Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey, part 59: the clever tortoise tricks an elephant and a whale into a tug-of-war
Tests: 2 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 11 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 1258 of the books course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
Wait, so the grass guy got a whole palace just cause he was nice?
- 1. Yeah, the peris said the grass guy had earned the palace by being nice to every single traveller he met on the road — ← Mova's choice · score 0
- 2. Nah, the peris said he worked really hard for it — no support
- 3. Kinda, the peris said God sends palaces to whoever is patient and kind and keeps quiet when others are rude to them, basically — score -4
- 4. Yeah, the peris said God rewards the simple-hearted — ✓ the right answer · score 0
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 0, tied with another option at 0 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1157, line 8: «Where: the new palace stands across the plain, and the young man goes "into the country" to make it.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «make» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 0. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
Bro, the merchant ran around all night looking for him, right?
- 1. Yep, he never even slept — ✓ the right answer · score 2
- 2. Yep, all night — no support
- 3. Nah, he rested by the well — no support
- 4. Yeah, he looked everywhere — ← Mova's choice · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 357, line 16: «Old word: "scoured" meant searched carefully or swept over, here the robber searched the seas for ships.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «robber» (+3); the same action «search» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗
Did the prince just fall for the princess straight away?
- 1. Yup, head over ears, instantly — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Nope, took ages — ← Mova's choice · score 2
- 3. Nah, he needed to think it over — score 2
- 4. Yeah, they met after a long time — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1201, line 4: «In the city he beats the jewelled drums, is brought before King Quimus, and answers the riddle with a verse, but the answer is wrong.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «bring» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · right ✓
Okay, so the tortoise was like the lil' sneaky one, yeah?
- 1. Yeah, very wise and very patient too — no support
- 2. Yeah, he was quite a clever one — no support
- 3. Yeah, total trickster, super sneaky — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 0
- 4. Nah, he was honest and open, he just happened to win because he was small and quick — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 142, line 13: «The moral of the tale: "no one the better for it except the Fox!" Fighting only helps the sneaky one.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
The elephant didn't even see the tortoise the whole time?
- 1. Nope, he thought the whale was his friend — no support
- 2. Yeah, he spotted the tortoise right away but decided he was too small to be worth bothering about at all — score 2
- 3. Nope, he was so busy pulling that he never once looked around to see who was really on the other end of the rope — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 4. Nope, he thought the whale was the only foe — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 899, line 20: «Quote: the boy sees his "heaven" in the Bronzino picture, where "the children smiling before Him" wait to enter heaven.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «boy» (+3); the same action «see» (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗
Wait, the whale and elephant both got tired and quit?
- 1. Nope, they kept pulling until the rope snapped and both of them fell into the lake together — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yeah, they were wiped out, so they stopped — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Nope, they were both still going strong — no support
- 4. Yeah, they got exhausted and quit — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · right ✓
So the tortoise got to be the winner, no cap?
- 1. Pretty much, the whale and elephant both lost to him, and he got to make the final announcement — score 0
- 2. Pretty much, he got the last word — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
- 3. Nah, the elephant won because he was bigger, but the tortoise got the last word in the end — score 2
- 4. Pretty much, he was the winner — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1258, line 5: «Both giants tug all day without seeing the tortoise, and when they are worn out, he comes out of hiding and calls the contest a draw.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «tortoise» (+3). Against it: the same thing acted on «contest» (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗
Was the palace there when the grass guy woke up?
- 1. Nope, it was just a dream — no support
- 2. Nah, it vanished — no support
- 3. Yep, it was real, not a dream — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Yep, the gardens were gone — ← Mova's choice · score 2
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 212, line 14: «What: the Sultan rubs his eyes because the palace "was gone," and he sends for the vizir.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
Did the king of Khaistan get to keep the golden cups?
- 1. Yeah, they kept the cups at home — score 0
- 2. Nah, each guest kept their cup as a memory — ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 3. Yeah, but the king demanded they be returned at dawn, so the guests all left with empty hands — score 2
- 4. Nah, the king kept all of them — ← Mova's choice · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1233, line 3: «His wife keeps vanishing, so at last she tells him a nail in the threshold will hold her.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «wife» (+3); the same action «keep» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
The whale just gave the tortoise a bone like that?
- 1. Yeah, he handed it over without any fuss, since the tortoise had asked so politely for it — ← Mova's choice · score 2
- 2. Nah, the whale refused at first, but then he gave it up after the tortoise pleaded with him — score 2
- 3. Yep, he gave it willingly enough — score 2
- 4. Yeah, he handed it over no problem — ✓ the right answer · score 2
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 83, line 4: «Jaguar fetches his Mother. She says a Hedgehog is a Hedgehog and a Tortoise is a Tortoise, but when he says this is a bit of both, she says she would call it «…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «tortoise» (+3). Against it: the same thing acted on «tortoise» (-1). The right option, 4, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗
Okay, so the tortoise was young but still super clever?
- 1. Nah, he was actually old and wise, not young at all, just small in body and quiet in manner — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yeah, he was young but outsmarted everyone — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Yeah, he was young but quite foolish — no support
- 4. Yeah, he was young but he outsmarted both the whale and the elephant and the whole forest — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗
Was Wali Dâd nice to people for the rest of his life?
- 1. Nah, once he got the palace he forgot about the poor and never visited his old village again — ← Mova's choice · score 2
- 2. Yep, he helped everyone in trouble and built schools and wells across the whole kingdom of Khaistan — no support
- 3. Yep, he helped everyone in trouble — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Yep, he helped the poor often — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1258, line 13: «Why Wali Dâd refuses the princess: He says he is "far too old and ugly for so fair a lady."», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «wali» (+3). Against it: the same thing acted on «princess» (-1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following best describes the outcome of the tug-of-war between the elephant and the whale?
- 1. The whale dragged the elephant away. — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Each creature assumed the rope had been tied to its own opponent alone. — no support
- 3. The elephant lost, though he blamed the whale for cheating in the contest. — no support
- 4. Neither party perceived that the tortoise was their true opponent. — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
What is the principal reason given by the peris for the transformation of Wali Dâd's circumstances?
- 1. He pleased the peris with his humble prayers. — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The simple-hearted are rewarded by divine benevolence. — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Divine favour fell upon him for his patience. — no support
- 4. Kindness brings him wealth. — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which material is used for the vessels served to the lesser guests at the feast?
- 1. Bronze, for the poor. — no support
- 2. Pewter vessels, cheaper than those of the high-born nobles. — no support
- 3. Silver, but only after the king had first ordered the gold ones carried away to the treasury for safekeeping. — ← Mova's choice · score 0
- 4. Silver, as distinct from the gold reserved for the nobles. — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1233, line 13: «Who the miller is: a very rich man who invites wild animals to his wedding feast.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+1); a different doer (counts against) (+1). Against it: the same circumstance (-2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
In what manner does the tortoise conclude the contest between the two creatures?
- 1. He proposes a cessation of the trial for that day. — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. He proposes that the contest be paused until the morrow. — no support
- 3. He suggests they end it for now. — no support
- 4. He stops for today. — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1258-pg3282-part59/