---
title: The python agreed to this arrangement and allowed the tortoise to ea… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The python agreed to this arrangement and allowed the tortoise to eat the palm nuts. Who acts: python, tortoise. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 23

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The python agreed to this arrangement and allowed the tortoise to eat the palm nuts.

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**Who acts:** python, tortoise · **What happens:** agree, allow, eat · **To what, where:** tortoise, palm nuts

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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 (python, tortoise), 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:pg70959:22:23
# text = The python agreed to this arrangement and allowed the tortoise to eat the palm nuts.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	allowed	allow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | the python |  |  |  |  | to this arrangement | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **allow** | past | the python *not said here* | the tortoise |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer tortoise=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the tortoise *not said here* | the palm nuts |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nut=Patient |

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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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