---
title: The fish cured his wounds after a time, but, having no eyes to spare… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The fish cured his wounds after a time, but, having no eyes to spare, he sent the crab on to his friend the prawn. Who acts: fish, eyes. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., with its de
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 27

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The fish cured his wounds after a time, but, having no eyes to spare, he sent the crab on to his friend the prawn.

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**Who acts:** fish, eyes · **What happens:** cure, have, spare, send on, wound · **To what, where:** wounds, eyes, crab

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fish, eyes), 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:pg70959:13:27
# text = The fish cured his wounds after a time, but, having no eyes to spare, he sent the crab on to his friend the prawn.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	cured	cure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	wounds	wound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	ccomp	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	prawn	prawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cure** | past | the fish | fish's wounds |  |  | time |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer wound=Source |
| 2 | **have** | gerund | fish *not said here* | no eyes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **spare** | to-infinitive | no eyes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **send on** | past | fish | the crab |  |  |  | to crab's friend; the prawn *obj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **wound** |  | fish |  |  |  |  |  | nom wound «state transitive»: poss=agent |

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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:** «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (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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