---
title: In the days when the elephant was king over all the beasts of the fo… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: In the days when the elephant was king over all the beasts of the forest, it was the custom for all the animals to go once a year and make the elephant’s farm for him. Who acts: elephant, animals. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Nev
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/22/1/)

<!-- 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/) / [Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a T…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/22/) / 1

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the days when the elephant was king over all the beasts of the forest, it was the custom for all the animals to go once a year and make the elephant’s farm for him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** elephant, animals · **What happens:** be, go, make · **To what, where:** king, beasts, custom, farm

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant, animals), 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:pg70959:22:1
# text = In the days when the elephant was king over all the beasts of the forest, it was the custom for all the animals to go once a year and make the elephant’s farm for him.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
21	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl	_	_
27	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	26	advmod	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl:unmarked	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’s	's	PART	POS	_	33	case	_	_
35	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the elephant | king |  | all beasts of the forest | day |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | elephant | the custom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | to-infinitive | all animals |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **make** | present | all animals *not said here* | the elephant's farm |  |  |  | for king | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent farm=Product for he=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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: [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young…, 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/52/)
- next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/22/2/)
- ↑ back to [Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/22/)