---
title: He played on a slender reed of bamboo, blowing with his mouth; and h… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: He played on a slender reed of bamboo, blowing with his mouth; and he called the cattle to come home to rest, for it was the cow-dust hour, and the sun was setting. Who acts: Shiva, cattle, sun. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Ope
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 4, sentence 126

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He played on a slender reed of bamboo, blowing with his mouth; and he called the cattle to come home to rest, for it was the cow-dust hour, and the sun was setting.

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**Who acts:** Shiva, cattle, sun · **What happens:** play, blow, call, come, rest, be · **To what, where:** slender reed, cattle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Shiva, cattle, sun), 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:pg69647:4:127
# text = He played on a slender reed of bamboo, blowing with his mouth; and he called the cattle to come home to rest, for it was the cow-dust hour, and the sun was setting.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	reed	reed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	home	home	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	rest	rest	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
30	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	setting	set	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past | Shiva |  |  | a slender reed of bamboo |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **blow** | gerund | Shiva *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with Shiva's mouth | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme»: with mouth=Theme |
| 3 | **call** | past | Shiva |  | the cattle |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent cattle=Recipient |
| 4 | **come** | to-infinitive | Shiva *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **rest** | to-infinitive | Shiva *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | cattle |  |  |  | for the cow dust hour |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **set** | past · progressive | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Project Gutenberg book 69647 (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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