---
title: As he could not send his young men to Okuni to kill the python and t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As he could not send his young men to Okuni to kill the python and take ’Ndere away by force, as that would mean war between the two countries, for which he was not prepared, seeing that the Okuni people were very powerful, he determined to wait and lay another trap for the python. Who acts: Chief, 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/67/)

<!-- 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/) / [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/) / 67

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As he could not send his young men to Okuni to kill the python and take ’Ndere away by force, as that would mean war between the two countries, for which he was not prepared, seeing that the Okuni people were very powerful, he determined to wait and lay another trap for the python.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Chief, that, Okuni people · **What happens:** not send, kill, take ', mean, not prepare, see · **To what, where:** young men, Okuni, python, Ndere, war, Chief

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Chief, that, Okuni people), 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:pg70959:24:67
# text = As he could not send his young men to Okuni to kill the python and take ’Ndere away by force, as that would mean war between the two countries, for which he was not prepared, seeing that the Okuni people were very powerful, he determined to wait and lay another trap for the python.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
17	’	'	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	away	away	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	nsubj	_	_
25	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
27	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
28	between	between	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	obl	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	advcl	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	very	very	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	determined	determine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	conj	_	_
55	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	56	det	_	_
56	trap	trap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
57	for	for	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	50	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **send** | could | Chief | Chief's young men | Okuni |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent man=Theme to okuni=Destination |
| 2 | **kill** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | the python |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent python=Theme |
| 3 | **take '** | infinitive | Chief *not said here* |  | Ndere |  |  | away *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument ndere=Destination |
| 4 | **mean** | would | that | war |  |  |  | between the two countries | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent war=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **prepare** | past · passive |  | Chief |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Product for which=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **see** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** | past | the Okuni people |  |  |  |  | powerful *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **determine** | past | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **wait** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **lay** | infinitive | Chief *not said here* | another trap |  |  |  | for the python | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent trap=Result for python=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: [sentence 66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/66/)
- next →: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/68/)
- ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/)