---
title: When the bush fowls heard this they begged the cock and hen not to d… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the bush fowls heard this they begged the cock and hen not to do so, and told them that the men would kill and eat them, but the cocks and hens replied that they would rather take their chance with the men than have their chickens killed by the hawk in the bush. Who acts: bush, hawks, men, cock
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow., sentence 38

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When the bush fowls heard this they begged the cock and hen not to do so, and told them that the men would kill and eat them, but the cocks and hens replied that they would rather take their chance with the men than have their chickens killed by the hawk in the bush.

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**Who acts:** bush, hawks, men, cocks · **What happens:** fowl, hear, beg, not do, tell, kill · **To what, where:** this, cock, hawks, chance, chickens · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bush, hawks, men, cocks), 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:pg70959:23:38
# text = When the bush fowls heard this they begged the cock and hen not to do so, and told them that the men would kill and eat them, but the cocks and hens replied that they would rather take their chance with the men than have their chickens killed by the hawk in the bush.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fowls	fowl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	iobj	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nsubj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	_
35	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	ccomp	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
46	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
47	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	acl:relcl	_	_
48	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	chickens	chicken	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
50	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	acl	_	_
51	by	by	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fowl** | present | the bush |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past | the bush *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | hawks *= hawk* |  | the cock and hen |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent cock=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | hawks *= hawk* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | hawks *= hawk* *not said here* |  | hawks *= hawk* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **kill** | would | the men |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **eat** | infinitive | the men *not said here* | hawks *= hawk* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 8 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the cocks and hens |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **take** | would | hawks *= hawk* | hawks's chance |  |  |  | with the men | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chance=Theme |
| 10 | **have** | present | the men *not said here* | hawks's chickens |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chicken=Patient |
| 11 | **kill** | participle |  | hawks's chickens *not said here* |  |  |  | by the hawk in the bush | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 12 | **chance** |  | hawks *= hawk* |  |  |  |  |  | nom chance «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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