TASK DEFINITION: The task is about reading the given story and question, then finding an answer to the given question. Based on the passage provided and the given question, you should identify the shortest continuous text span from the passage that serves as an answer to the given question. Avoid answers that are incorrect or provides incomplete justification for the question.
PROBLEM: story: Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are decorated eggs that are usually used as gifts on the occasion of Easter or springtime celebration. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs wrapped in colourful foil, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as chocolate. Although eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility and rebirth, in Christianity, for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus, from which Jesus resurrected. In addition, one ancient tradition was the staining of Easter eggs with the colour red "in memory of the blood of Christ, shed as at that time of his crucifixion." This custom of the Easter egg can be traced to early Christians of Mesopotamia, and from there it spread into Russia and Siberia through the Orthodox Churches, and later into Europe through the Catholic and Protestant Churches. This Christian use of eggs may have been influenced by practices in "pre-dynastic period in Egypt, as well as amid the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete". 

The practice of decorating eggshells as part of spring rituals is ancient, with decorated, engraved ostrich eggs found in Africa which are 60,000 years old. In the pre-dynastic period of Egypt and the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete, eggs were associated with death and rebirth, as well as with kingship, with decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago. These cultural relationships may have influenced early Christian and Islamic cultures in those areas, as well as through mercantile, religious, and political links from those areas around the Mediterranean., question: to what period can the custom of easter eggs be traced?

SOLUTION: the pre-dynastic period

PROBLEM: story: (CNN) -- The longest-running holiday special still has a very shiny nose. 

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" premiered on television December 6, 1964, and is now one of the holiday season's perennial favorites. The story of the reindeer who saves Christmas is beloved among children and adults alike. 

The Rankin-Bass animated film production company used Japanese puppets and stop motion to tell the tale, bolstered by a soundtrack featuring Burl Ives' rendition of the theme song. 

In the story, Santa's reindeer Donner and his wife have a son, Rudolph, who has the distinction of a nose that glows. He runs away after being made to feel an outcast and links up with an elf who dreams of becoming a dentist and an adventurer seeking silver and gold. 

After ending up on the Island of Misfit Toys and wandering for a while, Rudolph goes on to save his loved ones from the Abominable Snow Monster and guides Santa through a blizzard that threatens to ruin Christmas. 

In 2006, the New York Times reported that fans drove for miles to see the Rudolph and Santa Claus puppets at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. The pair were thought to be the last of the surviving production puppets. They had been taken home by a production company employee and given to her children after filming was completed. 

"In 2005, the nephew of the original rescuer found the puppets in a family attic and brought them to be appraised on the PBS series 'Antiques Roadshow,' " the Times said. "Created for about $5,000 each in 1964, they were valued at $8,000 to $10,000 for the pair. The family sold both figures to Kevin A. Kriess, the president of TimeandSpaceToys.com and a lifelong fan of the Rankin-Bass films." , question: How much did they originally cost to produce?

SOLUTION: about $5,000 each

PROBLEM: story: CHAPTER IV. 

Signor Andrea D'Arbino, searching vainly through the various rooms in the palace for Count Fabio d'Ascoli, and trying as a last resource, the corridor leading to the ballroom and grand staircase, discovered his friend lying on the floor in a swoon, without any living creature near him. Determining to avoid alarming the guests, if possible, D'Arbino first sought help in the antechamber. He found there the marquis's valet, assisting the Cavaliere Finello (who was just taking his departure) to put on his cloak. 

While Finello and his friend carried Fabio to an open window in the antechamber, the valet procured some iced water. This simple remedy, and the change of atmosphere, proved enough to restore the fainting man to his senses, but hardly--as it seemed to his friends--to his former self. They noticed a change to blankness and stillness in his face, and when he spoke, an indescribable alteration in the tone of his voice. 

"I found you in a room in the corridor," said D'Arbino. "What made you faint? Don't you remember? Was it the heat?" 

Fabio waited for a moment, painfully collecting his ideas. He looked at the valet, and Finello signed to the man to withdraw. 

"Was it the heat?" repeated D'Arbino. 

"No," answered Fabio, in strangely hushed, steady tones. "I have seen the face that was behind the yellow mask." 

"Well?" 

"It was the face of my dead wife." 

"Your dead wife!" 

"When the mask was removed I saw her face. Not as I remember it in the pride of her youth and beauty--not even as I remember her on her sick-bed--but as I remember her in her coffin." , question: Did he find anyone there?

SOLUTION:
the marquis's valet

