Fairy Tales, The Gold-Bearded Man, part 34: the prince frees a prisoner, meets three grateful creatures, and is set a grain-sorting task

Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 13 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 694 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 ✓

Wait, so the golden cage dude just bounced the second the door opened?

1. He vanished right after the prince opened the door — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
2. He vanished right after the prince opened the door, leaving the cage empty and the golden bars behind him — score 9
3. He begged for food and then ran off quickly — no support
4. He stayed a while to thank the prince warmly and promised to come back to the palace one day to repay him — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 9, tied with another option at 9 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 694, line 2: «The kind prince opens the door, and the man vanishes after promising to repay him. The boy then flees his stepfather's threat.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «open» (+4); the same thing acted on «door» (+3); the same doer «kind prince» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

Bro, why did the prince not just shoot the pigeon when he was starving?

1. He was too weak — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. He felt sorry for it and lowered his bow — score 5
3. It was too far, so he missed — score 5
4. The pigeon begged him, so he unstrung his bow — ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). 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 223, line 17: «The prince flies so high that he feels he might "hit my head against" the sky, then finds a second screw to bring the horse down.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «prince» (+5). The right option, 4, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · right ✓

Okay but who were those two soldiers, like were they, like, bad guys from the start?

1. They were hired by the king — score 5
2. They were his cousins — no support
3. They were jealous and plotted against the prince — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. They were friends who turned on him later — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 694, line 4: «Two discharged soldiers join him, and the king makes the boy his companion while the soldiers grow angry and plot against him.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same action «plot» (+2); the same doer «soldiers» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

So the king believed everything they said, lol?

1. Yes, he trusts them and never asks the prince — score 7
2. Yeah, the text calls him foolish and he never checks what anyone tells him at court — score 8
3. Yeah, the text calls him weak and he never checks — ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. Yes, he was easily fooled, and the story says he accepted every word they spoke to him — ← Mova's choice · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 9, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 208, line 10: «What: the king orders the captain of the guard to take forty men, to pillage Noureddin's house, and to rase it to the ground.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «take» (+4); the same thing acted on «forty men» (+3); the same doer «king» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

Hold up, how did the pigeons sort that whole sack in like two hours?

1. The pigeon king brought a massive cloud of pigeons that sorted every grain in minutes — score 1
2. The pigeon king brought a massive cloud of pigeons — ✓ the right answer · score 1
3. A flock of pigeons helped the prince quickly — no support
4. The wood-pigeons were called by their king, and they worked together through the night to separate the grain — ← Mova's choice · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 4 with score 2, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 10, line 13: «The Pigeon "haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks", watching for serpents night and day while hatching its eggs.», 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 (+2). The right option, 2, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · right ✓

Did the prince actually fail the grain thing or nah?

1. Yes, he failed and was put to death — no support
2. Nah, he passed, and the king made him steward — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Nah, he passed the test, and afterwards the king made him steward of the whole household — score 6
4. Nah, he failed — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 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 586, line 1: «Uncle Remus sits in his doorway, moaning that strange things are going on in the neighborhood.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «go on» (+4); the same doer «strange things» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗

What is a steward even, like is that a fancy job?

1. A servant who cooks the food — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A type of servant who cooks the meals — no support
3. A kind of manager who runs a lord's house — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. A kind of manager who runs a lord's house and takes care of all the goods and servants — 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 · ★ · right ✓

Why does the wild duck keep quoting that weird proverb thing?

1. It says creatures always meet again, so it repays him — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It says creatures always meet again, so it repays him for sparing its life and its sons — no support
3. It is quoting the proverb because it believes every creature must repay the kindness of another one day in turn — no support
4. It remembers the proverb and wants to be kind — 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 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Okay but why did the stork have to stand on one leg, is that like a thing?

1. It was just how storks stand, and the text does not explain why the bird behaves that way — ← Mova's choice · score 3
2. It was a custom of storks in that land — no support
3. It was just how storks stand, the text only says so — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It stood on one leg because storks in that country were believed to sleep this way at dusk — score 3

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 146, line 6: «Who: the Farmer in the first tale, the Stork who says "I am not a crane, but a Stork," and the Ants, who are busy "drying their store of corn."», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «stork» (+2); the same doer «stork» (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

Wait, what's the ring plan with the brook, is the prince doomed?

1. Yes, they want him to find the ring in the brook — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yes, he is doomed — no support
3. No, the king will call the whole thing off — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. Yes, they want him to drown in it — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 463, line 6: «Who: Prince Ivan and his old tutor Katoma, whom the Prince calls "Katoma dyadka, of the oaken shapka."», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «call» (+4); the same doer «prince» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

Did the prince ever want to just wait for his stepfather to come back?

1. He did think about it, but being too scared of the coming death, he fled into the open wilderness at once — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. He was too scared to wait, so he ran off into the wild and never looked back at the palace — no support
3. He was too scared, so he ran off into the wild — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. He hid in the palace for hours before leaving — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 694, line 11: «Why the boy runs away: his stepfather said he would face "a horrible death" when he returns from the war.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same doer «stepfather» (+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 accurately describes the stated sequence by which the prince was enabled to complete the sorting of the grain within the allotted period?

1. The king of the wood-pigeons summoned a cloud of pigeons that sorted the grain — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. After the prince despaired, the king of the wood-pigeons, whom he had once spared, summoned a vast cloud of pigeons which swiftly sorted every grain of the mixed sack into its proper heap — ← Mova's choice · score 9
3. The prince sorted the grain himself with help from a few friendly pigeons in the courtyard — score -2
4. The king of the wood-pigeons summoned a vast cloud of pigeons that sorted the grain, after the prince had first spent hours trying to sort it himself without success — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 9, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 694, line 3: «Hungry in the wilds, the prince spares a wood-pigeon, a wild duck and a stork, and each promises to repay him.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «spare» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «prince» (+1); the same thing acted on «wood pigeon» (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

In what manner did the soldiers attempt to bring about the downfall of the prince on the second occasion described in the passage?

1. They asked the king to try him by dropping a ring into a nearby brook — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. They lied about the grain — score 8
3. They suggested a ring test in a brook — score -2
4. They proposed that the king test him by having a ring thrown into a brook — ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 471, line 9: «Why: the Soldier must carry the dead girl because the merchant asks him to, and the grandfather says "you must go."», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «ask» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «merchant» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following best characterises the motive of the prince in releasing the gold-bearded man from confinement?

1. He was moved by compassion, having a tender heart that pitied the sorrows of others — ✓ the right answer · score 1
2. He hoped to be rewarded with gold and land by the man he set free from the cage — ← Mova's choice · score 6
3. He was moved by pity for the man — score 4
4. He wanted gold — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 303, line 7: «Where: he goes to the hot lands, where the narrow street has high houses built so the sun falls there all day.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «man» (+3); the same circumstance (+3). The right option, 1, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

What is the meaning of the term steward as employed in the passage, and what is the approximate equivalent of that office in contemporary usage?

1. A steward was a kind of officer who oversaw the lord's servants and goods, roughly like a present-day administrator — no support
2. A steward is a manager of a lord's household and goods, equivalent to a modern manager or housekeeper — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. A steward is a manager of a lord's household and all of its goods, servants, and affairs, equivalent in modern times to a general manager, bursar, or household administrator who oversees daily operations — score 3
4. A steward is a type of household servant who runs a lord's estate and property, similar to today's estate manager — score -1

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 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 228, line 20: «The old word "intendant" means a steward or manager of a great household; today we would say a manager or head gardener.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: a different doer (counts against) (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). Against it: the same thing acted on «steward» (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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