---
title: On account of the hare’s wife lighting the lamp to look at her husba… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: On account of the hare’s wife lighting the lamp to look at her husband’s tail and thus spoiling his war ju-ju, it has been a custom ever since that when men are going to fight they will never trust their wives with their war ju-ju, and they will not sleep with them or eat any food which they have co
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 77

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On account of the hare’s wife lighting the lamp to look at her husband’s tail and thus spoiling his war ju-ju, it has been a custom ever since that when men are going to fight they will never trust their wives with their war ju-ju, and they will not sleep with them or eat any food which they have cooked with their hands until the fighting is over.

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**Who acts:** wife, tail, that, men, fighting · **What happens:** light, look, spoil, be, go, fight · **To what, where:** lamp, war ju ju, custom, account, wives, food

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, tail, that, men), 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:pg70959:19:77
# text = On account of the hare’s wife lighting the lamp to look at her husband’s tail and thus spoiling his war ju-ju, it has been a custom ever since that when men are going to fight they will never trust their wives with their war ju-ju, and they will not sleep with them or eat any food which they have cooked with their hands until the fighting is over.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	lighting	light	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	lamp	lamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	spoiling	spoil	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
22	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
23	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	cop	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
32	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	38	advmod	_	_
33	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	nsubj	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	38	advmod	_	_
36	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	parataxis	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
44	trust	trust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	ccomp	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obj	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
48	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
49	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	compound	_	_
50	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
56	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
58	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	parataxis	_	_
59	with	with	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obl	_	_
61	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	conj	_	_
63	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	64	det	_	_
64	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	_
65	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	68	nsubj:pass	_	_
66	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	68	nsubj:pass	_	_
67	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	68	aux	_	_
68	cooked	cook	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	64	acl:relcl	_	_
69	with	with	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	71	nmod:poss	_	_
71	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	68	obl	_	_
72	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	76	mark	_	_
73	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
74	fighting	fighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	nsubj	_	_
75	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	76	cop	_	_
76	over	over	ADV	RB	_	68	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **light** | gerund | the hare's wife *not said here* | the lamp |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lamp=Product |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive | the hare's wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at wife's husband's tail | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at tail=Theme |
| 3 | **spoil** | gerund | the hare's wife *not said here* | hare's war ju ju |  |  |  | thus *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | present · perfect | tail | a custom |  | account of the hare's wife |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | present · progressive | that |  |  |  | ever | men *nsubj* | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **fight** | to-infinitive | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **trust** | future | men *= man* |  | men's wives |  |  | with men's war ju ju | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient with ju=Theme |
| 8 | **not** **sleep** | future | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | with children *= child* | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **eat** | infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* | any food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |
| 10 | **cook** | present · perfect · passive |  | any food |  |  |  | with men's hands; men *= man* *nsubj:pass* | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with hand=Instrument |
| 11 | **is** | present | the fighting |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **account** |  |  | the hare's wife |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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:** «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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