--- title: When the hunt was over the elephant told the hawk and the crab to br… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When the hunt was over the elephant told the hawk and the crab to bring to him all the animals they had killed, but when he saw that the crab had killed ten animals to his five he was very angry and told the hawk to put him down on the ground and cut his head off. Who acts: hunt, elephant, animals, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/9/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/) / 9 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 9 When the hunt was over the elephant told the hawk and the crab to bring to him all the animals they had killed, but when he saw that the crab had killed ten animals to his five he was very angry and told the hawk to put him down on the ground and cut his head off. **Who acts:** hunt, elephant, animals, five · **What happens:** be, tell, bring, kill, see, put down · **To what, where:** hawk, animals, crab, ground, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (hunt, elephant, animals, five), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:13:9 # text = When the hunt was over the elephant told the hawk and the crab to bring to him all the animals they had killed, but when he saw that the crab had killed ten animals to his five he was very angry and told the hawk to put him down on the ground and cut his head off. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 7 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 hunt hunt NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 5 over over ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 8 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 hawk hawk NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 crab crab NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 conj _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 ccomp _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obl _ _ 18 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 20 det:predet _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 animals animal NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obj _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj:pass _ _ 22 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 25 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 26 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 28 advmod _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 crab crab NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj:pass _ _ 32 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 33 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 28 ccomp _ _ 34 ten ten NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 35 nummod _ _ 35 animals animal NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obj _ _ 36 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 37 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 38 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 42 nsubj _ _ 39 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 40 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 cop _ _ 41 very very ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 42 angry angry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 obl _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 hawk hawk NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 iobj _ _ 47 to to PART TO _ 48 mark _ _ 48 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 44 ccomp _ _ 49 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 obj _ _ 50 down down ADP RP _ 48 compound:prt _ _ 51 on on ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ _ 54 and and CCONJ CC _ 55 cc _ _ 55 cut cut VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 56 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 57 nmod:poss _ _ 57 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 obj _ _ 58 off off ADP RP _ 55 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 59 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the hunt | | | | | over the elephant | tree rules | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the elephant | | the hawk and the crab | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hawk=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **bring** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | all animals | crab | | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent animal=Theme to he=Destination | | 4 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive | all animals *not said here* | animals *= animal* | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 5 | **see** | past | elephant | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 6 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive | | the crab | | | | ten animals *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer animal=Result | | 7 | **is** | past | five | | | | | crab *nmod:poss*; angry *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | elephant *not said here* | | the hawk | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hawk=Recipient clause=Topic | | 9 | **put down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | crab | | the ground | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme on ground=Destination | | 10 | **cut off** | past | elephant *not said here* | crab's head | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/10/) - ↑ back to [Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/)