---
title: She covered herself with the skin of an owl when she wanted to fly a… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: She covered herself with the skin of an owl when she wanted to fly at night for the purpose of taking the first joints off the fingers of children, which she used to string up like old-fashioned, dried apples in her camp. Who acts: witch, purpose. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. La
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Rama Witches. (no. 1.), sentence 3

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She covered herself with the skin of an owl when she wanted to fly at night for the purpose of taking the first joints off the fingers of children, which she used to string up like old-fashioned, dried apples in her camp.

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**Who acts:** witch, purpose · **What happens:** cover, want, fly, take, use up, dry · **To what, where:** witch, first joints, fingers

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Rama Witches. (no. 1.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (witch, purpose), 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:pg76755:12:3
# text = She covered herself with the skin of an owl when she wanted to fly at night for the purpose of taking the first joints off the fingers of children, which she used to string up like old-fashioned, dried apples in her camp.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	covered	cover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	taking	take	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	24	amod	_	_
24	joints	joint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
25	off	off	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	obj	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	advcl	_	_
36	up	up	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
37	like	like	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
38	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	fashioned	fashioned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
42	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	amod	_	_
43	apples	apple	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	camp	camp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past | witch | witch |  |  |  | with the skin of a owl | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent herself=Destination with skin=Theme |
| 2 | **want** | past | witch |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **fly** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | witch *not said here* |  |  |  | night | for the purpose | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | gerund | the purpose *not said here* | the first joints |  | the fingers of children |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent joint=Theme off finger=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **use up** | past | witch | the fingers of children |  |  |  | like fashioned dried apples in witch's camp; string *advcl* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Patient |
| 6 | **dry** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Project Gutenberg book 76755 (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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