Read the following stanzas and answer the question by choosing the correct options:
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In bleak and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
But the first one held hers back,
For, of the faces round the fire,
She noticed one was black.
The next man looking 'cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And could not bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
Find out a word from the above lines which means 'an arranged incident though happening accidentally':
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → happenstance
Happenstance means an event that happens by chance, a coincidence that can look as if it had been arranged. In the poem, the six humans are caught together "by happenstance", by chance.
Example: By pure happenstance, the two old friends sat next to each other on the train.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: bleak — Incorrect. Bleak means cold, bare and cheerless. It describes the weather, not an event.
Example: The hills look bleak in winter.
Option 2: across — Incorrect. Across is a preposition meaning on the other side. "'Cross the way" in the poem is a short form of it.
Example: The school is across the road.
Option 4: birch — Incorrect. A birch is a tree with thin, smooth bark. The second man's "stick of birch" is his piece of firewood.
Example: A tall birch stood beside the lake.
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