---
title: The Minstrel was old and cunning, and because he feared to tell the… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The Minstrel was old and cunning, and because he feared to tell the maiden the truth, he answered her with guileful words: “I am a poor woodsman from the Land of Heroes. Who acts: Minstrel, Tuonela. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Land of Tuonela, with
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Land of Tuonela, sentence 39

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The Minstrel was old and cunning, and because he feared to tell the maiden the truth, he answered her with guileful words: “I am a poor woodsman from the Land of Heroes.

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**Who acts:** Minstrel, Tuonela · **What happens:** be, fear, tell, answer · **To what, where:** maiden, poor woodsman, Land · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Land of Tuonela. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minstrel, Tuonela), 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:pg66819:14:39
# text = The Minstrel was old and cunning, and because he feared to tell the maiden the truth, he answered her with guileful words: “I am a poor woodsman from the Land of Heroes.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Minstrel	Minstrel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	cunning	cunning	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	guileful	guileful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	woodsman	woodsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Heroes	hero	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the Minstrel |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the Minstrel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fear** | past | Tuonela |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Tuonela *not said here* | the maiden |  |  |  | the truth *obj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent maiden=Recipient truth=Topic |
| 5 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Tuonela |  | maiden |  |  | with guileful words | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent she=Eventuality |
| 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Tuonela | a poor woodsman |  | the Land of Heroes |  |  | tree rules |

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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:** «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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