---
title: Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide Feast, part 15: poor Schacabac… — how Mova does on the tests · Books
description: Lesson 355 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 2 of 12 tests right, exam 0 of 3, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Tales for Young Folks, The Barmecide Feast, part 15: poor Schacabac is treated to a pretend feast by a rich old man

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**Tests:** 2 of 12 right · **Exam:** 0 of 3 right · **Kind:** ★ · **Understood:** 9 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 355 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.

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Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/).

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### Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t1}

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so the Barmecide was proper loaded, yeah?

- **1.** Dead rich, yeah — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Rich as, innit — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Rich, yeah — no support
- **4.** Loaded, mate — no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t1/)

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### Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t2}

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mate, did Schacabac get any proper grub?

- **1.** Nah, nothing — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Nah, just pretend scran — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Yeah, some stale bread — no support
- **4.** Nah, just dry crusts — no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t2/)

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### Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t3}

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wait, so he was starving, like two days no bread, right?

- **1.** Yeah, and he was skint, starving, and sleeping rough in the street — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Yeah, three days no food — no support
- **3.** Yeah, he hadn't eaten proper bread for two whole days, mate — no support
- **4.** Yeah, two days no bread — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t3/)

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### Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t4}

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did the Barmecide order the boy to bring water, yeah?

- **1.** Yeah, to bring some wine — no support
- **2.** Nah, to fetch a jug — no support
- **3.** Yeah, mate, a basin of warm water so the guest could wash his hands — **← Mova's choice** · score 3
- **4.** Yeah, mate, to wash hands — **✓ the right answer** · score 3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 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 355, line 2: «The kind old man calls for a boy to bring water so they can wash their hands before supper.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «hands» (+2); the same action «wash» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t4/)

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### Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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ha, so Schacabac actually saw the boy, didn't he?

- **1.** Yeah, he saw the boy — **← Mova's choice** · score 8
- **2.** Nah, there was no boy and no basin, it was all pretend, mate — no support
- **3.** Nah, no boy, no basin — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Yeah, he saw the boy come in with a basin and a towel, mate — score 8

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 103, line 2: «On the high road a man sends the boy to the gallows, where he saves seven hanged men.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «man» (+4); the same thing acted on «boy» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t5/)

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### Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t6}

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did he just go along with it, like a mug?

- **1.** Yeah, mate — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Nah, he didn't — no support
- **3.** Yeah, he played along — no support
- **4.** Yeah, he pretended too — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t6/)

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### Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t7}

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wicked, the Barmecide carved a roast that wasn't there, right?

- **1.** Yeah, he carved an imaginary roast with a knife and fork, mate — **← Mova's choice** · score 10
- **2.** Yeah, pretend carving — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Yeah, pretend slicing — no support
- **4.** Nah, he didn't carve anything, he just stood there looking at the empty dish — score 5

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 355, line 12: «What: the Barmecide sits and pretends to carve a roast that is not there.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «carve» (+4); the same doer «barmecide» (+4); the same thing acted on «roast» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t7/)

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### Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t8}

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so Genghis Khan's hawk was the real hero, yeah?

- **1.** Nah, it was the snake — no support
- **2.** Yeah, it found the spring and saved the king from certain death — **← Mova's choice** · score 8
- **3.** Yeah, it saved his life — **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **4.** Nah, the king was the real hero because he killed the snake himself — score 1

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 354, line 13: «The hawk: it "had left his wrist and flown away", but it comes back to the spring.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «hawk» (+4); the same property (+2); a different action (counts against) (+2). The right option, 3, scored 6. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t8/)

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### Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t9}

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did the king get a drink from the spring then?

- **1.** Nah, the water was foul — no support
- **2.** Nah, the spring had a huge dead snake lying in the pool at the bottom — no support
- **3.** Nah, the snake was in it — **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **4.** Yeah, he drank deep from the clear water before the hawk came back — **← Mova's choice** · score 8

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**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 117, line 4: «His jealous brothers swap the cups, so the sick King drinks bitter salt water and gets worse.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «drink» (+4); the same doer «sick king» (+4). The right option, 3, scored 5. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t9/)

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### Test 10 · ★ · right ✓ {#t10}

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the orange thing, was it the vegetable kingdom, yeah?

- **1.** Yeah, it's a plant fruit — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Yeah, fruit — no support
- **3.** Yeah, it's a plant seed — no support
- **4.** Nah, a rock — no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t10/)

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### Test 11 · ★ · right ✓ {#t11}

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who got the gold piece for the metal answer?

- **1.** The second bright boy — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **2.** The first boy — score 6
- **3.** The third clever child — score 6
- **4.** The first bright boy — score 6

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 353, line 15: «Philip's Spartan answer is one word, "IF," meaning the Spartans are not afraid.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+5); the same thing acted on «one word» (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t11/)

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### Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t12}

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the little girl said the king was in heaven's kingdom, yeah?

- **1.** Yeah, she named it — score 6
- **2.** Nah, she said nothing — **← Mova's choice** · score 8
- **3.** Nah, mate — no support
- **4.** Yeah, she said so — **✓ the right answer** · score 8

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 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 292, line 8: «What: Gerda tells her the whole story, and the girl says "They shall not kill you as long as I am not displeased with you".», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «say» (+4); the same doer «girl» (+4). The right option, 4, scored 8. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/t12/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1}

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With reference to the text, which deception did the Barmecide practise upon Schacabac?

- **1.** He offered a feast whose dishes were all empty — **← Mova's choice** · score 8
- **2.** He simulated a washing and a meal with no real provision — **✓ the right answer** · score 0
- **3.** He staged a meal and a wash that lacked any food — no support
- **4.** He arranged a lavish banquet, pretended a washing, and then sent the boy away with the basin — score 4

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 355, line 11: «Why: Schacabac makes a pretense of washing "as he was bidden" because he thinks he ought to do as he is told.», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «bid» (+6); it fills the role the question asks for (+2). The right option, 2, scored 0. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2}

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According to the passage, what did Genghis Khan do after discovering the dead snake?

- **1.** He carried the dead hawk home in his hunting bag — **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **2.** He ordered his men to hunt the snake down — **← Mova's choice** · score 4
- **3.** He buried the hawk — score 3
- **4.** He had the snake cut up and sent away — score 3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 115, line 17: «The King reveals he is "not a merchant, but a king, thine equal in birth."», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «king» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 3. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3}

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Which justification does the narrative give for the contents of the paper box?

- **1.** It was all his money — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It was every penny he had to his name then — no support
- **3.** It was all the cash he had on him that day — no support
- **4.** It was the whole of Goldsmith's ready money — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/355-pg18442-part15/e3/)

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