---
title: The hare therefore reached his house some time before the Elephantia… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The hare therefore reached his house some time before the Elephantiasis, and at once called out to his wife and told her to go and stay with a neighbour of his for a few days as he was running away from a man, and his enemies were following him to kill him or take him prisoner, and he feared that th
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 67

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The hare therefore reached his house some time before the Elephantiasis, and at once called out to his wife and told her to go and stay with a neighbour of his for a few days as he was running away from a man, and his enemies were following him to kill him or take him prisoner, and he feared that they might catch her.

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**Who acts:** hare, ELEPHANTIASIS, enemies, HARES · **What happens:** reach, call out, tell, go, stay, run away · **To what, where:** house, wife, ELEPHANTIASIS · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hare, ELEPHANTIASIS, enemies, HARES), 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:pg70959:18:67
# text = The hare therefore reached his house some time before the Elephantiasis, and at once called out to his wife and told her to go and stay with a neighbour of his for a few days as he was running away from a man, and his enemies were following him to kill him or take him prisoner, and he feared that they might catch her.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Elephantiasis	elephantiasis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	obl	_	_
16	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
17	out	out	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
37	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
41	away	away	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
42	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
49	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
51	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
54	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	conj	_	_
57	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
60	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
61	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
62	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
63	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	66	mark	_	_
64	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	nsubj	_	_
65	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	66	aux	_	_
66	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	62	advcl	_	_
67	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | the hare | ELEPHANTIASIS's house |  |  | before the Elephantiasis; time | therefore *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 2 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle |  |  | ELEPHANTIASIS's wife |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | wife |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **stay** | infinitive |  |  |  |  | day | with a neighbour of ELEPHANTIASIS | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with neighbour=Location |
| 6 | **run away** | past · progressive | ELEPHANTIASIS |  |  |  |  | from a man; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from man=Trajectory |
| 7 | **follow** | past · progressive | ELEPHANTIASIS's enemies | ELEPHANTIASIS |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 8 | **kill** | to-infinitive | ELEPHANTIASIS's enemies *not said here* | ELEPHANTIASIS |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 9 | **take** | infinitive | ELEPHANTIASIS's enemies *not said here* | ELEPHANTIASIS |  |  |  | prisoner *obj* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Theme prisoner=Destination |
| 10 | **fear** | past | ELEPHANTIASIS |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 11 | **catch** | might | HARES *= hare* | wife |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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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