Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, part 2: the boy becomes a thief's apprentice and robs a farmer at Hallowe'en

Tests: 1 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 1277 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 ✗

Wha's the Shifty Lad's big plan, like, when he's grown?

1. be a farmer — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. go to school — no support
3. be a thief — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. a priest — 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 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

Yer man's ma heard a voice in the bushes, yeah, so what did it shout?

1. Murder! Murder! — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Robbery! Robbery! — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Thief! — no support
4. Help! — 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 3 · ★ · right ✓

Ah sure, how did the boy get his ma not to know it was him?

1. changed his voice — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. hid his face — score 4
3. used a funny voice — score 4
4. ran away — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1277, line 8: «The boy tricks his mother by changing his voice, so she does not know it is him shouting "Robbery! Robbery!"», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «change» (+2); the same doer «boy» (+2); the same thing acted on «voice» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

Ye know the Black Gallows Bird, the class thief? Why couldn't anyone catch him?

1. he hid in trees — score 1
2. he was too quick — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. he could run faster than any man in Ireland — score -2
4. nobody ever saw him in the day because he was hidden — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 5, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1123, line 20: «Old word "recognized" means knew again, so the Princess "recognized the King's son" when she saw him.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «see» (+3); the same thing acted on «king» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

Were the cattle grand, or what happened in the cowshed?

1. the boy loosened their ties — ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. the boy sold the cattle to the neighbours at dawn — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. the boy untied their ropes — score 2
4. the boy loosened all their ropes and let them out — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1277, line 12: «The farmer has sold his fat cattle for much money but has not yet paid for the thin ones in the cowhouse.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «sell» (+2); the same thing acted on «fat cattle» (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+1). The right option, 1, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗

Ha, the lad sewed the Gallows Bird's coat to what?

1. a thick old blanket from the farm's kitchen — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. a sheep's wool — score 8
3. a bullock's hide — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. a horse's skin — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask whom it is for. It chose option 1 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 323, line 1: «Late at night Wendy sews double patches on the boys' knees and sighs that spinsters are to be envied.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «sew» (+6); the same thing acted on «double patches» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗

Any craic at the Hallowe'en party? What were the folk doin'?

1. dancin' in the barn till the sun came up in the morning — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. bobbin' for apples and singin' — no support
3. burnin' nuts, apple-catchin', and tellin' ghost stories — no support
4. burnin' nuts and apple-catchin' — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

Yer one cracked a nut, right? Why did the Gallows Bird run off?

1. the whole crowd of neighbours chased him out of the house — ← Mova's choice · score 3
2. the police came in — no support
3. the crowd chased him — ✓ the right answer · score 3
4. he had been caught stealing the last of the cheese — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1277, line 4: «On Hallowe'en the boy loosens the farmer's cattle and sews his master's coat to a bullock's hide, then cracks nuts to stir up the house.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «boy» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 3, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Sound, so what did the lad nick from behind the straw?

1. the silver and the gold — ← Mova's choice · score -5
2. the gold box — no support
3. the gold and silver chest — ✓ the right answer · score -5
4. the money bags and coins — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score -5, tied with another option at -5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1277, line 5: «The boy steals the chest of gold and silver from behind the straw, and the two thieves split the spoil until a shepherd appears with a fat sheep.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «straw» (+3); a different doer (counts against) (+2). Against it: it fills the role the question asks for (-2); the same thing acted on «chest» (-4). The right option, 3, scored -5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

Like, what did the lad and the Gallows Bird do with the loot?

1. shared it out equally — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. split it down the middle — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. buried it in the field — no support
4. split it down the middle and went off to the pub — 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 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

Wha's the bloke at the end carryin' on his shoulder?

1. a fat sheep from the upper field — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. a lamb — no support
3. a heavy sack of potatoes from the shed — no support
4. a fat sheep — ✓ 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

Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the lad's ma sound with him gettin' into thievin'?

1. yes, she was very proud — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. no, she was angry — no support
3. no, she was sorrowful — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. no, sad — 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 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

What, according to the narrative, did the Shifty Lad's mother identify as the terminal consequence of theft?

1. a life of exile across the sea in foreign lands — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. being publicly hanged at the bridge of Dublin town — no support
3. hanging at the gallows of Cork — no support
4. hanging at the bridge of Dublin — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1093, line 2: «His mother begs him to name his wish, and he asks for a cake made by Donkey-skin, the goose-girl.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «name» (+3); the same doer «mother» (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

By what stratagem did the Shifty Lad procure the knowledge of his future trade?

1. by disguising his voice to call "Robbery!" from the bushes at night — score -6
2. by pretending to be the farmer — no support
3. by disguising his voice to call "Robbery!" — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score -6
4. by lying to his mother's face — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score -6, tied with another option at -6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1277, line 2: «He hides by a path, shouts "Robbery! Robbery!" in a changed voice, and claims that shout as his trade, to his mother's dismay.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. Against it: it fills the role the question asks for (-2); the same thing acted on «robbery» (-4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

On which night, and in what manner, did the principal robbery of the farmer's chest transpire?

1. on Hallowe'en, while the household was distracted — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. at midnight in the cold — no support
3. in the morning, while the dog was sleeping by the fire — no support
4. on a dark night, while all slept — 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 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which person did the Black Rogue's wife formally designate as the superior practitioner of the thieving art?

1. the Shifty Lad — ✓ the right answer · score 1
2. the young lad who fooled his own mother — score 0
3. the boy — ← Mova's choice · score 3
4. the farmer's man — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1070, line 3: «Fiachna gives the Black Hag seven castles and a hundred cattle, then goes home, where his wife has a baby son.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «wife» (+4). Against it: the same thing acted on «baby son» (-1). The right option, 1, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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