Russian Folk-Tales, The Smith and the Demon, part 13: a Spider tricks the gnats, then a Smith's son torments a painted Demon
Tests: 3 of 13 right · Exam: 4 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 8 of 17 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 421 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 · ★ · right ✓
Bro, who got stuck in the Spider's web first?
- 1. the Gadfly — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. the Mosquito — no support
- 3. the Gadfly who had come buzzing too close — no support
- 4. the small Gnat that flew into the web first — 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 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
Okay, so where did the gnats hide, for real?
- 1. beside the dry river bank — score 5
- 2. under the old oak tree — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 3. under the ash-tree roots — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 4. under the roots of the big ash-tree by the pond — score 5
Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 421, line 2: «The Gadfly buzzes off to warn the gnats and flies, who hide under the ash-tree and pretend to be dead.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «hide» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «gnats» (+1); the same place «ash tree» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗
Dude, who sat on the mound and took snuff?
- 1. the Ant — ← Mova's choice · score 2
- 2. the Frog — score 2
- 3. the Sparrow — score 2
- 4. the Cricket — ✓ the right answer · score 2
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 193, line 19: «What: Alnaschar sits at his open door, "his eyes fixed on the basket", and talks aloud without knowing it.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «sit» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
Was the Spider's Kazan story legit or sus?
- 1. a total joke — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. a total lie — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. a completely made-up story from start to finish — no support
- 4. partly true but mostly a boastful lie — 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 5 · ★ · right ✓
Lowkey, what did the Smith paint on his door?
- 1. a Demon — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12
- 2. the Devil himself in a red coat — score 9
- 3. a Dragon — score 9
- 4. an Owl — score 9
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 12, against 9 for the next best. Its support: lesson 421, line 4: «A Smith paints a Demon on his smithy door, and after he dies his son hammers and spits at it, so the Demon comes to the smithy as an apprentice.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «smithy door» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); a different doer (counts against) (+3); the same action «paint» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗
Bruh, how many times did the son bonk the Demon?
- 1. twelve times every holy day — ← Mova's choice · score 2
- 2. seven — score 2
- 3. thirteen times on the forehead — score 2
- 4. three — ✓ the right answer · score 2
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. 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 159, line 3: «Weeks go by, the Boy loves the Rabbit so hard that he goes shabby, and then the Boy falls ill with a fever.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «love» (+2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). Against it: the same doer «boy» (-1). The right option, 4, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
So the Demon was basically undercover, right? Pretending to be what?
- 1. a stranger — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. an apprentice — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. a young apprentice working at the forge — no support
- 4. a handsome youth from a distant village — 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 ✗
No cap, what did the lady have to pay to get young?
- 1. every penny she had in her household chest — no support
- 2. a thousand kopecks — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 3. three hundred roubles — score 5
- 4. five hundred roubles — ✓ the right answer · score 5
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 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 50, line 22: «Talk in this lesson: «no cap» = honestly; «it's giving» = it feels like; «canny» (North East England) = very; «yeah nah» (Australia, NZ) = no.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «give» (+3); the same doer «cap» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
Wait, what did the Demon use to grab her?
- 1. hook — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 2. tongs — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 3. rope — score 5
- 4. claws — score 5
Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). 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 363, line 21: «Old word: "hedgerow" is still used today for a line of bushes growing along the edge of a field.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+3); the same doer «old word» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
Did the Smith stay chill with the Demon for ages?
- 1. around twelve years — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. about five years — no support
- 3. about ten years — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. two days — 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 · ★ · right ✓
Yo, what did the son do to the Demon on holy days?
- 1. tie it up and spit in its eye every holy day — score 2
- 2. kick it — no support
- 3. spit in its face — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 4. pull its tail — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 421, line 15: «After the father dies, the son thumps the Demon "three times right on the forehead" and spits in its face on holy days.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same doer «son» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same action «spit» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗
Real talk, what did the seigneur want?
- 1. to be made well — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. to be made rich — no support
- 3. to have his old age taken away forever — no support
- 4. to be made young — ✓ 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 13 · ★ · wrong ✗
Ngl, what did the Demon call the son's behaviour?
- 1. disrespectful behaviour towards his father — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. spite — no support
- 3. boldness — no support
- 4. insolence — ✓ 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 creature was first entangled in the Spider's snare?
- 1. The Gadfly — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The Fly — no support
- 3. The Gnat — no support
- 4. The Beetle — 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 · right ✓
In which city did the Spider's messengers claim the Spider had been executed?
- 1. Kazan — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. the great city of Nizhny Novgorod — no support
- 3. Perm — no support
- 4. Tula — 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 · right ✓
What object did the Smith have painted upon the door of the smithy?
- 1. A grinning Demon with horns and a tail — no support
- 2. A Dragon — no support
- 3. A Demon — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 4. The Devil himself in a red coat — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 421, line 4: «A Smith paints a Demon on his smithy door, and after he dies his son hammers and spits at it, so the Demon comes to the smithy as an apprentice.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «demon» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
What sum did the Demon demand for transforming the lady into a young woman?
- 1. Five hundred roubles — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Three hundred roubles — no support
- 3. Ten roubles — no support
- 4. A thousand kopecks — 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/421-pg22373-part13/