---
title: When the mists steal down on the rhyolite knobs of the fire-fused Po… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: When the mists steal down on the rhyolite knobs of the fire-fused Port Hills and the Peninsula, craggy beyond description, peaked in a hundred fantastic shapes, with great black and grey nipples of lava protruding from the grassy slopes and the woody ridges, the land has an eerie look, fit playgroun
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, The Little People of the Mist., sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the mists steal down on the rhyolite knobs of the fire-fused Port Hills and the Peninsula, craggy beyond description, peaked in a hundred fantastic shapes, with great black and grey nipples of lava protruding from the grassy slopes and the woody ridges, the land has an eerie look, fit playground for the Forgetful People, as the old Irish would have called them.

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**Who acts:** mists, great black nipples, land · **What happens:** steal down, fuse, peak, protrude, have, call · **To what, where:** rhyolite knobs, hundred fantastic shapes, grassy slopes, eerie look, Irish · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, The Little People of the Mist.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mists, great black nipples, land), 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:pg73766:14:29
# text = When the mists steal down on the rhyolite knobs of the fire-fused Port Hills and the Peninsula, craggy beyond description, peaked in a hundred fantastic shapes, with great black and grey nipples of lava protruding from the grassy slopes and the woody ridges, the land has an eerie look, fit playground for the Forgetful People, as the old Irish would have called them.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	mists	mist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	steal	steal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	rhyolite	rhyolite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	knobs	knob	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
12	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	fused	fuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	Port	Port	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	Hills	Hill	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	Peninsula	Peninsula	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	craggy	craggy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
22	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	description	description	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	peaked	peak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	30	nummod	_	_
29	fantastic	fantastic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	shapes	shape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
33	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
34	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	conj	_	_
37	nipples	nipple	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	protruding	protrude	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	acl	_	_
41	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	grassy	grassy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	slopes	slope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	woody	woody	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	ridges	ridge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
52	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
53	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
54	eerie	eerie	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	fit	fit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	playground	playground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	appos	_	_
59	for	for	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
61	Forgetful	Forgetful	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	62	compound	_	_
62	People	People	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
64	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	70	mark	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
66	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	70	amod	_	_
67	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	70	nsubj:pass	_	_
68	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	70	aux	_	_
69	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	70	aux	_	_
70	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	conj	_	_
71	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	70	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steal down** | present | the mists |  |  | the rhyolite knobs of the Port Hills and the Peninsula |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on knob=Location |
| 2 | **fuse** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | fire *compound* | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **peak** | participle | the mists *not said here* |  |  | hundred fantastic shapes with great black nipples of lava |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **protrude** | gerund | great black nipples of lava *not said here* |  |  | the grassy slopes and the woody ridges |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | present | the land | a eerie look |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent look=Patient |
| 6 | **call** | would · perfect · passive |  | Irish |  |  |  | people *obj* | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme they=Result |

<!-- .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:** «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.

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