Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child, part 2 (the tug-of-war and the trunk)

Tests: 6 of 16 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 14 of 20 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 80 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. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

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 ✗

Harry says: "The Elephant's Child pulled and the Crocodile let go cos he got bored." Put him right.

1. His mother and the Baboon pulled hardest of all — no support
2. The Elephant's Child and the Snake pulled hardest — ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. The Snake pulled — score 5
4. The Crocodile and the Snake both pulled hardest — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 80, line 1: «The Python-Rock-Snake tells the Elephant's Child to pull for his life, and a huge tug-of-war begins: the Crocodile pulls backwards into the river and the littl…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «crocodile» (+4); the same action «pull» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Priya, India: "Kindly do the needful and tell what is 'Vantage number two." ("do the needful" = do what is needed.)

1. Plucking grass and eating it, after the Snake showed him how to do it at the river — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Plucking grass and eating it — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Plucking grass and eating it, then dusting it against his fore-legs — no support
4. Swatting a fly with his trunk — 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 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would have happened if the Snake had not helped?

1. The Crocodile might have pulled him into the river and eaten him for his supper — score 4
2. The Crocodile might have pulled him into the deep river, and nobody would ever have known where he went — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. The Crocodile might have pulled him into the river — ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. The Hippopotamus would have spanked him again — score -2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 80, line 4: «He walks home happy, using his trunk for everything and even picking up the melon rind he dropped, but at home he spanks his whole family back, until they all…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «snake» (+5). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Lucy, Gen Z: "Elephant's Child really went home and threw hands with his whole fam, chaotic energy." ("threw hands" = started hitting, "fam" = family.) Why did his family stop spanking in the end?

1. Everyone got spanked by the Snake — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. They all got sticks — no support
3. Everyone got a trunk from the Crocodile — ✓ the right answer · score 1
4. The Crocodile got a spanking — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). 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 80, line 4: «He walks home happy, using his trunk for everything and even picking up the melon rind he dropped, but at home he spanks his whole family back, until they all…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «spank» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · right ✓

True or false: the Python-Rock-Snake was only ever nasty to the Elephant's Child.

1. False: he spanked him once and then saved him, but he also taught the Elephant's Child to swim in the Limpopo river all summer — score 9
2. False: he spanked him once but then saved him and taught him — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
3. True: the Python spanked him many times and never once showed any kindness or taught him anything useful at all — score 7
4. True: he spanked him again and again and never helped him at all — score 9

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 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 79, line 4: «At the river a Python-Rock-Snake spanks him too, and then he steps on a "log" that is really the Crocodile, which winks, weeps fake tears and says "Come hither…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «rock snake» (+4); the same thing acted on «child» (+3); the same action «spank» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓

Ahmed says: "Elephants stretched their noses a bit each day and passed it on to their babies, innit." Put him right.

1. Trunks grew over millions of years as each generation was born, which was a slow process of natural change the Snake would never have understood — score 6
2. Trunks grew over millions of years as each generation was born — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Trunks grew over millions of years as each generation of elephants was born with a slightly longer nose — score 6
4. Parents stretched their noses in one lifetime — 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 12, line 2: «But the baby keeps grunting, its nose turns into a snout and its eyes get tiny, until it is quite plainly a pig, so Alice puts it down and it trots off happily…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «nose» (+4); the same action «turn» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓

Grandpa, Yorkshire: "Uncle Baboon said it were right ugly, and then got chucked int' hornets' nest, serves 'im right, eh?" What do we think about the Elephant's Child hitting back?

1. The Baboon deserved it, so hitting back was fine — score 1
2. It's a silly joke, but hitting back is not a good way — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
3. It's a silly joke, and hitting back was right because the Baboon had been very rude to him all along — no support
4. It's a silly joke, but hitting back is not a good way, and Uncle Baboon should have said sorry first — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 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 23, line 2: «The King asks what she knows about the tarts. «Nothing.» «Nothing whatever?» «Nothing whatever.» The King calls that «very important», the White Rabbit hints h…», 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 thing acted on «words» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓

Why did the Elephant's Child go "out of his way" to spank a Hippopotamus?

1. To look for the Kolokolo Bird — no support
2. To check if the Snake was right about his trunk, because the Hippo had been very rude about it — score 0
3. To check if the Snake was right about his trunk, and to see if the Hippo would spank him back — score 0
4. To check if the Snake was right about his trunk — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 0

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 0, tied with another option at 0 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 80, line 14: «Going home he pulled fruit down from trees, used a branch as a fly-whisk, and sang down his trunk "louder than several brass bands"; he picked up the melon rin…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+1). Against it: the same doer «snake» (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Compare the Elephant's Child at the start and at the end. Which is true?

1. He starts curious and ends sad and cross with his family — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. He starts trusting and spanked; he ends strong and a bit of a bully, but he is also very kind to his cousins — score 6
3. He starts trusting and spanked; he ends strong and a bit of a bully — ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. He starts loud and ends quiet and kind to everybody — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 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 79, line 5: «The trusting Elephant's Child leans close, and the Crocodile grabs him by the nose and says he will begin his dinner with Elephant's Child: the part ends with…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «begin» (+4); the same doer «child» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓

In the Leopard story the animals' new looks came from hiding in shade; in this story the trunk came from a tug-of-war. In which earlier story did a helper tie something with a knot or a strap?

1. The Whale: the Mariner tied the grating with his suspenders — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The Camel: the Djinn tied the hump with a strap — no support
3. The Sailor: the Mariner knotted the rope — no support
4. The Whale: the Mariner tied the grating with his suspenders and knotted the rope round the whale's back — 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 ✗

Like the Camel's hump, the trunk at first looks like trouble. What do both turn out to be?

1. Useful: the hump stores food and keeps the sun off, while the trunk does many jobs for the elephant — score 6
2. Useful: the hump stores food, the trunk does many jobs — ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Useful: the hump stores food, the trunk does many jobs, and both are a sign of a clever animal — score 6
4. Useless: the hump is empty, the trunk is a nuisance — ← Mova's choice · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 80, line 18: «Real biology: a trunk is the nose and upper lip joined together, with no bones and many thousands of muscle bundles, so it can lift a log or pick up a single p…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «trunk» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 2, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Ben, Canada: "Crocodile's a total hoser, eh, but the Python's a beauty." ("hoser" = idiot, "beauty" = a great person.) Who said "Some people do not know what is good for them"?

1. Baboon — no support
2. The Hippo — no support
3. The Python — ✓ the right answer · score 3
4. The Crocodile — ← Mova's choice · score 10

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 10, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 80, line 11: «He first said "Thank you" to the Snake, then wrapped his nose in cool banana leaves and hung it in the river; the Snake said "Some people do not know what is g…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «say» (+3); the same doer «crocodile» (+3). The right option, 3, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 13 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Older cousin: "Kipling says ten million serving-men, seven million Whys. That's her, our Ellie, never stops asking." What are the "serving-men" really?

1. Serving-men of Kipling — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Servants — no support
3. Helpful friends — no support
4. Question words — ✓ 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 14 · ★★ · right ✓

★★★ In the poem the small girl keeps one million Hows, two million Wheres and seven million Whys. How many is that?

1. Ten million — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Nine million — no support
3. Seventeen million altogether, counting every single one — no support
4. Eleven million — 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 15 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ The poem says the six serving-men rest "from nine till five", "As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea". Trap: why does the poet rest them then?

1. He is busy then, and they are hungry men, which is why Kipling mentions so many meals in his poem — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. He is busy then, and they are hungry men, so they eat breakfast, lunch and tea all day long — no support
3. He is busy then, and they are hungry men — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. He thinks the serving-men are very lazy indeed — 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 16 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Read carefully: which of these did the Elephant's Child do on his walk home, BEFORE he reached his families?

1. Spanked a Hippopotamus who was no relation of his — ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. Met the Snake and spanked a Hippopotamus who was no relation of his, then went home — ← Mova's choice · score 7
3. Found his family and said goodbye to the Snake — score 7
4. Hit a crocodile in the river at the bank — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1, line 20: «Sleepy, Alice kept asking "Do cats eat bats?" and sometimes "Do bats eat cats?", because she could not answer either question, so the order did not matter; the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «alice» (+3); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the creature which, by knotting itself about the hind legs of the Elephant's Child, secured his release from the Crocodile.

1. The Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. The Hippopotamus of the river — no support
3. The Hippopotamus who was no relation of his, and who lived down river — no support
4. The Kolokolo Bird — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 79, line 15: «The "Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake" answered "in a voice of dretful scorn", "Have I seen a Crocodile? What will you ask me next?", and spanked him "with his sc…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «bi coloured python rock snake» (+4); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the purpose for which the Elephant's Child suspended his nose, wrapped in banana leaves, within the waters of the Limpopo.

1. To wait for it to shrink to its old size — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. To let it grow even longer for the Snake — score 6
3. To await its contraction to its former size, as the Python had instructed him to do in the river — score 5
4. To await its contraction to its former size — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 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 80, line 12: «He waited three days for it to shrink, but "it never grew any shorter, and, besides, it made him squint"; it was "a really truly trunk same as all Elephants ha…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «nose» (+4); the same action «shrink» (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response that enumerates correctly the three advantages of the trunk identified by the Python-Rock-Snake.

1. Hitting flies, eating melons, and sitting in the cool mud — no support
2. Killing a fly, plucking and eating grass, making a mud-cap, and carrying the melon rind home — no support
3. Killing a fly, plucking and eating grass, and making a mud-cap — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Killing a fly, plucking and eating grass, making a mud-cap, and then spanking the Hippopotamus who was no relation — ← 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 80, line 14: «Going home he pulled fruit down from trees, used a branch as a fly-whisk, and sang down his trunk "louder than several brass bands"; he picked up the melon rin…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «spank» (+4); the same thing acted on «hippopotamus» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

State, in accordance with established zoology, the anatomical composition of the trunk of an elephant.

1. The nose and upper lip, united, with a hard bone running down the middle of the whole trunk and tusks — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Fused nose and lip with some cartilage inside — no support
3. The nose and upper lip, united and devoid of bone, with thick skin and many layers of fat beneath it — no support
4. The nose and upper lip, united and devoid of bone — ✓ 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

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