** Wemicus, Muskrat · **What happens:** tell, starve, say, have, make · **To what, where:** Muskrat, wife, fire, hot sand · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Wemicus, Muskrat), 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:pg66509:12:185
# text = Wemicus told Muskrat that he was starving and Muskrat said to his wife, “You had better make a fire in the hot sand.”
1	Wemicus	Wemicus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Muskrat	muskrat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	Muskrat	Muskrat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	xcomp	_	_
19	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Wemicus |  | Muskrat |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent muskrat=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **starve** | past · progressive | Wemicus |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Muskrat |  | Wemicus's wife |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient |
| 4 | **have** *in a quote* | past | Muskrat |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** *in a quote* | infinitive | Muskrat *not said here* | a fire |  | the hot sand |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fire=Product |

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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:** «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Project Gutenberg book 66509 (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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