---
title: Fain would I make everything clear, but I dare not tell it to you wh… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Fain would I make everything clear, but I dare not tell it to you where you stand: the fishes would hear me and carry the secret to every corner of the sea; the birds would hear me and convey the news to every land under the sun.” Who acts: Fain, I, you, fishes. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Ta
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Maid of the Morning, sentence 93

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Fain would I make everything clear, but I dare not tell it to you where you stand: the fishes would hear me and carry the secret to every corner of the sea; the birds would hear me and convey the news to every land under the sun.”

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**Who acts:** Fain, I, you, fishes, birds · **What happens:** make, tell, stand, hear, carry, convey · **To what, where:** everything, meaning, you, me, secret, corner · **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 Maid of the Morning. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fain, I, you, fishes), 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:pg66819:19:93
# text = Fain would I make everything clear, but I dare not tell it to you where you stand: the fishes would hear me and carry the secret to every corner of the sea; the birds would hear me and convey the news to every land under the sun.”
1	Fain	Fain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	4	obj	_	_
6	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	dare	dare	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
12	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
16	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	18	advmod	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
24	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	31	det	_	_
31	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
40	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	convey	convey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	conj	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	47	det	_	_
47	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
48	under	under	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | would | Fain | everything |  |  |  | I *nsubj*; clear *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Product |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | I | meaning | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Topic to you=Recipient |
| 3 | **stand** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hear** | would | the fishes | me |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 5 | **carry** | infinitive | the fishes *not said here* | the secret |  | every corner of the sea |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent secret=Theme to corner=Destination |
| 6 | **hear** | would | the birds | me |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 7 | **convey** | infinitive | the birds *not said here* | the news | every land under the sun. |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent news=Topic to land=Recipient |

<!-- .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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