---
title: The Wanganui River, down which the sacred fire came from the crater… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The Wanganui River, down which the sacred fire came from the crater of Ngauruhoe, was then dry; it was a rift opened for it by the Volcano Gods. Who acts: Wanganui River, wall. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, How the Sacred Fire Came to Wit
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/13/43/)

<!-- 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/) / [Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Ca…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/) / [How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/13/) / 43

# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill., sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Wanganui River, down which the sacred fire came from the crater of Ngauruhoe, was then dry; it was a rift opened for it by the Volcano Gods.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Wanganui River, wall · **What happens:** come, be, open · **To what, where:** crater, rift

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Wanganui River, wall), 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:pg73766:13:43
# text = The Wanganui River, down which the sacred fire came from the crater of Ngauruhoe, was then dry; it was a rift opened for it by the Volcano Gods.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Wanganui	Wanganui	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	River	River	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	crater	crater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Ngauruhoe	Ngauruhoe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
19	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	rift	rift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
25	opened	open	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	Volcano	Volcano	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	Gods	God	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the Wanganui River |  |  | the crater of Ngauruhoe |  | which *nsubj*; the sacred fire *nsubj*; down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from crater=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | then | dry *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | wall | a rift |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **open** | participle |  | a rift *not said here* |  |  |  | for wall; by the Volcano Gods | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by god=Location |

<!-- .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:** «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Project Gutenberg book 73766 (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 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/13/42/)
- next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/13/44/)
- ↑ back to [How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/13/)