---
title: So in the morning the tortoise went off into the bush, leaving the b… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So in the morning the tortoise went off into the bush, leaving the bush buck to be eaten by the python. Who acts: tortoise, python. 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 pragmat
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 26

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So in the morning the tortoise went off into the bush, leaving the bush buck to be eaten by the python.

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**Who acts:** tortoise, python · **What happens:** go off, leave, eat · **To what, where:** bush, bush buck

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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 (tortoise, python), 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:pg70959:22:26
# text = So in the morning the tortoise went off into the bush, leaving the bush buck to be eaten by the python.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	off	off	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	buck	buck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go off** | past | the tortoise |  |  | the bush | morning |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **leave** | gerund | the tortoise *not said here* | the bush buck |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buck=Theme |
| 3 | **eat** | to-infinitive · passive | the python | the bush buck *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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