Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The children were to be driven, as a special treat, to the sands at Jagborough. Nicholas was not to be of the party; he was in disgrace. Only that morning he had refused to eat his wholesome bread-and-milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was a frog in it. Older and wiser and better people (his aunt) had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense; he continued, nevertheless, to talk what seemed complete nonsense, and described with much detail the coloration and markings of the alleged frog. The dramatic part of the incident was that there really was a frog in Nicholas's basin of bread-and-milk; he had put it there himself, so he felt entitled to know something about it. The sin of taking a frog from the garden and putting it into a bowl of wholesome bread-and-milk was enlarged on at great length, but the fact that stood out clearest in the whole affair, as it presented itself to the mind of Nicholas, was that the older, wiser, and better people had been proved to be profoundly in error in matters about which they had expressed the utmost assurance. "You said there couldn't possibly be a frog in my bread-and-milk; there was a frog in my bread-and-milk," he repeated, with the insistence of a skilled tactician who does not intend to shift from favourable ground.
When the aunt told Nicholas that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk, what was she really trying to get him to do?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Stop making excuses and eat his breakfast
Nicholas “had refused to eat” his bread-and-milk.
- His reason was that there was a frog in it.
- The aunt said there could not possibly be a frog. She also told him not to talk nonsense.
- So she thought the frog was only an excuse. She wanted him to stop making excuses and eat his breakfast.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Stay back from the trip if he wished — Incorrect. Contradicted: Staying back was not his choice. It was his punishment, because he was “in disgrace” (in trouble).
Option 2: Go and look for frogs in the garden — Incorrect. Opposite meaning: The aunt said there was no frog at all.
Option 4: Apologise to his cousins — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The passage says nothing about saying sorry to anyone.