---
title: Small and without beauty it was, and there was little that it could… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Small and without beauty it was, and there was little that it could do; but from it sprang such scant comforts and pleasures as the people of the Frozen Land have enjoyed until this day—warm underground huts, fishes for food, soft furs for clothing, and the reindeer for all kinds of uses. Who acts: 
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Fate of the Sampo, sentence 127

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Small and without beauty it was, and there was little that it could do; but from it sprang such scant comforts and pleasures as the people of the Frozen Land have enjoyed until this day—warm underground huts, fishes for food, soft furs for clothing, and the reindeer for all kinds of uses.

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**Who acts:** little, piece, people, kinds · **What happens:** be, do, spring, enjoy, use · **To what, where:** such scant comforts

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Fate of the Sampo. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little, piece, people, kinds), 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:pg66819:38:127
# text = Small and without beauty it was, and there was little that it could do; but from it sprang such scant comforts and pleasures as the people of the Frozen Land have enjoyed until this day—warm underground huts, fishes for food, soft furs for clothing, and the reindeer for all kinds of uses.
1	Small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	without	without	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	beauty	beauty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	nsubj	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
21	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	scant	scant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	comforts	comfort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	pleasures	pleasure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	Frozen	Frozen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	Land	Land	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	enjoyed	enjoy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
35	until	until	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	det	_	_
37	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
40	underground	underground	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	huts	hut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	_
44	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	furs	fur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	_
49	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	clothing	clothing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	reindeer	reindeer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
55	for	for	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	57	det	_	_
57	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nmod	_	_
58	of	of	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	57	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | little |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | could | piece |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **spring** | past | piece | such scant comforts and pleasures |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location comfort=Theme |
| 4 | **enjoy** | present · perfect | the people of the Frozen Land |  |  |  | day |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **use** | present | all kinds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «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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