Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 3: the merchant goes back to the fountain, and an old man begins his tale

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

Lesson 163 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 ✗

Mate, so the merchant just wanders back to get killed, proper?

1. Yeah, he gave his word, so he went back — ✓ the right answer · score 8
2. Nah, he never meant to go back, but then he remembered his promise and returned to the fountain — score 3
3. Yeah, he gave his word to the genie, so he went back to the fountain to die — score 8
4. Yeah, he went back to pay his debts — ← Mova's choice · score 10

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 163, line 7: «What: before he leaves, he pays his debts, gives "large alms to the poor," and sets his slaves at liberty.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «merchant» (+4); the same thing acted on «debts» (+4); the same action «pay» (+2). The right option, 1, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · right ✓

Bruv, the genie's all smoke and no chat, innit?

1. Yeah, he just pops out of the smoke with a sword — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yeah, he just pops out of the smoke with a sword and says he'll kill the merchant right there — no support
3. Nah, he's got loads to say, like how he was wronged, before he pulls out a sword from the smoke and charges — no support
4. Yeah, he's silent until he's lit up in smoke — 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 ✓

Wait, why's the old bloke's wife a deer, that's well weird?

1. Cos she was changed by magic, so it's the story — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Cos she was changed into a deer by magic and that's just how the story goes, mate — no support
3. Cos his wife was cursed by magic when she was a human and the story says she became a deer for ever — no support
4. Cos she was turned by a curse, that's the story — 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 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

Did the wife actually turn the kid into a calf, or was that a joke?

1. Nah, it was a joke — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah, she did it with a potion — no support
3. She did it for real, with magic — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. She did it for real, with powerful magic that nobody in the house could undo — 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 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

So the cow was the slave, and she cried, yeah?

1. Nah, she was a cow by then, so she just stood there and mooed a bit — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah, her eyes were streaming with tears as she lowed sadly in the stable all night — no support
3. Yeah, her eyes were streaming with tears — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Yeah, she wept quietly in the corner — 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 6 · ★ · wrong ✗

Was the steward's daughter, like, a proper witch or what?

1. Yeah, she knew magic and changed him back into a boy after he'd been a calf — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Nah, she was just clever with herbs — no support
3. Yeah, she knew real magic, and she used it to change her son back into a man at once — score 6
4. Yeah, she knew magic and changed him back — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 1 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 162, line 1: «Scheherazade begs her father, the grand-vizir, to take her to the Sultan, and he gives in with a heavy heart.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same circumstance (+3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · right ✓

Hang on, the calf begged the old man with its head on the ground?

1. Yeah, it begged him — no support
2. Yeah, it did that to stop him killing it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. Nah, it was just lying down — score 2
4. Yeah, it bowed to show respect to him — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 129, line 7: «What: the Dwarf is named, and he "stamped his right foot so hard in the ground" that he gets stuck.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «ground» (+4); the same thing acted on «ground» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

So the old man's wife was well mean, like a proper villain?

1. Yeah, she hated the boy and his mum — no support
2. Yeah, she hated the mum and son and wanted revenge — ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. Yeah, she hated the mum and son so much that she turned them both into animals for revenge — ← Mova's choice · score 10
4. Nah, she loved them, but she was jealous — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 163, line 5: «The first old man begins his tale: his wife turned his adopted son into a calf and the slave into a cow.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «wife» (+4); the same thing acted on «adopted son» (+4); the same action «turn» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Did the merchant cry when he said goodbye to his family, or nah?

1. Yeah, he wept so much he could barely tear himself away from the children at the door — score 8
2. Nah, he said goodbye and left calmly — ← Mova's choice · score 10
3. Yeah, he could barely tear himself away — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Nah, he hugged them all and walked off at once without shedding a single tear — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 162, line 5: «A furious genius with a scimitar blames the merchant for his son's death, and the merchant begs for a year to say goodbye.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «merchant» (+4); the same thing acted on «goodbye» (+4); the same action «say» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · right ✓

Why did the genie stop and listen? Was he just being nice?

1. He agreed after the old man begged him to — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. He was just nice — no support
3. He was bored — no support
4. He listened because he felt pity — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 163, line 14: «How: the genie "considered some time" before he agrees to hear the old man's story.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «agree» (+5); the same doer «genie» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

How many old men actually sat round the fountain, like three?

1. Yeah, three old men came to sit near him — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. Nah, actually four old men came along and sat around the fountain with the merchant that day — score 7
3. Yeah, three old men waited with the merchant, one after another, until the genie came — score 3
4. Yeah, three old men waited with the merchant — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 163, line 3: «When the year ends he returns to the fountain, where three old men come and sit down with him.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «come» (+6); the same doer «three old men» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗

Is the first old man's story the one about the hind, the boy and the slave?

1. Nah, he tells the genie a longer tale about a merchant, a hind, a boy and a slave woman — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yeah, that's the story he begins — no support
3. Yeah, that's the one he tells the genie to save the merchant, with the hind and the boy — no support
4. Yeah, that's the one he tells the genie — ✓ 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 1 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following accurately describes the action of the merchant upon returning to his household, as set out in the passage?

1. He wept bitterly and then disclosed the terms of his agreement with the genie — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. He wept bitterly at first and afterwards disclosed in full the terms of the agreement he had made with the genie at the fountain — no support
3. He stayed silent and then arranged a feast for his household — no support
4. He wept at once and then withheld the details of his pledge from them — 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 ✗

Which of the following best identifies the circumstances in which the first old man addresses the genie?

1. He kneels before the genie and asks him to calm down and hear his tale — ← Mova's choice · score 9
2. He kneels before the genie and petitions him to suspend his wrath and attend to his narrative — ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. He bows low and asks the genie to hear his account before striking — score 8
4. He kneels before the genie, begs him to suspend his wrath and listen patiently to the whole narrative from start to finish — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 163, line 14: «How: the genie "considered some time" before he agrees to hear the old man's story.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hear» (+6); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «story» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following correctly states the reason the first old man gives for his wife's hostility towards the adopted child?

1. Having taken a strong aversion to both mother and child, she concealed her feelings from him, pretending to be kind until the adopted son grew up — ← Mova's choice · score 10
2. She harboured a long-standing jealousy of both the mother and child, which she kept quiet — score 8
3. She conceived a strong aversion to both the mother and the child, which she concealed from him — ✓ the right answer · score 10
4. She conceived a deep and secret aversion to both the mother and the child, which she concealed from him for many years while pretending affection — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 10, tied with another option at 10 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 84, line 3: «A Stranger-man from a far tribe comes along. He does not understand a word of their language. Taffy tries to tell him to go and fetch the spear; he hands her a…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); a different action (counts against) (+3); the same doer «taffy» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 3, scored 10. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following accurately reports the outcome of the steward's daughter's intervention regarding the transformed son?

1. She restored him, but only if the woman who did it was punished harshly — no support
2. She agreed to restore him on condition of marriage and of punishing the woman responsible — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. She agreed to restore him to his human shape on condition that he married her and that the woman responsible was punished for her crime — ← Mova's choice · score 1
4. She agreed to help him, provided she could marry him and punish the culprit — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 104, line 16: «The King's word: "You have won the castle, and shall marry my daughter."», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «daughter» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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