---
title: He was the god of the insatiable appetite, the continual eater of tr… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: He was the god of the insatiable appetite, the continual eater of trees, whose path through forests was covered with black smoke fragrant with burning wood, and sometimes burdened with the smell of human flesh charred into cinders in the lava flow. Who acts: laau, human flesh. A sentence of «Hawaiia
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Ai-laau, the Forest Eater, sentence 7

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He was the god of the insatiable appetite, the continual eater of trees, whose path through forests was covered with black smoke fragrant with burning wood, and sometimes burdened with the smell of human flesh charred into cinders in the lava flow.

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**Who acts:** laau, human flesh · **What happens:** be, cover, burn, burden, char, smell · **To what, where:** god, smell, cinders

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Ai-laau, the Forest Eater. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (laau, human flesh), 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:pg66516:4:7
# text = He was the god of the insatiable appetite, the continual eater of trees, whose path through forests was covered with black smoke fragrant with burning wood, and sometimes burdened with the smell of human flesh charred into cinders in the lava flow.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	god	god	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	insatiable	insatiable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	appetite	appetite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	continual	continual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	eater	eater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
18	through	through	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	fragrant	fragrant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	amod	_	_
28	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	32	advmod	_	_
32	burdened	burden	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	charred	char	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	acl	_	_
40	into	into	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	cinders	cinder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	compound	_	_
45	flow	flow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | laau | the god |  |  |  | of the insatiable appetite; the continual eater of trees and the continual eater of trees and the continual eater's path through forests's path through forests *appos* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cover** | past · passive |  | the god |  |  |  | with black smoke | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with smoke=Theme |
| 3 | **burn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **burden** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with the smell of human flesh; sometimes *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent with smell=Theme |
| 5 | **char** | participle |  | the smell of human flesh *not said here* |  |  |  | into cinders *result*; in the lava flow | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V PP.result PP.instrument»: agent=Patient into cinder=Result in flow=Instrument |
| 6 | **smell** |  | human flesh |  |  |  |  |  | nom smell «cognition intransitive»: of=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 Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66516 (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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