---
title: After the python and his wife had had their early morning food, they… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: After the python and his wife had had their early morning food, they started off for Okuni, but when they arrived at the first water outside the town where the road branched off to the farm, the python, remembering that ’Ndere had refused to marry Chief Kaku, thought it very probable that the chief 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 62

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After the python and his wife had had their early morning food, they started off for Okuni, but when they arrived at the first water outside the town where the road branched off to the farm, the python, remembering that ’Ndere had refused to marry Chief Kaku, thought it very probable that the chief would cause him to be waylaid and his wife taken away from him.

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**Who acts:** wife, men, road, Ndere, chief · **What happens:** have, start off, arrive, branch off, remember, refuse · **To what, where:** early morning food, first water, Chief, road, python · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, men, road, Ndere), 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:pg70959:24:62
# text = After the python and his wife had had their early morning food, they started off for Okuni, but when they arrived at the first water outside the town where the road branched off to the farm, the python, remembering that ’Ndere had refused to marry Chief Kaku, thought it very probable that the chief would cause him to be waylaid and his wife taken away from him.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
10	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	27	amod	_	_
27	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	34	advmod	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	branched	branch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
35	off	off	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	remembering	remember	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
45	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	refused	refuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	43	ccomp	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
52	Kaku	Kaku	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
54	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	very	very	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	probable	probable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	xcomp	_	_
58	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	_
61	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
62	cause	cause	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	advcl	_	_
63	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	obj	_	_
64	to	to	PART	TO	_	66	mark	_	_
65	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	66	aux:pass	_	_
66	waylaid	waylay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	62	advcl	_	_
67	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
68	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	69	nmod:poss	_	_
69	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	nsubj	_	_
70	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	66	conj	_	_
71	away	away	ADV	RB	_	70	advmod	_	_
72	from	from	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
73	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	70	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past · perfect | python's wife | men's early morning food |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |
| 2 | **start off** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  | after the python | for Okuni | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **arrive** | past | men *= man* |  |  | the first water outside the town |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **branch off** | past | the road |  |  |  |  | to the farm and the python | vn differ-23.4 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **remember** | gerund | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **refuse** | past · perfect | Ndere |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **marry** | to-infinitive | Ndere *not said here* | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chief=Patient |
| 8 | **think** *speech: other* | past | men *= man* *not said here* | road |  |  |  | probable *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 9 | **cause** | would | the chief | python |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition he=Patient |
| 10 | **waylay** | to-infinitive · passive | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **take away** | participle | Chief's wife |  |  |  |  | from Chief; away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent from he=Initial\_Location |

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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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