---
title: He drew his fish-knife from his belt, he reached downward with his l… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: He drew his fish-knife from his belt, he reached downward with his long arms, he slashed furiously this way and that; but nothing did he cut save the yielding water. Who acts: Ahti, nothing. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Kantele, with its dependency 
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Kantele, sentence 30

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He drew his fish-knife from his belt, he reached downward with his long arms, he slashed furiously this way and that; but nothing did he cut save the yielding water.

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**Who acts:** Ahti, nothing · **What happens:** draw, reach, slash, do, cut, save · **To what, where:** fish knife, belt, way, yielding water

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Kantele. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ahti, nothing), 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:pg66819:34:30
# text = He drew his fish-knife from his belt, he reached downward with his long arms, he slashed furiously this way and that; but nothing did he cut save the yielding water.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
4	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	belt	belt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	downward	downward	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	slashed	slash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	furiously	furiously	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	29	nsubj	_	_
29	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	parataxis	_	_
32	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	yielding	yield	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	amod	_	_
35	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | past | Ahti | Ahti's fish knife |  | Ahti's belt |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent knife=Theme from belt=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **reach** | past | Ahti |  |  |  |  | with Ahti's long arms; downward *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **slash** | past | Ahti | this way  that |  |  |  | furiously *property* | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **do** | past | nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **cut** | past | Ahti |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **save** | infinitive | Ahti *not said here* | the yielding water |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |
| 7 | **yield** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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