---
title: The bear ran down to the river and did just as the fox had told him,… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The bear ran down to the river and did just as the fox had told him, but the fishing place froze over while the bear waited for the fish to bite. Who acts: bear, fishing place. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XII. How the Bear Lost His Tail, with
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XII. How the Bear Lost His Tail, sentence 25

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The bear ran down to the river and did just as the fox had told him, but the fishing place froze over while the bear waited for the fish to bite.

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**Who acts:** bear, fishing place · **What happens:** run down, tell, freeze over, wait, bite · **To what, where:** fox, bear · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XII. How the Bear Lost His Tail. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bear, fishing place), 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:pg73136:37:25
# text = The bear ran down to the river and did just as the fox had told him, but the fishing place froze over while the bear waited for the fish to bite.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
9	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
10	just	just	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	fishing	fishing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	froze	freeze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
23	over	over	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run down** | past | the bear |  |  |  |  | to the river *result*; down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to river=Result |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive · do-support |  | the fox | bear |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Topic |
| 3 | **freeze over** | past | the fishing place |  |  |  |  | over *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **wait** | past | the bear |  |  |  |  | for the fish | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **bite** | to-infinitive | the bear *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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.

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**Text:** «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Project Gutenberg book 73136 (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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