--- title: Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 3: How the Rhinoceros got his Skin — how Mova does on the tests · Books description: Lesson 76 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 2 of 16 tests right, exam 0 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/) / 76 # Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 3: How the Rhinoceros got his Skin **Tests:** 2 of 16 right · **Exam:** 0 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★ · **Understood:** 13 of 20 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 76 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/). 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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/). ### Test 1 · ★ · right ✓ {#t1} Ella reckons: "The Parsee was just mean for no reason." Put her right. - **1.** He was grumpy about his stove — no support - **2.** The Rhino ate fish — no support - **3.** The Rhino stole his hat and ran — no support - **4.** The Rhino had knocked over his stove and eaten his cake — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · 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 76, line 10: «The Rhino said "How!", the Parsee climbed a palm tree, and the Rhino "upset the oil-stove with his nose" and "spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «cake» (+3); the same action «eat» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t1/) ### Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t2} Josh, London: "That rhino's well peak, bruv, ate the man's whole cake, no ask." ("peak" = unfair and bad luck, "bruv" = mate.) Which word does the story use for him? - **1.** He was peaked and ate the whole cake without asking — **← Mova's choice** · score 1 - **2.** He had no friends — no support - **3.** He had few manners — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** He had a horn on his nose and few manners — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 76, line 10: «The Rhino said "How!", the Parsee climbed a palm tree, and the Rhino "upset the oil-stove with his nose" and "spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «cake» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). 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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t2/) ### Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t3} What would have happened if the Rhino had kept his skin on in the heat wave? - **1.** The Parsee could not have filled it with crumbs — **✓ the right answer** · score 3 - **2.** The Rhino would have been cool — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **3.** The Parsee could not have filled it with crumbs and so had no trick — score 3 - **4.** The Parsee would not have found it — score 3 **Why:** It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 76, line 3: «Five weeks later, in a heat wave, the Rhino takes off his skin, which then buttoned underneath like a raincoat, and leaves it on the beach while he bathes.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «rhino» (+5). 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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t3/) ### Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t4} Chloe, Gen Z: "The Parsee's smile went round his face TWICE, I'm dead." ("I'm dead" = that's so funny.) Why was he so happy? - **1.** He had caught a big fish — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** He had found the Rhino's skin and saw his chance — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** He had found the Rhino's skin and saw his chance to get revenge — no support - **4.** He had got a new hat — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t4/) ### Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t5} True or false: rhinos really can take their skin off and button it back on. - **1.** False: it is a made-up joke; rhino skin grows on them — **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **2.** True: it is real and they do it — score 7 - **3.** True, rhinos really can take their skin off and button it back on — **← Mova's choice** · score 9 - **4.** False: they cannot take it off at all — score 9 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 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 76, line 3: «Five weeks later, in a heat wave, the Rhino takes off his skin, which then buttoned underneath like a raincoat, and leaves it on the beach while he bathes.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «rhino» (+4); the same thing acted on «skin» (+3); the same action «take off» (+2). The right option, 1, scored 6. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t5/) ### Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t6} Uncle Mike: "Them that takes cakes... d'ya get it?" What is the rhyme really saying? - **1.** Always share your cake nicely — score 2 - **2.** Never bake cakes for rhinos — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **3.** If you steal, you will be paid back for it — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** If you steal, you will be paid back for it in the end — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 76, line 11: «The Parsee's rhyme: "Them that takes cakes / Which the Parsee-man bakes / Makes dreadful mistakes." ("Them that takes" is old country grammar for "those who ta…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «bake» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «cakes» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1); one says «not», the other does not (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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t6/) ### Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t7} Big sis, sarcastic: "Oh sure, scratching makes an itch go away, genius." What does the story say happened when the Rhino scratched? - **1.** It made it go away — **← Mova's choice** · score 7 - **2.** It made it worse — **✓ the right answer** · score 7 - **3.** It stopped — score 5 - **4.** Nothing — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 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 76, line 10: «The Rhino said "How!", the Parsee climbed a palm tree, and the Rhino "upset the oil-stove with his nose" and "spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he…», 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 «rhino» (+3); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, scored 7. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t7/) ### Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t8} Tom says rhinos have folded skin because of cake-crumbs. What would a zookeeper say? - **1.** The folds are from cake — no support - **2.** The folds come from crumbs inside — no support - **3.** The folds grow naturally and help the rhino bend and move — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Folds come from rubbing on trees — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 76, line 4: «The Parsee takes his revenge: he rubs the skin full of stale, tickly cake-crumbs, and when the Rhino buttons it back on, it itches so badly that he rubs agains…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «rub» (+5); the same place «palm tree» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). 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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t8/) ### Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t9} Old farmer in Somerset: "Gurt big rhino, eh? Proper job that cake were." ("gurt" = great, big.) How thick was the cake? - **1.** Three feet — **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **2.** Three feet across, with currants on top of it all — score 5 - **3.** Three feet thick and two feet across — **← Mova's choice** · score 9 - **4.** Three inches — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 76, line 8: «He made "one cake which was two feet across and three feet thick", from flour, water, currants, plums and sugar; Kipling calls it "a Superior Comestible" ("com…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «one cake» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 5. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t9/) ### Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t10} In all three stories so far, an animal does something wrong and is changed for ever. Which animal did what? - **1.** Whale was rude — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Whale ate too much; Camel was idle; Rhino stole a cake — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Whale sang; Camel stole a hat — no support - **4.** Whale was lazy; Camel ate a cake — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t10/) ### Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t11} The Mariner made a rhyme after his trick, and so did the Parsee. What do both rhymes do? - **1.** Scold the animal they caught — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Thank — no support - **3.** Praise the animal they helped — no support - **4.** Tease the animal they have just tricked — **✓ 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t11/) ### Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t12} Aisha, Singapore: "The Rhino so rude one, take cake also never say sorry, lah." ("lah" just adds feeling.) Which other animal in the book so far was also rude and never learned to behave? - **1.** Djinn — **← Mova's choice** · score 2 - **2.** The Mariner — no support - **3.** The Camel — **✓ the right answer** · score 1 - **4.** The Parsee — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 2, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 75, line 12: «The Djinn warned, "I shouldn't say that again if I were you; you might say it once too often."», 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 «you» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, scored 1. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t12/) ### Test 13 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t13} Which character in the first two stories was really clever, like the Parsee? - **1.** The Mariner, a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, who tricked the Whale — no support - **2.** The Rhino, a beast of little sense — **← Mova's choice** · score 7 - **3.** The Djinn, a man of great sagacity — no support - **4.** The Mariner, a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 76, line 10: «The Rhino said "How!", the Parsee climbed a palm tree, and the Rhino "upset the oil-stove with his nose" and "spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he…», 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 «rhino» (+3). The right option, 4, 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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t13/) ### Test 14 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t14} ★★★ The cake was "two feet across and three feet thick". Which is true? - **1.** It was exactly as wide as it was tall, like a square box of cake — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** It was taller than it was wide — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** It was wider than it was tall — no support - **4.** It was wider than it was tall, and it weighed more than a camel — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t14/) ### Test 15 · ★ · right ✓ {#t15} ★★★ Count the Parsee's moves in the right order after he found the skin. Which order is right? - **1.** Sang a song, filled his stove with crumbs, danced round it twice, and then slept under the palm tree — score 3 - **2.** Smiled, danced three times round it, filled his hat with crumbs, rubbed them in, and climbed the palm — score 6 - **3.** Smiled, danced three times round it, filled his hat with crumbs, rubbed them in — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **4.** Danced, smiled, rubbed them in, filled his hat with crumbs — score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 76, line 13: «The Parsee came down from his palm tree, "smiled one smile that ran all round his face two times", danced three times round the skin, then filled his hat with…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «fill» (+2); the same thing acted on «hat» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t15/) ### Test 16 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t16} ★★★ Trap in the wording: in the heat wave "everybody took off all the clothes they had". What did the Parsee take off? - **1.** His shirt and his knife — score 6 - **2.** Only his hat, since it was all he wore — **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **3.** His hat, his knife, his cooking-stove and his boots, all of them at once — **← Mova's choice** · score 9 - **4.** Only his hat, since it was all he wore, and his knife too — score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 76, line 12: «"Five weeks later, there was a heat wave in the Red Sea", and "everybody took off all the clothes they had": the Parsee took off his hat (it was all he wore),…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «parsee» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); a different action (counts against) (+2); the same thing acted on «hat» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 6. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/t16/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} Identify the item consumed without permission by the Rhinoceros upon his first appearance. - **1.** Some currants — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** A cake measuring two feet across and three feet thick — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** A pie two feet long and one foot thick — no support - **4.** A cake measuring three feet across and two feet thick, with currants on top — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2} Ascertain the substance introduced by the Parsee into the skin of the Rhinoceros. - **1.** Fresh cream and sweet berries — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Hot sand, sharp stones, fresh cream, and a few very burned currants — no support - **3.** Stale cake-crumbs and burned currants — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Stale cake-crumbs, burned currants and some old sticks from the palm — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3} Select the response that most accurately characterises the origin of the folds in the skin of the Rhinoceros according to the narrative. - **1.** Eating too many plants for dinner — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Vigorous rubbing against a palm tree to relieve itching from the crumbs — no support - **3.** Vigorous rubbing against a palm tree to relieve itching — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Being pinched by the Parsee and then tied up in a sack of sand — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4} State, in accordance with established zoology, the material of which the horn of a rhinoceros is composed. - **1.** Horn made of pure calcium — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **2.** Keratin, the stuff of teeth and bone — no support - **3.** Ivory — no support - **4.** Keratin, the substance of hair and nails — **✓ the right answer** · 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 76, line 17: «Real biology: rhinos eat only plants (grass, leaves, shoots), never cake; their horns are made of keratin, the same stuff as hair and fingernails.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «horns» (+3); the same action «make» (+2). The right option, 4, 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/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/e4/) - ← previous: [75. Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 2: How the Ca…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/75-justso-camel-hump/) - next →: [77. Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 4: How the Le…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/77-justso-leopard-spots-1/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/)