---
title: The tortoise then charged the hare with attempting to steal the king… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The tortoise then charged the hare with attempting to steal the king’s meat, and told the people of the trap he had set. Who acts: tortoise, trap. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., with it
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 60

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The tortoise then charged the hare with attempting to steal the king’s meat, and told the people of the trap he had set.

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**Who acts:** tortoise, trap · **What happens:** charge, attempt, steal, tell, set · **To what, where:** hare, meat, people, tortoise · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tortoise, trap), 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:pg70959:4:60
# text = The tortoise then charged the hare with attempting to steal the king’s meat, and told the people of the trap he had set.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	charged	charge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	attempting	attempt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	iobj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	trap	trap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **charge** | past | the tortoise | the hare |  |  | then |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location hare=Theme |
| 2 | **attempt** | gerund | the tortoise *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **steal** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the tortoise *not said here* | the king's meat |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location meat=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the tortoise *not said here* |  | the people of the trap |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 5 | **set** | past · perfect · passive | the trap *not said here* | tortoise |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |

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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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