---
title: “O bee,” cried the busy Smith, “you are a cunning little bird, and y… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “O bee,” cried the busy Smith, “you are a cunning little bird, and you know some things better than I know them. Who acts: bee, you. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Wicked Hornet, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Wicked Hornet, sentence 83

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“O bee,” cried the busy Smith, “you are a cunning little bird, and you know some things better than I know them.

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**Who acts:** bee, you · **What happens:** cry, be, know · **To what, where:** busy Smith, cunning little bird, things · **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 Wicked Hornet. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bee, you), 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:pg66819:5:83
# text = “O bee,” cried the busy Smith, “you are a cunning little bird, and you know some things better than I know them.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	_
3	bee	bee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	Smith	Smith	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	cunning	cunning	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
22	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	21	ccomp	_	_
25	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | bee | the busy Smith |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | you | a cunning little bird |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you | some things |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | present | bee | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |

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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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