---
title: The mouse then said: “As it is so, you must kill me and throw my ski… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The mouse then said: “As it is so, you must kill me and throw my skin up in the air.” Who acts: mouse, water, you. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 118

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The mouse then said: “As it is so, you must kill me and throw my skin up in the air.”

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**Who acts:** mouse, water, you · **What happens:** say, be, kill, throw up · **To what, where:** mouse, skin, air · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mouse, water, you), 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:pg71335:9:118
# text = The mouse then said: “As it is so, you must kill me and throw my skin up in the air.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	up	up	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	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 | the mouse |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | water |  |  |  |  | so *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **kill** *in a quote* | must | you | the mouse *= mouse* |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **throw up** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | my skin |  | the air |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent skin=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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