content: set theXMLdata to "<inventory title=\"OmniCorp Store #45x10^3\">
    <section name=\"health\">
      <item upc=\"123456789\" stock=\"12\">
        <name>Invisibility Cream</name>
        <price>14.50</price>
        <description>Makes you invisible</description>
      </item>
      <item upc=\"445322344\" stock=\"18\">
        <name>Levitation Salve</name>
        <price>23.99</price>
        <description>Levitate yourself for up to 3 hours per application</description>
      </item>
    </section>
    <section name=\"food\">
      <item upc=\"485672034\" stock=\"653\">
        <name>Blork and Freen Instameal</name>
        <price>4.95</price>
        <description>A tasty meal in a tablet; just add water</description>
      </item>
      <item upc=\"132957764\" stock=\"44\">
        <name>Grob winglets</name>
        <price>3.56</price>
        <description>Tender winglets of Grob. Just add water</description>
      </item>
    </section>
  </inventory>"
  
  on getElementValuesByName(theXML, theNameToFind)
  	set R to {}
  	tell application "System Events"
  		repeat with i in theXML
  			set {theName, theElements} to {i's name, i's XML elements}
  			if (count of theElements) > 0 then set R to R & my getElementValuesByName(theElements, theNameToFind)
  			if theName = theNameToFind then set R to R & i's value
  		end repeat
  	end tell
  	return R
  end getElementValuesByName
  
  on getBlock(theXML, theItem, theInstance)
  	set text item delimiters to ""
  	repeat with i from 1 to theInstance
  		set {R, blockStart, blockEnd} to {{}, "<" & theItem & space, "</" & theItem & ">"}
  		set x to offset of blockStart in theXML
  		if x = 0 then exit repeat
  		set y to offset of blockEnd in (characters x thru -1 of theXML as string)
  		if y = 0 then exit repeat
  		set R to characters x thru (x + y + (length of blockEnd) - 2) of theXML as string
  		set theXML to characters (y + (length of blockEnd)) thru -1 of theXML as string
  	end repeat
  	return R
  end getBlock
  
  tell application "System Events"
  	set xmlData to make new XML data with properties {name:"xmldata", text:theXMLdata}
  	
  	return my getBlock(xmlData's text, "item", 1) -- Solution to part 1 of problem.
  	return my getElementValuesByName(xmlData's contents, "name") -- Solution to part 2 of problem.
  	return my getElementValuesByName(xmlData's contents, "price") -- Solution to part 3 of problem.
  	
  end tell
  