---
title: He ran very slowly; the wolves began to howl as if some strange crea… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: He ran very slowly; the wolves began to howl as if some strange creature were near, and the boy saw his own brother in a tree over his head. Who acts: scalp, wolves, strange creature, boy. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XIV. the Little Wolf Brot
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/39/42/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Wigwam stories told by North American…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/) / [XIV. the Little Wolf Brother](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/39/) / 42

# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XIV. the Little Wolf Brother, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He ran very slowly; the wolves began to howl as if some strange creature were near, and the boy saw his own brother in a tree over his head.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** scalp, wolves, strange creature, boy · **What happens:** run, begin, howl, be, see · **To what, where:** own brother, tree

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XIV. the Little Wolf Brother. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (scalp, wolves, strange creature, boy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg73136:39:42
# text = He ran very slowly; the wolves began to howl as if some strange creature were near, and the boy saw his own brother in a tree over his head.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	howl	howl	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
14	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	near	near	ADV	RB	_	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	over	over	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | scalp |  |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past | the wolves |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **howl** | to-infinitive | the wolves *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | some strange creature |  |  |  |  | near *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | past | the boy | boy's own brother |  | a tree over boy's head |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer brother=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/39/41/)
- next →: [sentence 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/39/43/)
- ↑ back to [XIV. the Little Wolf Brother](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/39/)