Question

the following selection is a european folktale.
adapted from \a chapter of fish\
by arthur ransome

sometimes in spring, when the big river flooded its banks and made lakes of
the meadows, and the little rivers flowed deep, old peter spent a few days
netting fish. also in summer he set night - lines in the little river not far from
where it left the forest. and so it happened that one day he sat in the warm
sunshine outside his hut, mending his nets and making floats for them; not
cork floats like ours, but little rolls of the silver bark of the birch tree.

and while he sat there vanya and maroosia watched him, and sometimes even
helped, holding a piece of the net between them, while old peter fastened on
the little glistening rolls of bark that were to keep it up in the water. and all the
time old peter worked, he told them stories about fish.

first he told them what happened when the first pike was born, and how it is
that all the little fish are not eaten by the great pike with his huge greedy
mouth and his sharp teeth.

on the night of ivanovs day (that is the midsummer) there was born the pike,
a huge fish, with such teeth as never were. and when the pike was born the
waters of the river foamed and raged, so that the ships in the river were all but
swamped, and the young girls who were playing on the banks run away as fast
as they could, frightened, they were, by the roaring of the waves, and the wind
and the foam on the water. terrible was the birth of the sharp - toothed pike.

⑤
and when the pike was born he did not grow up by months or by days, but by

which quote uses fiction to explain the natural world?
a \and so it happened that one day he sat in the warm sunshine
outside his hut, mending his nets and making floats for them.\

b \then do not use it to talk foolishness, said the gudgeon; and
the roachs fins blushed scarlet, and are red to this day.\

c \think away, says he, and break your heads, and spoil your
brains, if ever you had any; but listen for a moment to what i
have to say.\

d \all the little fish waved their fins and danced in the water when
they heard the wisdom of the ershs speech.\

Explanation:

To determine which quote uses fiction to explain the natural world, we analyze each option:

• Option A describes a man mending nets, which is a real - life activity, not explaining the natural world through fiction.
• Option B: The gudgeon (a type of fish) speaking and the roach's fins turning red (a natural characteristic of roach fins, but explained through a fictional dialogue) uses fiction to explain why roach fins are red, a part of the natural world.
• Option C is just a character's speech, not explaining the natural world.
• Option D describes fish dancing to a speech, which is a fictional action but does not explain a natural - world phenomenon.

Answer:

B. "'Then do not use it to talk foolishness,' said the gudgeon; and the roach's fins blushed scarlet, and are red to this day."