---
title: They said: “The tail of a mbulu will want mice and fat,” so they set… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They said: “The tail of a mbulu will want mice and fat,” so they set snares to catch the mice. Who acts: girls, tail. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl and the Mbulu., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl and the Mbulu., sentence 28

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They said: “The tail of a mbulu will want mice and fat,” so they set snares to catch the mice.

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**Who acts:** girls, tail · **What happens:** say, want, set, catch · **To what, where:** mice, snares · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl and the Mbulu.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girls, tail), 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:pg71335:16:28
# text = They said: “The tail of a mbulu will want mice and fat,” so they set snares to catch the mice.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	mbulu	mbulu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
12	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
20	snares	snare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **want** *in a quote* | future | the tail of a mbulu | mice and fat |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot mouse=Theme |
| 3 | **set** | past | girls *= girl* | snares |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **catch** | to-infinitive | girls *= girl* *not said here* | the mice |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Theme |

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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:** «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Project Gutenberg book 71335 (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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