Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1: the Eldest Magician and the sea that will not behave

Tests: 7 of 17 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 11 of 21 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 90 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 ✗

Kofi: «the Magician saw the Crab run off but let him, no cap.» (no cap = honestly) Put it right.

1. Everyone saw the Crab run off, and the Magician let him — no support
2. The Man saw the Crab run off, but the Magician did not, and nobody cared at all — no support
3. Nobody saw him go except the little girl, who said nothing — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The Magician did see him go but said nothing at all — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 90, line 3: «But the Man says the Sea is not obedient: once a day and once a night it rushes up the Perak river and floods his house, then runs out again and leaves only mu…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «magician» (+4); the same action «say» (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · right ✓

Why does Pau Amma run off?

1. He gets tired of waiting while the Magician talks to the Man — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. He is tired of waiting, so he scuttles off while the Magician and the Man talk about everything — score 4
3. He gets tired of waiting while the Magician talks to the Man about the Sea and the Animals — score 6
4. He wants to see the Man's little girl up close and wave — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). 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 90, line 1: «At the Very Beginning the Eldest Magician gets the Earth and the Sea ready and teaches each animal its «play»: the Elephant plays at being an Elephant, the Bea…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «talk» (+4); the same circumstance (+1); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · right ✓

«Is all the Sea obedient to you?» «No,» says the Man. What does the sea actually do, in real words?

1. It makes waves — score 9
2. It rises and falls twice or so a day, which we call tides — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
3. It goes up and down — score 11
4. It rises and falls every day, which we call the ebb and flow — score 11

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 2 with score 11, tied with another option at 11 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 63, line 16: «The gentlemen say: «Here is a poor old thing—a washerwoman apparently—who has fainted in the road!» They lift him into the car and prop him up with soft cushio…», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+7); the same action «lift» (+5). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if the Man's house were on a hill?

1. The flooding sea could not wet it — ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. It would be dry — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. The flooding sea could not wet it, so the Man would stay dry and the Magician could sleep — score 2
4. The flooding sea could not wet it, and the mud would stay down in the valley below — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 77, line 20: «Real biology: animals do not change colour by standing in shadows; their patterns are passed down from parents, and over a very long time the ones whose colour…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «ones» (+5). The right option, 1, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · right ✓

Which is TRUE about this part?

1. The sea pulls the canoe out to Bintang — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Crabs are green — no support
3. The canoe is wet — no support
4. The Crab runs back to the Magician — 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 · ★ · right ✓

Ella from Boston: «wicked cool that a beaver made the Everglades.» (wicked = very) What is the real story?

1. A beaver's dam, long ago — no support
2. Beavers dammed the river and the grass grew — no support
3. Rain and water flowing south over flat land made the «river of grass»; no beavers live there — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. Beavers built dams that flooded the flat land and made a long marsh of grass there — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 90, line 16: «Real life: the Everglades in Florida are a very wide, slow «river of grass» over flat land, made by rain and water flowing south, not by a beaver; there are no…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «water» (+4); the same action «flow» (+2); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗

Real life: how were the Himalayas made?

1. India's land pushed into Asia over millions of years, folding the rock up high — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A giant meteor hit the Earth and threw the Asian land up into the sky above — no support
3. Volcanoes erupted from the sea — no support
4. India's land pushed into Asia — ✓ 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 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

Real life: was the Sahara always a desert?

1. No: it was green with lakes and forests until about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, then the climate dried — score 0
2. Yes, it has been a desert for millions of years now — no support
3. No: it was green with lakes until about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. No: it was green with lakes and rivers until about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, when the rains moved away — ← Mova's choice · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 90, line 12: «The Man takes his kris, «a curving, wavy dagger with a blade like a flame». The Perak river, Selangor, Malacca, Singapore and Bintang are real places in and ne…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same doer «perak river» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · right ✓

Real life: what are the dark patches on the Moon?

1. Plains of old cooled lava — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Plains of old cooled lava that flowed out from the Moon's ancient volcanoes long ago — no support
3. Old volcanic ash clouds — no support
4. Seas of dry black rock — 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 · ★ · right ✓

Liam, little brother, shouting: «skibidi! the Rat ate the Moon!» (skibidi = a word kids shout for fun) What does the Rat really do in the story?

1. Bites the Fisherman's line — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. Eats the Moon — no support
3. Sleeps — no support
4. Chews the Fisherman's hook — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 90, line 13: «The Fisherman of the Moon is «spinning a fishing-line with which he hopes one day to catch the world», and the Rat of the Moon «always bites the old Fisherman'…», 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 same action «bite» (+1); the same thing acted on «line» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: in the Armadillo story, who was told how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises?

1. The Armadillo, by his Mother, who told him all about the Thorn-Forest feast — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Painted Jaguar, by his Mother — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Painted Jaguar, by his Father — no support
4. Painted Jaguar, by his Mother, who taught him to hunt them in the Thorn-Forest — 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 12 · ★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: in the Whale story, which spot in the sea is «Fifty North and Forty West»?

1. Where the shipwrecked Mariner sat on his small raft, far from any land at all — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Where the shipwrecked Mariner sat on his raft and the Whale came up beside him — no support
3. Where the Mariner's ship first sank down — no support
4. Where the shipwrecked Mariner sat on his raft — ✓ 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 ✗

Looking back: which earlier tale also explained how every animal of a kind got its look «from that day to this»?

1. The Camel got his hump forever — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Rhinoceros story: every rhinoceros has folds — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The Elephant's Child got his long nose — no support
4. The Rhinoceros story: every rhinoceros got folds in its skin from that day on — 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 · ★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: Taffy and Tegumai lived on Merrow Down in Surrey. Where is this story set?

1. Africa and the Sahara lands — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. England — no support
3. Malaysia and the nearby seas — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Surrey — 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 ✗

★★★ North, East, West, South. Which animal did the Magician visit THIRD?

1. The Camel — no support
2. The Fisherman of the Moon — no support
3. The Eldest Magician's Elephant — ← Mova's choice · score 7
4. The Beaver — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 90, line 1: «At the Very Beginning the Eldest Magician gets the Earth and the Sea ready and teaches each animal its «play»: the Elephant plays at being an Elephant, the Bea…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «see» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «elephant» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 16 · ★ · right ✓

★★★ The Cow's «bare patch» and «the place where she had sat down» became two deserts. Which went with which, in the story's order?

1. Eaten patch: Indian Desert; sitting-place: Sahara — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Sahara only — no support
3. Eaten patch: Indian Desert, then the Sahara, then Himalayas; sitting-place: Gobi — no support
4. Two deserts — 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 17 · ★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Careful: the Man says the sea comes up «once a day and once a night». How many times in one whole day and night does it come up the river?

1. Once — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. Twice — ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Often — score 6
4. None — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. 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 70, line 3: «At last, right above their heads, they hear cheering, stamping and glasses clinking — the weasels' party. They come to a trap-door, push it up together and cli…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «splash» (+5); the same action «come» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the creature which departed into the sea before receiving instruction as to its play.

1. The Crab who ran off into the sea — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. Pau Amma the Crab — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The Rat — no support
4. The Magician's Rat — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 90, line 1: «At the Very Beginning the Eldest Magician gets the Earth and the Sea ready and teaches each animal its «play»: the Elephant plays at being an Elephant, the Bea…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «pau» (+4). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the geographical feature produced, according to the narrative, from the diggings of All-the-Elephant-there-was.

1. The Everglades of Florida — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Himalayan Mountains, which the Sea later flooded with mud — no support
3. A chain of islands like Borneo, Java and others, in the Sea — no support
4. The Himalayan Mountains — ✓ 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 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

It is given that the Man complained of the Sea's conduct. Select the response most consistent with his complaint.

1. It flooded the mountains and then ran out, leaving mud behind — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. It ran up the river and flooded his whole village, then ran out again, leaving mud and rocks behind for ever — score 4
3. It ran up the river, flooding his house, and ran out again, leaving mud — ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. It ran up the river, flooding his house and his canoe, and then ran out again, leaving mud and little fishes — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 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 90, line 3: «But the Man says the Sea is not obedient: once a day and once a night it rushes up the Perak river and floods his house, then runs out again and leaves only mu…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «mud» (+3); the same action «leave» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the formation of the Himalayas in the real world?

1. Waves from the sea piled the rock up against the coast of Asia — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They were raised by the northward collision of the land of India with Asia over millions of years, folding the rock — no support
3. They were raised by the northward collision of the land of India with Asia — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. They were thrust up by the southward collision of Asia with the land of India, long before any humans lived there — 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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