---
title: When the man had gone, the cripple tried to persuade the other witch… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the man had gone, the cripple tried to persuade the other witches not to go to the feast, as he said that the people of the town would be certain to revenge themselves upon them for the death of Nara, but the witches did not agree with him, and said that it was impossible for Chief Njum to know
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/49/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/) / 49

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the man had gone, the cripple tried to persuade the other witches not to go to the feast, as he said that the people of the town would be certain to revenge themselves upon them for the death of Nara, but the witches did not agree with him, and said that it was impossible for Chief Njum to know that they had killed his wife, as no one had seen them do it, and they did not think he would ask them to a feast if he wished to harm them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, cripple, people, witches, one, Nara · **What happens:** go, try, persuade, not go, say, be · **To what, where:** other witches, feast, witches · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, cripple, people, witches), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:14:49
# text = When the man had gone, the cripple tried to persuade the other witches not to go to the feast, as he said that the people of the town would be certain to revenge themselves upon them for the death of Nara, but the witches did not agree with him, and said that it was impossible for Chief Njum to know that they had killed his wife, as no one had seen them do it, and they did not think he would ask them to a feast if he wished to harm them.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cripple	cripple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	persuade	persuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
33	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	advcl	_	_
36	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	33	obl	_	_
37	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	Nara	Nara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
48	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
50	agree	agree	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
51	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	advcl	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	expl	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	cop	_	_
59	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	ccomp	_	_
60	for	for	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
62	Njum	Njum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	61	flat	_	_
63	to	to	PART	TO	_	64	mark	_	_
64	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	csubj	_	_
65	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	68	mark	_	_
66	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	68	nsubj:pass	_	_
67	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	68	aux	_	_
68	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	64	ccomp	_	_
69	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	70	nmod:poss	_	_
70	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	76	punct	_	_
72	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	76	mark	_	_
73	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	74	det	_	_
74	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	nsubj	_	_
75	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	76	aux	_	_
76	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	55	ccomp	_	_
77	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	76	obj	_	_
78	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	76	ccomp	_	_
79	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	78	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	85	punct	_	_
81	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	85	cc	_	_
82	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	85	nsubj	_	_
83	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	85	aux	_	_
84	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	85	advmod	_	_
85	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	parataxis	_	_
86	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	88	nsubj	_	_
87	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	88	aux	_	_
88	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	85	ccomp	_	_
89	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	88	obj	_	_
90	to	to	ADP	IN	_	92	case	_	_
91	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	92	det	_	_
92	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	88	obl	_	_
93	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	95	mark	_	_
94	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	95	nsubj	_	_
95	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	88	ccomp	_	_
96	to	to	PART	TO	_	97	mark	_	_
97	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	95	xcomp	_	_
98	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	97	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
99	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · perfect | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **try** | past | the cripple |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **persuade** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the cripple *not said here* | the other witches |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent witch=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **go** | to-infinitive | the cripple *not said here* |  |  | the feast |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to feast=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  | upon people; for the death of Nara | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **is** | would | the people of the town |  |  |  |  | people *obl*; revenge *advcl*; certain *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **agree** *speech: agree* | past · do-support | the witches |  |  |  |  | with man | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent how S»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the witches *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for Chief; impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **know** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 11 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive |  | witches *= witch* |  |  |  | man's wife *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer wife=Result |
| 12 | **see** | past · perfect | no one | witches *= witch* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 13 | **do** | present |  | feast |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 14 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past · do-support | witches *= witch* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 15 | **ask** *speech: ask* | would | man |  | witches *= witch* |  |  | to a feast | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 16 | **wish** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 17 | **harm** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | witches *= witch* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 18 | **die** |  | Nara |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/48/)
- next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/50/)
- ↑ back to [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/)