Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:-
An old beggar cried for alms at the gate. They told her not to pester them when they were engaged in a snake-hunt. On hearing it, the old woman became happy. "You are fortunate. It is God Subramanya who has come to visit you. Don't kill the snake." Mother was in hearty agreement: "You are right. I forgot all about the promised abhishekam. This is a reminder." She gave a coin to the beggar, who promised to send down a snake-charmer as she went. Presently an old man appeared at the gate and announced himself as a snake-charmer. They gathered around him. He spoke to them about his life and activities and his power over snakes. They asked admiringly:- "How do you catch them?" "Thus," he said, pouncing upon a hypothetical snake on the ground. They pointed to the direction in which the cobra had gone and asked him to go ahead. He looked helplessly about and said: "If you show me the snake, I'll at once catch it. Otherwise, what can I do?" He gave his name and address and departed. At five in the evening, they threw away their sticks and implements and retired to the veranda to rest. They had turned up every stone in the garden and cut down every grass-blade and shrub so that the tiniest insect coming into the garden should have no cover.
The plan of capturing the snake came to nothing because ______.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → the snake charmer had expressed his helplessness and inability to capture the snake unless he could see it
When the family pointed to where the cobra had gone, the snake-charmer looked helplessly about and said that if they showed him the snake he would catch it at once; otherwise there was nothing he could do. He then gave his name and address and left, so the plan of capturing the snake came to nothing.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: the snake had departed to a safer haven, away from human civilization. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage says only that the cobra had gone in a certain direction in the garden; it never says that it left for a safer place away from people. The family was still searching the garden for it.
Option 2: they had cleared all the overgrowth using sticks and implements, so the snake escaped. — Incorrect. Wrong cause: the clearing was done so that the snake would have no cover; the passage does not say that it made the snake escape.
Option 3: their superstitious mother feared offending the Gods and refused to allow the snake to be captured — Incorrect. Contradicted: Mother agreed that the snake should not be killed, but she did not stop its capture; in fact the beggar she paid promised to send a snake-charmer.