Question

Read the fable "The Heron." Then, answer the question that follows.

A Heron was walking sedately along the bank of a stream, his eyes on the clear water, and his long neck and pointed bill ready to snap up a likely morsel for his breakfast. The clear water swarmed with fish, but Master Heron was hard to please that morning.
"No small fry for me," he said. "Such scanty fare is not fit for a Heron."
Now a fine young Perch swam near.
"No indeed," said the Heron. "I wouldn't even trouble to open my beak for anything like that!"
As the sun rose, the fish left the shallow water near the shore and swam below into the cool depths toward the middle. The Heron saw no more fish, and very glad was he at last to breakfast on a tiny Snail.

A theme of the fable is "Accept a good opportunity or you may be left with nothing." Which of the following excerpts does not support the development of the theme in the story?

A Heron was walking sedately along the bank of a stream, his eyes on the clear water …
"No indeed," said the Heron. "I wouldn't even trouble to open my beak for anything like that."
"No small fry for me," he said. "Such scanty fare is not fit for a heron."
The clear water swarmed with fish, but Master Heron was hard to please that morning.

Answer 1

The excerpt “No small fry for me,” he said. “Such scanty fare is not fit for a Heron” supports the development of the theme in the story. The Heron was too picky and refused to eat small fish, which led him to miss out on the opportunity to catch bigger fish that swam away .

Answer 2

A. is the most correct answer because the fact that Heron was walking along the bank of a stream has nothing to do with the theme (accept a good opportunity or you may be left with nothing.