---
title: Its sides and rungs were bristling with keen arrow-heads, so that no… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Its sides and rungs were bristling with keen arrow-heads, so that no living thing could climb it; but when Tái-oh chewed some of the magic herb and spat upon the ladder, all the sharp points fell off, and it was so smooth that he climbed it without a single scratch. Who acts: sides, living thing, sh
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/20/52/)

<!-- 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/) / [The man who married the moon, and othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/) / [The Moqui\[72\] Boy and the Eagle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/20/) / 52

# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Moqui\[72\] Boy and the Eagle, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its sides and rungs were bristling with keen arrow-heads, so that no living thing could climb it; but when Tái-oh chewed some of the magic herb and spat upon the ladder, all the sharp points fell off, and it was so smooth that he climbed it without a single scratch.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sides, living thing, sharp points, thing, Tái · **What happens:** bristle, climb, chew, fall off, be · **To what, where:** ladder, Tái

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Moqui\[72\] Boy and the Eagle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sides, living thing, sharp points, thing), 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:pg77804:20:52
# text = Its sides and rungs were bristling with keen arrow-heads, so that no living thing could climb it; but when Tái-oh chewed some of the magic herb and spat upon the ladder, all the sharp points fell off, and it was so smooth that he climbed it without a single scratch.
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	rungs	rung	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	bristling	bristle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	keen	keen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
9	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	19	mark	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	fixed	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	det	_	_
16	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	27	mark	_	_
24	Tái	Tái	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	27	discourse	_	_
27	chewed	chew	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
28	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	27	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	herb	herb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	spat	spat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	_
35	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	42	det:predet	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	points	point	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
43	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	parataxis	_	_
44	off	off	ADP	RP	_	43	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	so	so	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	conj	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	advcl	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	without	without	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	scratch	scratch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bristle** | past · progressive | ladder's sides and rungs |  |  |  |  | with keen arrow heads | vn bulge-47.5.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Location with head=Theme |
| 2 | **climb** | could | no living thing | ladder |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location it=Theme |
| 3 | **chew** | participle · passive |  | Tái |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **fall off** | past | all sharp points |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 5 | **is** | past | thing |  |  |  |  | smooth *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **climb** | past | Tái | ladder |  |  |  | without a single scratch | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location it=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (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 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/20/51/)
- next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/20/53/)
- ↑ back to [The Moqui\[72\] Boy and the Eagle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/20/)