The Glory of Melaka: In the early days, if you were not a pirate or a mosquito, Melaka was not much of a place to live. The land was infertile, just a swampy plain, the river small and sluggish. But it had a sheltered harbor, protected from the monsoons by neighboring Sumatra. Later, the strategic location and deep-water channel close to the coast brought in the bigger vessels of the trade-wind traffic crossing the Indian Ocean. The first to realize the larger commercial potential, as so often throughout the country's subsequent history, were the Chinese. In 1409, under a new directive from Emperor Chu Ti to pursue trade in the South Seas and the Indian Ocean, a Chinese fleet of 50 ships headed by Admiral Cheng Ho called in at Melaka. They made Parameswara an offer he could not refuse: port facilities and an annual financial tribute in exchange for Chinese protection against the marauding Thais. In 1411, Parameswara took the money to Beijing himself, and the emperor gratefully made him a vassal king. Twenty years later, the Chinese withdrew again from the South Seas trade. The new ruler of Melaka, Sri Maharajah, switched his allegiance to the Muslim trading fraternity by marrying into the Muslim faith, wedding the daughter of a sultan in Sumatra. Islam won its place in Malaya not by conquestas had been the case in North Africa and Europebut by trade, dynastic alliances, and peaceful preaching. Bengali peddlers had already brought the faith to the east coast. In Melaka and throughout the peninsula, Islam thrived as a strong, male-dominated religion of individuality, offering dynamic leadership and preaching brotherhood and self-relianceall qualities ideally suited to the coastal trade. At the same time, Sufi mystics synthesized Islamic teaching with local Malay traditions of animistic magic and charisma, though Islam did not become the state religion until Muzaffar Shah became sultan of Melaka (14461459). But the key figure in the sultanate was Tun Perak, bendahara (prime minister) and military commander. He expanded Melaka's power along the west coast and down to Singapore and the neighboring Bintan islands. He also had orang laut pirates patrolling the seas to extort tribute from passing ships. After Ailied district chiefs had repelled assaults from Thai-controlled armies from Pahang, Tun Perak personally led a famous victory over a Thai fleet off Batu Pahat in 1456.

Question: "What bodies of water were named in the story?"

OPTIONS:
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Answer: "China"

Response: no

The first rule is parental. The primitive monarchy is in the home. A young baby cries. The trained nurse turns on the light, lifts the baby, hushes it, sings to it, rocks it, and stills its weeping by caresses and song. When next the baby is put down to sleep, more cries, more soothing and disturbance, and the setting of a tiny instinct which shall some day be will--the power of control. The grandmother arrives on the scene. When baby cries, she plants the little one firmly in its crib, turns down the light, pats and soothes the tiny restless hands that fight the air, watches, waits. From the crib come whimpers, angry cries, yells, sobs, baby snarls and sniffles that die away in a sleepy infant growl. Silence, sleep, repose, and the building of life and nerve and muscle in the quiet and the darkness. The baby has been put in harmony with the laws of nature--the invigoration of fresh air, sleep, stillness--and the little one wakens and grows like a fresh, sweet rose. The mother, looking on, learns of the ways of God with men.

Question: "What characters soothe the baby's weeping?"

OPTIONS:
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Answer: "The grandmother"

Response: yes

Elettra stuck the little slip of paper, on which the recipe was written, into her shabby pocket-book without looking at it. She could read and write fairly well, and had been used to helping her husband the under-steward with his accounts at Muro, but even if she had looked at the recipe she would have understood nothing of the doctor's hieroglyphics and abbreviated Latin words. The prescription was for a preparation of arsenic, which Matilde had formerly taken for some time. The chemist would not make any difficulty about preparing twenty doses of it for the Countess Macomer, though the whole quantity of arsenic contained in so many would probably be sufficient to kill one not accustomed to the medicine, if taken all at once. But though Matilde was so anxious to have the stuff before luncheon, she had a number of doses of it put away in a drawer, which she took out and counted, after Elettra had gone. She opened one of the little folded papers and looked at the fine white powder it contained, took a little on the end of her finger and tasted it. Then, from the same drawer, she took a package done up in coarser paper, and opened it likewise, looked at it, smelt it, and touched it with the tip of her tongue very cautiously indeed. It was white, too, but coarser than the medicine. She was very careful in tasting it, and she immediately rinsed her mouth with water, before she tied up the package again, shut the drawer, and put the key into her pocket.

Question: "What did the Countess need?"

OPTIONS:
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Answer: "Arsenic"

Response: yes

The protagonist Preetam ( ( ( Ganesh , on a visit to Eva Mall amidst a heavy wind , spots a pretty girl , Nandini . While staring at her , he inadvertently falls into a manhole . Nandini rescues him from the pit , but in the process loses her heart-shaped watch she had just bought . While accompanying his mother to Madikeri , Preetam confronts a man named Jaanu . Jaanu , who has been following Nandini , beats up Preetam thinking that he is in love with Nandini . Preetam , unaware that Jaanu has vowed not to allow any one near Nandini , trashes Jaanu and his gang in return . In Madikeri , Preetam meets Nandini unexpectedly . He identifies himself and expresses his love towards her and offers to tie the watch as an indication for their marriage . Nandini , who is already engaged rejects his request . Still , Preetam vows to marry Nandini if she meets him again . In the meantime , Preetam discovers that his host in Madikeri , Col. Subbayya is Nandini's father , who is pretty much deaf , and Nandini's marriage is a just a week away . Dejected , Preetam throws Nandini's heart-shaped watch away . But Nandini calls him over the phone and taunts him to return . Delighted , Preetam goes in search of her watch and brings it back . While searching it , he spots a rabbit , Which he calls Devadas , and brings it along with him . Since Nandini's friends are due to arrive from Mumbai for the marriage , Preetam takes Nandini to the railway station . The train from Mumbai is delayed by five hours , so Nandini and Preetam decide to visit a nearby hill-temple .

Question: "Who was Preetam with, when he met Nandini unexpectedly?"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "Jaanu"

Response:
no