---
title: Singly and by twos and threes they came and squatted round Dame Louh… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Singly and by twos and threes they came and squatted round Dame Louhi’s fireplace, rubbing their hands together, warming their shins, and staring into the face of the marvellous stranger. Who acts: Herdsmen. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Caldron, wit
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Caldron, sentence 7

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Singly and by twos and threes they came and squatted round Dame Louhi’s fireplace, rubbing their hands together, warming their shins, and staring into the face of the marvellous stranger.

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**Who acts:** Herdsmen · **What happens:** come, squat, rub, warm, stare · **To what, where:** threes, hands, shins

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Caldron. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Herdsmen), 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:pg66819:10:7
# text = Singly and by twos and threes they came and squatted round Dame Louhi’s fireplace, rubbing their hands together, warming their shins, and staring into the face of the marvellous stranger.
1	Singly	singly	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	twos	two	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	threes	three	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	squatted	squat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
11	round	round	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	Dame	Dame	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	_
13	Louhi	Louhi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
15	fireplace	fireplace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	rubbing	rub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	together	together	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	warming	warm	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	shins	shin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	staring	stare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	marvellous	marvellous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Herdsmen *= herdsman* | threes *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location three=Theme |
| 2 | **squat** | past | Herdsmen *= herdsman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round Dame's fireplace | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **rub** | gerund | Herdsmen *= herdsman* *not said here* | Herdsmen's hands |  |  |  | together *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |
| 4 | **warm** | gerund | Herdsmen *= herdsman* *not said here* | Herdsmen's shins |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent shin=Patient |
| 5 | **stare** | gerund | Herdsmen *= herdsman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the face of the marvellous stranger | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into face=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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:** «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 66819 (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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