Fairy Tales, The Princess in the Chest, part 10: the king breaks his word, the princess dies, and the sentinels vanish one by one

Tests: 6 of 13 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 14 of 17 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 1621 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, the bud was sweet and then bitter? Total fail, innit?

1. Yeah, sweet first, then bitter as gall — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yeah, sour first, then sweet as honey — no support
3. Yeah, it was sweet at first, then went bitter as gall on the tongue, innit — ← Mova's choice · score -1
4. Yeah, sweet first, then bitter as gall, proper nasty stuff that was — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1621, line 7: «What: the bud was "sweet to taste", but afterwards it was "as bitter as gall" in the queen's mouth.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+1); the same circumstance (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-3). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

Mate, how come nobody could see the princess till she was fourteen?

1. The king just wanted to keep her — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. The wise woman said it would bring misery — ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. The wise woman said it would bring misery, and the king had sworn to obey her word for ever — score 5
4. The wise woman said it would bring misery to the whole household if anyone saw her — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. 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 1575, line 10: «Why: Minnikin is not happy, because both Princesses want him, but he "wanted to have none other than the one whom he had first saved".», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «princesses» (+3); the same action «want» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

Did the princess really talk straight after being born?

1. Nah, she spoke like a grown man — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. Yeah, she was wise like an older person — ✓ the right answer · score 2
3. Yeah, she was wise like an older person and spoke clear sentences at once — score 5
4. Yeah, she was loud like a baby — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1621, line 1: «The king is cross that the queen has no child, so he goes off on a journey for a whole year.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same doer «king» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · right ✓

So the king just barged in on her? Gutted for the nurse, yeah?

1. He burst the door and shoved the nurse aside — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. He burst the door and shoved the nurse aside, then ran straight to the cradle — score 5
3. He kicked the window and called out — score 5
4. He opened the door and pushed the maid — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 1621, line 11: «The king breaks the rule because he is "quite unreasonable" and says "No nonsense", then bursts the door open.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «burst» (+3); the same doer «king» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · right ✓

Wait, what did the princess say she'd do the day after?

1. Die, so the king had to pick a thing from the three she offered him — score 8
2. Vanish, so the king had to pick — score 1
3. Marry, so the king had to pick — score 1
4. Die, so the king had to pick a thing — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 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 1621, line 3: «The king bursts into the secret wing and sees his daughter, who tells him she must die the next day.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (+3); the same action «die» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · right ✓

Was the chest thing the king's idea or hers?

1. He made it up, and she agreed — score 3
2. She offered three choices to him, and after much thought he picked the chest as the least bad — score 5
3. She offered three options, and in the end he picked the plain chest herself — score 5
4. She offered three, and he picked the chest — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 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 606, line 4: «Rann watches the monkeys swing along the treetops and says they always peck at new things and never finish.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «peck» (+3); the same doer «monkeys» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · right ✓

Yo, how many sentinels went missing in total?

1. Every single one, night after night — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Several, most nights, some weeks — no support
3. Just one — no support
4. Nearly all of them, over a year — 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 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

Did the soldiers stop volunteering or keep queuing up?

1. They kept coming, and were brave — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. They quit, and nobody came back — score 5
3. They stopped, and only reckless fellows came, which the king found sad — score 5
4. They stopped, and only reckless fellows came — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 1316, line 7: «What: he keeps starting again, because the children keep interrupting with eager questions.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «keep» (+3); the same doer «soldier» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · right ✓

Wait, the reward was real? Did any guy actually get paid?

1. Nah, they vanished before getting paid — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Nah, they all vanished in the chapel before the king's steward could ever count out the payment — no support
3. Yes, each got paid in full coin — no support
4. Nah, they vanished before getting paid, so the reward was never handed over — 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 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

So people reckoned a ghost ate them? That's mental, bruv

1. Yeah, that was the big rumour in town — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yeah, that was the wolves, I think — no support
3. Yeah, that was the big rumour in town, though nobody had actually seen it — no support
4. Yeah, that was the big rumour going round the town for months, though no one had seen any ghost at all — ← Mova's choice · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1550, line 9: «Kari's own family and the other servants scold her and say she is "so black and ugly" that the Prince might see her and make them all suffer.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «see» (+3); the same doer «prince» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

Who was the merry young smith then, the hero?

1. The guard who fell asleep first — no support
2. The one who turns up at the very end, and who is the real hero of the whole tale told here — ← Mova's choice · score 2
3. The one who turns up at the very end of the story, after everyone has given up — score -6
4. The one who turns up at the very end — ✓ the right answer · score -6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 2, against -6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1584, line 11: «Regin wanted Sigurd to roast the heart and "let him taste of it", but the hero is the one who tastes it.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «hero» (+1); the same thing acted on «one» (+1). The right option, 4, scored -6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the bush brown or green, the one in the garden?

1. Green, not brown, with smooth leaves — ← Mova's choice · score -1
2. Brown, rather than green, with hairy leaves — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Brown, with smooth leaves, not hairy — no support
4. Brown, rather than green, with hairy leaves and a thorn at every tip — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 301, line 12: «Her blood flows from the thorns, yet the bush puts out green leaves and flowers in the winter night.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. Against it: the same property (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 13 · ★ · right ✓

How long was the king off on his trip, innit?

1. A whole year, like he said, which felt far too long for everyone waiting — score 5
2. A few months, as he said — score 5
3. A whole year, like he said — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. A whole year, like he said, travelling across many lands and seas to find his cure — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 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 1621, line 11: «The king breaks the rule because he is "quite unreasonable" and says "No nonsense", then bursts the door open.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «king» (+3); the same action «say» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which condition did the wise woman lay down concerning visitors to the child?

1. Only the nurse might see the child until its twelfth year — score -1
2. Nobody may see the child before it turns fourteen at all — score 1
3. Nobody at all — ← Mova's choice · score 7
4. No person was to visit the child until its fourteenth year — ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 1362, line 1: «The father remembers that his daughter stays alone in her room and avoids visitors, so he starts to doubt her.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «visitors» (+4); a different action (counts against) (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+1). The right option, 4, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

To what did the princess attribute the calamity she foretold?

1. To the king's disobedience in beholding her before the appointed time, which the wise woman had forbidden him to do in the palace — score 4
2. To the king's disobedience in beholding her before the appointed time, and his pride — score 4
3. To the nurse's careless tongue in telling the whole court of her birth — score 3
4. To the king's disobedience in beholding her before the appointed time — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask whom it is for. It chose option 4 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1303, line 9: «fact: Why: the princess recognises him because she had written her name under his arm, so she knows he is the true winner.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «name» (+2); the same doer «princess» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

What alternative did the king select from the three proposed by his daughter?

1. The burial of the princess in a golden coffin with a priest — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. The interment of the princess in a plain chest with a sentinel and a lock — score 1
3. The interment of the princess in a plain chest with a sentinel posted through every night of the year — score 1
4. The interment of the princess in a plain chest with a sentinel — ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 1, tied with another option at 1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 88, line 11: ««Shu» means sky; its end sound is «the round-egg-sound made thin». Taffy suggests a thin egg, «a frog that hasn't eaten anything for years», but Daddy fears it…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+1). The right option, 4, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

What was the outcome for each sentinel posted beside the princess's chest?

1. He vanished without trace and was never seen again — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. He was found dead beside the chest at dawn each day — no support
3. He vanished without trace from the chapel during the night and was never seen again by anyone in the town — no support
4. He vanished without trace and was never seen again, though the chest stayed shut — 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

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