The Purple Jar- 3

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:

Rosamond and her mother were going back to the chemist’s shop. As they were walking, Rosamond had to stop once again to take another stone out of the broken shoe, and she often limped with pain.

When they got back to the shop, Rosamond’s mother asked her to carefully examine the jar before she bought it. But Rosamond was so excited that she bought it even without looking at what was inside the jar.

Happily she came back home with her mother. Then Rosamond quickly brought some flowers from the garden and was going to put them into the jar. But as soon as she took the top off, she saw something dark inside, which gave off an unpleasant smell.

“What is it, Mamma? I didn’t want this black thing and the terrible smell.”

“Nor did I, my dear.”

“But what shall I do with it?”

“That I can’t tell.”

“Okay, Mamma, I must pour it out and fill the jar with fresh water.”

Then she made the jar empty. But to her great disappointment, she found that it was no longer a purple jar --- it was a plain white glass jar. With its coloured water gone, the jar did no longer look beautiful.

Rosamond cried with tears of disappointment in her eyes. She was to cry more for her folly. Every day her shoes grew worse and worse, and she could neither run, dance, jump, nor go shopping with her mother.

Thus Rosamond suffered for a whole month and learned a lesson the hard way. She hoped that she would be wiser in future.

adapted from The Purple Jar by Maria Edgeworth

Why did Rosamond have to stop on her way to the chemist’s shop?