---
title: There were two witches there, The Porcupine and Toad, Bearing the hu… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: There were two witches there, The Porcupine and Toad, Bearing the human form; Of them he humbly asked How the Master was to die, And to him the Toad replied, “Well! Who acts: two witches, Porcupine, Kulóskap, Master. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 9, wit
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 9, sentence 48

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There were two witches there, The Porcupine and Toad, Bearing the human form; Of them he humbly asked How the Master was to die, And to him the Toad replied, “Well!

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**Who acts:** two witches, Porcupine, Kulóskap, Master, Toad · **What happens:** be, bear, ask, reply · **To what, where:** human form, Kulóskap

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two witches, Porcupine, Kulóskap, Master), 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:pg78673:9:48
# text = There were two witches there, The Porcupine and Toad, Bearing the human form; Of them he humbly asked How the Master was to die, And to him the Toad replied, “Well!
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Porcupine	Porcupine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	Toad	Toad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	Bearing	bear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	humbly	humbly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
22	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Toad	Toad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	34	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | two witches and the Porcupine and Toad |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **bear** | gerund | the Porcupine and Toad *not said here* | the human form |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Patient |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Kulóskap |  |  |  |  | of witches *= witch*; humbly *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S\_INF»: agent=Agent of they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | the Master |  |  |  |  | die *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the Toad |  | Kulóskap |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to he=Theme |

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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:** «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (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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