---
title: He said: “Lion takes me for a fool if he thinks I will call his chil… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said: “Lion takes me for a fool if he thinks I will call his children while my own are dying with hunger.” Who acts: Lion. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., sentence 9

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He said: “Lion takes me for a fool if he thinks I will call his children while my own are dying with hunger.”

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**Who acts:** Lion · **What happens:** say, take, think, call, die · **To what, where:** Lion, children, own · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lion), 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:pg71335:25:9
# text = He said: “Lion takes me for a fool if he thinks I will call his children while my own are dying with hunger.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	thinks	think	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obl	_	_
22	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	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 | Lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | present | Lion | Lion |  |  |  | for a fool | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent i=Theme for fool=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | Lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **call** *in a quote* | future | Lion |  | Lion's children |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent child=Recipient |
| 5 | **die** *in a quote* | present · progressive | Lion *not said here* | my own |  |  |  | with hunger | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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