When running a simple query using the mysql_list_fields() function, I get an error no. 1064.

Below:
1. HTML output
2. code I used to produce the error
3. Table definition from mysql

1. HTML output
--------------
All's fine here: $query = 'mysql_list_fields('vocmaster_db','nouns_dehd',Resource id #1)'
safe_query: $query = mysql_list_fields('vocmaster_db','nouns_dehd',Resource id #1)

Query failed: 
errorno = 1064 
error = You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'mysql_list_fields('vocmaster_db','nouns_dehd',Resource id #1)' at line 1 
query = mysql_list_fields('vocmaster_db','nouns_dehd',Resource id #1) 
page = 


2. Code
-------
function get_table_fields($database="",$table="",$debug)
{
  $link=mysql_connect("localhost","root","");

  if(empty($table) or empty($database))
  {
    return FALSE;
  }
  $query = "mysql_list_fields('vocmaster_db','nouns_dehd',$link)";
  echo("All's fine here: \$query = '$query'");
  $result = safe_query($query,$debug);

  $num_fields = mysql_num_fields($result);
  echo "Table '$table' contains $num_fields fields:<ol>";
  for ($i=0; $i < $num_fields; ++$i)
  {
    echo ("<li> mysql_field_name($result,$i) </li>");
  }
  echo("</ol>");
}


function safe_query ($query="",$debug)
{
  echo("safe_query: \$query = $query");
  if($debug)
  {
    if (empty($query))
    {
      return FALSE;
    }
    $result = mysql_query($query)
      or die("<br> Query failed: "
        ."<ul>"
        ."  <li> errorno = " . mysql_errno()
        ."  <li> error = "   . mysql_error()
        ."  <li> query = "   . $query
        ."  <li> page = "    . $PHP_SELF
        ."</ul>"
        );
  } else {
    if (empty($query))
    {
      return FALSE;
    }
    $result = mysql_query($query)
      or die("Query failed. Please contact the webmaster.");
  }
  return $result;
}


3. table definition from mysql
------------------------------
mysql> describe nouns_dehd;
+------------+-------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field      | Type              | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+------------+-------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id         | int(6) unsigned   |      | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| singular   | varchar(25)       |      |     |         |                |
| plural     | varchar(25)       |      |     |         |                |
| gender     | enum('m','f','n') |      |     | m       |                |
| definition | varchar(250)      | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+------------+-------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)