Return-Path: X-Original-To: apmail-ignite-commits-archive@minotaur.apache.org Delivered-To: apmail-ignite-commits-archive@minotaur.apache.org Received: from mail.apache.org (hermes.apache.org [140.211.11.3]) by minotaur.apache.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 9F4E217C6D for ; Mon, 2 Feb 2015 21:57:28 +0000 (UTC) Received: (qmail 55726 invoked by uid 500); 2 Feb 2015 21:57:29 -0000 Delivered-To: apmail-ignite-commits-archive@ignite.apache.org Received: (qmail 55685 invoked by uid 500); 2 Feb 2015 21:57:29 -0000 Mailing-List: contact commits-help@ignite.incubator.apache.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Post: List-Id: Reply-To: dev@ignite.incubator.apache.org Delivered-To: mailing list commits@ignite.incubator.apache.org Received: (qmail 55672 invoked by uid 99); 2 Feb 2015 21:57:29 -0000 Received: from athena.apache.org (HELO athena.apache.org) (140.211.11.136) by apache.org (qpsmtpd/0.29) with ESMTP; Mon, 02 Feb 2015 21:57:29 +0000 X-ASF-Spam-Status: No, hits=-1998.3 required=5.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,DEAR_SOMETHING,T_RP_MATCHES_RCVD X-Spam-Check-By: apache.org Received: from [140.211.11.3] (HELO mail.apache.org) (140.211.11.3) by apache.org (qpsmtpd/0.29) with SMTP; Mon, 02 Feb 2015 21:57:10 +0000 Received: (qmail 51223 invoked by uid 99); 2 Feb 2015 21:56:45 -0000 Received: from git1-us-west.apache.org (HELO git1-us-west.apache.org) (140.211.11.23) by apache.org (qpsmtpd/0.29) with ESMTP; Mon, 02 Feb 2015 21:56:45 +0000 Received: by git1-us-west.apache.org (ASF Mail Server at git1-us-west.apache.org, from userid 33) id CBA56E04D2; Mon, 2 Feb 2015 21:56:44 +0000 (UTC) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: sergi@apache.org To: commits@ignite.incubator.apache.org Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2015 21:57:29 -0000 Message-Id: <2508dc34df6e4a33b7c5e5d8c15ffbda@git.apache.org> In-Reply-To: <68ae071830224259adff89d3ee84e7a9@git.apache.org> References: <68ae071830224259adff89d3ee84e7a9@git.apache.org> X-Mailer: ASF-Git Admin Mailer Subject: [46/50] [abbrv] incubator-ignite git commit: ignite-132 - pkg rename X-Virus-Checked: Checked by ClamAV on apache.org http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator-ignite/blob/36b439d9/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/alice-in-wonderland.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- diff --git a/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/alice-in-wonderland.txt b/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/alice-in-wonderland.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d65883a..0000000 --- a/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/alice-in-wonderland.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3735 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - -Author: Lewis Carroll - -Posting Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #11] -Release Date: March, 1994 -[Last updated: December 20, 2011] - -Language: English - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND *** - - - - - - - - - - -ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND - -Lewis Carroll - -THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0 - - - - -CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole - -Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the -bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the -book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in -it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or -conversation?' - -So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the -hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure -of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and -picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran -close by her. - -There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so -VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! -Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it -occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time -it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH -OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, -Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had -never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch -to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field -after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large -rabbit-hole under the hedge. - -In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how -in the world she was to get out again. - -The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then -dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think -about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep -well. - -Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had -plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was -going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what -she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she -looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with -cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures -hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as -she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great -disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear -of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as -she fell past it. - -'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall -think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at -home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top -of the house!' (Which was very likely true.) - -Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how -many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting -somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four -thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several -things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this -was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there -was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) -'--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude -or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or -Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.) - -Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the -earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with -their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad -there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the -right word) '--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country -is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and -she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling -through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) 'And what an -ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to -ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.' - -Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began -talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!' -(Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at -tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no -mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very -like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice -began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy -sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do -bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, -it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing -off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with -Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: -did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon -a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over. - -Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: -she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another -long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. -There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and -was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears -and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it when she -turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found -herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging -from the roof. - -There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when -Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every -door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to -get out again. - -Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid -glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's -first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; -but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, -but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second -time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and -behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the -little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted! - -Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not -much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage -into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of -that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and -those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the -doorway; 'and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it -would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could -shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin.' -For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, -that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really -impossible. - -There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went -back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at -any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this -time she found a little bottle on it, ('which certainly was not here -before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper -label, with the words 'DRINK ME' beautifully printed on it in large -letters. - -It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was -not going to do THAT in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and -see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice -little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild -beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember -the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot -poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your -finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never -forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison,' it is -almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. - -However, this bottle was NOT marked 'poison,' so Alice ventured to taste -it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour -of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot -buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off. - - * * * * * * * - - * * * * * * - - * * * * * * * - -'What a curious feeling!' said Alice; 'I must be shutting up like a -telescope.' - -And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face -brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going -through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she -waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: -she felt a little nervous about this; 'for it might end, you know,' said -Alice to herself, 'in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder -what I should be like then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a -candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember -ever having seen such a thing. - -After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going -into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the -door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she -went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach -it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her -best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; -and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing -sat down and cried. - -'Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, -rather sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally -gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), -and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into -her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having -cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, -for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. -'But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to pretend to be two people! -Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!' - -Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: -she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words -'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said -Alice, 'and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it -makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll -get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!' - -She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 'Which way? Which -way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was -growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same -size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice -had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way -things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on -in the common way. - -So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake. - - * * * * * * * - - * * * * * * - - * * * * * * * - - - - -CHAPTER II. The Pool of Tears - -'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that -for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); 'now I'm -opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' -(for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of -sight, they were getting so far off). 'Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder -who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure -_I_ shan't be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble -myself about you: you must manage the best way you can;--but I must be -kind to them,' thought Alice, 'or perhaps they won't walk the way I want -to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.' - -And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. 'They must -go by the carrier,' she thought; 'and how funny it'll seem, sending -presents to one's own feet! And how odd the directions will look! - - ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ. - HEARTHRUG, - NEAR THE FENDER, - (WITH ALICE'S LOVE). - -Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!' - -Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was -now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden -key and hurried off to the garden door. - -Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to -look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more -hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again. - -'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, 'a great girl like -you,' (she might well say this), 'to go on crying in this way! Stop this -moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of -tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches -deep and reaching half down the hall. - -After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and -she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White -Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in -one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great -hurry, muttering to himself as he came, 'Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! -Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so -desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit -came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, 'If you please, sir--' -The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, -and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go. - -Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she -kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: 'Dear, dear! How -queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. -I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the -same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a -little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who -in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!' And she began thinking -over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to -see if she could have been changed for any of them. - -'I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, 'for her hair goes in such long -ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't -be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a -very little! Besides, SHE'S she, and I'm I, and--oh dear, how puzzling -it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me -see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and -four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! -However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. -London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and -Rome--no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for -Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little--"' and she crossed her -hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, -but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the -same as they used to do:-- - - 'How doth the little crocodile - Improve his shining tail, - And pour the waters of the Nile - On every golden scale! - - 'How cheerfully he seems to grin, - How neatly spread his claws, - And welcome little fishes in - With gently smiling jaws!' - -'I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and her eyes -filled with tears again as she went on, 'I must be Mabel after all, and -I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to -no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I've -made up my mind about it; if I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no -use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I -shall only look up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, -if I like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here -till I'm somebody else"--but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst -of tears, 'I do wish they WOULD put their heads down! I am so VERY tired -of being all alone here!' - -As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see -that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while -she was talking. 'How CAN I have done that?' she thought. 'I must -be growing small again.' She got up and went to the table to measure -herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now -about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found -out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped -it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether. - -'That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at the -sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; 'and -now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed back to the little door: -but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was -lying on the glass table as before, 'and things are worse than ever,' -thought the poor child, 'for I never was so small as this before, never! -And I declare it's too bad, that it is!' - -As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! -she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she -had somehow fallen into the sea, 'and in that case I can go back by -railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in -her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go -to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the -sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row -of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon -made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she -was nine feet high. - -'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying -to find her way out. 'I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by -being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure! -However, everything is queer to-day.' - -Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way -off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought -it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small -she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had -slipped in like herself. - -'Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, 'to speak to this mouse? -Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should think very -likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no harm in trying.' So she -began: 'O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired -of swimming about here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right -way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but -she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse--of -a mouse--to a mouse--a mouse--O mouse!') The Mouse looked at her rather -inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, -but it said nothing. - -'Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; 'I daresay it's -a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.' (For, with all -her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago -anything had happened.) So she began again: 'Ou est ma chatte?' which -was the first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a -sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. -'Oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt -the poor animal's feelings. 'I quite forgot you didn't like cats.' - -'Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. 'Would -YOU like cats if you were me?' - -'Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: 'don't be angry -about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you'd -take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet -thing,' Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the -pool, 'and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and -washing her face--and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse--and she's -such a capital one for catching mice--oh, I beg your pardon!' cried -Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she -felt certain it must be really offended. 'We won't talk about her any -more if you'd rather not.' - -'We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his -tail. 'As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always HATED -cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!' - -'I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of -conversation. 'Are you--are you fond--of--of dogs?' The Mouse did not -answer, so Alice went on eagerly: 'There is such a nice little dog near -our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you -know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! And it'll fetch things when -you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts -of things--I can't remember half of them--and it belongs to a farmer, -you know, and he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He -says it kills all the rats and--oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful -tone, 'I'm afraid I've offended it again!' For the Mouse was swimming -away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in -the pool as it went. - -So she called softly after it, 'Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we -won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them!' When the -Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its -face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low -trembling voice, 'Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my -history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.' - -It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the -birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, -a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the -way, and the whole party swam to the shore. - - - - -CHAPTER III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale - -They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank--the -birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close -to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable. - -The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a -consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural -to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had -known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the -Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, 'I am older than -you, and must know better'; and this Alice would not allow without -knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its -age, there was no more to be said. - -At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, -called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you -dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse -in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt -sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon. - -'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This -is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William -the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted -to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much -accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of -Mercia and Northumbria--"' - -'Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver. - -'I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: 'Did -you speak?' - -'Not I!' said the Lory hastily. - -'I thought you did,' said the Mouse. '--I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar, -the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, -the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--"' - -'Found WHAT?' said the Duck. - -'Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of course you know what -"it" means.' - -'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the -Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the -archbishop find?' - -The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, '"--found -it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the -crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his -Normans--" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning -to Alice as it spoke. - -'As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: 'it doesn't seem to -dry me at all.' - -'In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, 'I move -that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic -remedies--' - -'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half -those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!' And -the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds -tittered audibly. - -'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, 'was, that -the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.' - -'What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, -but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, -and no one else seemed inclined to say anything. - -'Why,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as -you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell -you how the Dodo managed it.) - -First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ('the exact -shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed -along the course, here and there. There was no 'One, two, three, and -away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they -liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, -when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, -the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!' and they all crowded -round it, panting, and asking, 'But who has won?' - -This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, -and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead -(the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures -of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, -'EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.' - -'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked. - -'Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; -and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused -way, 'Prizes! Prizes!' - -Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her -pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had -not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one -a-piece all round. - -'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse. - -'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have you got in -your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice. - -'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly. - -'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo. - -Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly -presented the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of this elegant -thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered. - -Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave -that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything -to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she -could. - -The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and -confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste -theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. -However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and -begged the Mouse to tell them something more. - -'You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice, 'and why -it is you hate--C and D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it -would be offended again. - -'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and -sighing. - -'It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at -the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling -about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was -something like this:-- - - 'Fury said to a - mouse, That he - met in the - house, - "Let us - both go to - law: I will - prosecute - YOU.--Come, - I'll take no - denial; We - must have a - trial: For - really this - morning I've - nothing - to do." - Said the - mouse to the - cur, "Such - a trial, - dear Sir, - With - no jury - or judge, - would be - wasting - our - breath." - "I'll be - judge, I'll - be jury," - Said - cunning - old Fury: - "I'll - try the - whole - cause, - and - condemn - you - to - death."' - - -'You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. 'What are you -thinking of?' - -'I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: 'you had got to the fifth -bend, I think?' - -'I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily. - -'A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking -anxiously about her. 'Oh, do let me help to undo it!' - -'I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up and walking -away. 'You insult me by talking such nonsense!' - -'I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. 'But you're so easily offended, -you know!' - -The Mouse only growled in reply. - -'Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after it; and the -others all joined in chorus, 'Yes, please do!' but the Mouse only shook -its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker. - -'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite -out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her -daughter 'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose -YOUR temper!' 'Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little -snappishly. 'You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!' - -'I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing -nobody in particular. 'She'd soon fetch it back!' - -'And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?' said the -Lory. - -Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet: -'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you -can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, -she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!' - -This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the -birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very -carefully, remarking, 'I really must be getting home; the night-air -doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to -its children, 'Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' -On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone. - -'I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a melancholy -tone. 'Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best -cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you -any more!' And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very -lonely and low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard -a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up -eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming -back to finish his story. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - -It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking -anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard -it muttering to itself 'The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh -my fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are -ferrets! Where CAN I have dropped them, I wonder?' Alice guessed in a -moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, -and she very good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were -nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her swim in -the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and the little door, -had vanished completely. - -Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and -called out to her in an angry tone, 'Why, Mary Ann, what ARE you doing -out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! -Quick, now!' And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once -in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it -had made. - -'He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. 'How -surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd better take him -his fan and gloves--that is, if I can find them.' As she said this, she -came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass -plate with the name 'W. RABBIT' engraved upon it. She went in without -knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the -real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the -fan and gloves. - -'How queer it seems,' Alice said to herself, 'to be going messages for -a rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!' And she -began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: '"Miss Alice! Come -here directly, and get ready for your walk!" "Coming in a minute, -nurse! But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't -think,' Alice went on, 'that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it -began ordering people about like that!' - -By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table -in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs -of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, -and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little -bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time -with the words 'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it -to her lips. 'I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said -to herself, 'whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what -this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really -I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!' - -It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she had -drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, -and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put -down the bottle, saying to herself 'That's quite enough--I hope I shan't -grow any more--As it is, I can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't -drunk quite so much!' - -Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and growing, -and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there -was not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with -one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. -Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out -of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself 'Now I -can do no more, whatever happens. What WILL become of me?' - -Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, -and she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there -seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room -again, no wonder she felt unhappy. - -'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't -always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and -rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and -yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what -CAN have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that -kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! -There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I -grow up, I'll write one--but I'm grown up now,' she added in a sorrowful -tone; 'at least there's no room to grow up any more HERE.' - -'But then,' thought Alice, 'shall I NEVER get any older than I am -now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman--but -then--always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!' - -'Oh, you foolish Alice!' she answered herself. 'How can you learn -lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no room at all -for any lesson-books!' - -And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other, and making -quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few minutes she heard -a voice outside, and stopped to listen. - -'Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice. 'Fetch me my gloves this moment!' -Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Alice knew it was -the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the -house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large -as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it. - -Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it; but, as -the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed hard against it, -that attempt proved a failure. Alice heard it say to itself 'Then I'll -go round and get in at the window.' - -'THAT you won't' thought Alice, and, after waiting till she fancied -she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly spread out her -hand, and made a snatch in the air. She did not get hold of anything, -but she heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass, -from which she concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into a -cucumber-frame, or something of the sort. - -Next came an angry voice--the Rabbit's--'Pat! Pat! Where are you?' And -then a voice she had never heard before, 'Sure then I'm here! Digging -for apples, yer honour!' - -'Digging for apples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily. 'Here! Come and -help me out of THIS!' (Sounds of more broken glass.) - -'Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?' - -'Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He pronounced it 'arrum.') - -'An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole -window!' - -'Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.' - -'Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it away!' - -There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers -now and then; such as, 'Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at -all!' 'Do as I tell you, you coward!' and at last she spread out her -hand again, and made another snatch in the air. This time there were -TWO little shrieks, and more sounds of broken glass. 'What a number of -cucumber-frames there must be!' thought Alice. 'I wonder what they'll do -next! As for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD! I'm -sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!' - -She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came a -rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices -all talking together: she made out the words: 'Where's the other -ladder?--Why, I hadn't to bring but one; Bill's got the other--Bill! -fetch it here, lad!--Here, put 'em up at this corner--No, tie 'em -together first--they don't reach half high enough yet--Oh! they'll -do well enough; don't be particular--Here, Bill! catch hold of this -rope--Will the roof bear?--Mind that loose slate--Oh, it's coming -down! Heads below!' (a loud crash)--'Now, who did that?--It was Bill, I -fancy--Who's to go down the chimney?--Nay, I shan't! YOU do it!--That I -won't, then!--Bill's to go down--Here, Bill! the master says you're to -go down the chimney!' - -'Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?' said Alice to -herself. 'Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn't be in -Bill's place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but -I THINK I can kick a little!' - -She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited -till she heard a little animal (she couldn't guess of what sort it was) -scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above her: then, -saying to herself 'This is Bill,' she gave one sharp kick, and waited to -see what would happen next. - -The first thing she heard was a general chorus of 'There goes Bill!' -then the Rabbit's voice along--'Catch him, you by the hedge!' then -silence, and then another confusion of voices--'Hold up his head--Brandy -now--Don't choke him--How was it, old fellow? What happened to you? Tell -us all about it!' - -Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, ('That's Bill,' thought -Alice,) 'Well, I hardly know--No more, thank ye; I'm better now--but I'm -a deal too flustered to tell you--all I know is, something comes at me -like a Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes like a sky-rocket!' - -'So you did, old fellow!' said the others. - -'We must burn the house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and Alice called -out as loud as she could, 'If you do. I'll set Dinah at you!' - -There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to herself, 'I -wonder what they WILL do next! If they had any sense, they'd take the -roof off.' After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and -Alice heard the Rabbit say, 'A barrowful will do, to begin with.' - -'A barrowful of WHAT?' thought Alice; but she had not long to doubt, -for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the -window, and some of them hit her in the face. 'I'll put a stop to this,' -she said to herself, and shouted out, 'You'd better not do that again!' -which produced another dead silence. - -Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into -little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright idea came into her -head. 'If I eat one of these cakes,' she thought, 'it's sure to make -SOME change in my size; and as it can't possibly make me larger, it must -make me smaller, I suppose.' - -So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find that she -began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small enough to get through -the door, she ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of little -animals and birds waiting outside. The poor little Lizard, Bill, was -in the middle, being held up by two guinea-pigs, who were giving it -something out of a bottle. They all made a rush at Alice the moment she -appeared; but she ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself -safe in a thick wood. - -'The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she wandered -about in the wood, 'is to grow to my right size again; and the second -thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be -the best plan.' - -It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply -arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea -how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among -the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a -great hurry. - -An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round eyes, and -feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her. 'Poor little thing!' -said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried hard to whistle to it; but -she was terribly frightened all the time at the thought that it might be -hungry, in which case it would be very likely to eat her up in spite of -all her coaxing. - -Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and -held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off -all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick, -and made believe to worry it; then Alice dodged behind a great thistle, -to keep herself from being run over; and the moment she appeared on the -other side, the puppy made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head -over heels in its hurry to get hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was -very like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every -moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle again; then -the puppy began a series of short charges at the stick, running a very -little way forwards each time and a long way back, and barking hoarsely -all the while, till at last it sat down a good way off, panting, with -its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half shut. - -This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she -set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and -till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance. - -'And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she leant -against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the -leaves: 'I should have liked teaching it tricks very much, if--if I'd -only been the right size to do it! Oh dear! I'd nearly forgotten that -I've got to grow up again! Let me see--how IS it to be managed? I -suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great -question is, what?' - -The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round her at -the flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see anything that -looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances. -There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as -herself; and when she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and -behind it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what -was on the top of it. - -She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the -mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, -that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long -hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else. - - - - -CHAPTER V. Advice from a Caterpillar - -The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: -at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed -her in a languid, sleepy voice. - -'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar. - -This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, -rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--at least I know -who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been -changed several times since then.' - -'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain -yourself!' - -'I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, 'because I'm not -myself, you see.' - -'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar. - -'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, -'for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many -different sizes in a day is very confusing.' - -'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar. - -'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; 'but when you -have to turn into a chrysalis--you will some day, you know--and then -after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little -queer, won't you?' - -'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar. - -'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice; 'all I know -is, it would feel very queer to ME.' - -'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. 'Who are YOU?' - -Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation. -Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY -short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, 'I think, -you ought to tell me who YOU are, first.' - -'Why?' said the Caterpillar. - -Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any -good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant -state of mind, she turned away. - -'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something important -to say!' - -This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back again. - -'Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar. - -'Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she -could. - -'No,' said the Caterpillar. - -Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and -perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some -minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its -arms, took the hookah out of its mouth again, and said, 'So you think -you're changed, do you?' - -'I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; 'I can't remember things as I -used--and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!' - -'Can't remember WHAT things?' said the Caterpillar. - -'Well, I've tried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but it all came -different!' Alice replied in a very melancholy voice. - -'Repeat, "YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar. - -Alice folded her hands, and began:-- - - 'You are old, Father William,' the young man said, - 'And your hair has become very white; - And yet you incessantly stand on your head-- - Do you think, at your age, it is right?' - - 'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son, - 'I feared it might injure the brain; - But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, - Why, I do it again and again.' - - 'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before, - And have grown most uncommonly fat; - Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door-- - Pray, what is the reason of that?' - - 'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks, - 'I kept all my limbs very supple - By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box-- - Allow me to sell you a couple?' - - 'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak - For anything tougher than suet; - Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-- - Pray how did you manage to do it?' - - 'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law, - And argued each case with my wife; - And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw, - Has lasted the rest of my life.' - - 'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose - That your eye was as steady as ever; - Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-- - What made you so awfully clever?' - - 'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,' - Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs! - Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? - Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!' - - -'That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar. - -'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words -have got altered.' - -'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and -there was silence for some minutes. - -The Caterpillar was the first to speak. - -'What size do you want to be?' it asked. - -'Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied; 'only one -doesn't like changing so often, you know.' - -'I DON'T know,' said the Caterpillar. - -Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in her life -before, and she felt that she was losing her temper. - -'Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar. - -'Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn't mind,' -said Alice: 'three inches is such a wretched height to be.' - -'It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing -itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three inches high). - -'But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone. And -she thought of herself, 'I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily -offended!' - -'You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it put the -hookah into its mouth and began smoking again. - -This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again. In -a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth -and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the -mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, -'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you -grow shorter.' - -'One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself. - -'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it -aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight. - -Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying -to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly -round, she found this a very difficult question. However, at last she -stretched her arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit -of the edge with each hand. - -'And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a little of -the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment she felt a violent -blow underneath her chin: it had struck her foot! - -She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt -that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she -set to work at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed -so closely against her foot, that there was hardly room to open her -mouth; but she did it at last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the -lefthand bit. - - - * * * * * * * - - * * * * * * - - * * * * * * * - -'Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of delight, which -changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders -were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was -an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a -sea of green leaves that lay far below her. - -'What CAN all that green stuff be?' said Alice. 'And where HAVE my -shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?' -She was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow, -except a little shaking among the distant green leaves. - -As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she -tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that her -neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had -just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going -to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops -of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made -her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and -was beating her violently with its wings. - -'Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon. - -'I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. 'Let me alone!' - -'Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone, -and added with a kind of sob, 'I've tried every way, and nothing seems -to suit them!' - -'I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said Alice. - -'I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried -hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; 'but those -serpents! There's no pleasing them!' - -Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in -saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished. - -'As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the Pigeon; -'but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and day! Why, I -haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!' - -'I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was beginning to -see its meaning. - -'And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued the -Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, 'and just as I was thinking I -should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from -the sky! Ugh, Serpent!' - -'But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. 'I'm a--I'm a--' - -'Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. 'I can see you're trying to -invent something!' - -'I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered -the number of changes she had gone through that day. - -'A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest -contempt. 'I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE -with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use -denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an -egg!' - -'I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful -child; 'but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you -know.' - -'I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; 'but if they do, why then they're -a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.' - -This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a -minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, 'You're -looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me -whether you're a little girl or a serpent?' - -'It matters a good deal to ME,' said Alice hastily; 'but I'm not looking -for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn't want YOURS: I don't -like them raw.' - -'Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled -down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as -she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and -every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she -remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and -she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the -other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had -succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height. - -It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it -felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, -and began talking to herself, as usual. 'Come, there's half my plan done -now! How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going -to be, from one minute to another! However, I've got back to my right -size: the next thing is, to get into that beautiful garden--how IS that -to be done, I wonder?' As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open -place, with a little house in it about four feet high. 'Whoever lives -there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never do to come upon them THIS size: why, -I should frighten them out of their wits!' So she began nibbling at the -righthand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she -had brought herself down to nine inches high. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. Pig and Pepper - -For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what -to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the -wood--(she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: -otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a -fish)--and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened -by another footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a -frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all -over their heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about, -and crept a little way out of the wood to listen. - -The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, -nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, -saying, in a solemn tone, 'For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen -to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, -only changing the order of the words a little, 'From the Queen. An -invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.' - -Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together. - -Alice laughed so much at this, that she had to run back into the -wood for fear of their hearing her; and when she next peeped out the -Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was sitting on the ground near the -door, staring stupidly up into the sky. - -Alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked. - -'There's no sort of use in knocking,' said the Footman, 'and that for -two reasons. First, because I'm on the same side of the door as you -are; secondly, because they're making such a noise inside, no one could -possibly hear you.' And certainly there was a most extraordinary noise -going on within--a constant howling and sneezing, and every now and then -a great crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken to pieces. - -'Please, then,' said Alice, 'how am I to get in?' - -'There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went on -without attending to her, 'if we had the door between us. For instance, -if you were INSIDE, you might knock, and I could let you out, you know.' -He was looking up into the sky all the time he was speaking, and this -Alice thought decidedly uncivil. 'But perhaps he can't help it,' she -said to herself; 'his eyes are so VERY nearly at the top of his head. -But at any rate he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she -repeated, aloud. - -'I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, 'till tomorrow--' - -At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate came -skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just grazed his nose, -and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind him. - -'--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly -as if nothing had happened. - -'How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone. - -'ARE you to get in at all?' said the Footman. 'That's the first -question, you know.' - -It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so. 'It's really -dreadful,' she muttered to herself, 'the way all the creatures argue. -It's enough to drive one crazy!' - -The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for repeating his -remark, with variations. 'I shall sit here,' he said, 'on and off, for -days and days.' - -'But what am I to do?' said Alice. - -'Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling. - -'Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately: 'he's -perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in. - -The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of smoke from -one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a three-legged stool in -the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring -a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup. - -'There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself, -as well as she could for sneezing. - -There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the Duchess -sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was sneezing and howling -alternately without a moment's pause. The only things in the kitchen -that did not sneeze, were the cook, and a large cat which was sitting on -the hearth and grinning from ear to ear. - -'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was -not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why -your cat grins like that?' - -'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!' - -She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite -jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, -and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:-- - -'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know -that cats COULD grin.' - -'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.' - -'I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely, feeling quite -pleased to have got into a conversation. - -'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.' - -Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought it would -be as well to introduce some other subject of conversation. While she -was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the -fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at -the Duchess and the baby--the fire-irons came first; then followed a -shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of -them even when they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already, -that it was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not. - -'Oh, PLEASE mind what you're doing!' cried Alice, jumping up and down in -an agony of terror. 'Oh, there goes his PRECIOUS nose'; as an unusually -large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off. - -'If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in a hoarse -growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does.' - -'Which would NOT be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt very glad to get -an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. 'Just think of -what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes -twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis--' - -'Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, 'chop off her head!' - -Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she meant to take -the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the soup, and seemed not to -be listening, so she went on again: 'Twenty-four hours, I THINK; or is -it twelve? I--' - -'Oh, don't bother ME,' said the Duchess; 'I never could abide figures!' -And with that she began nursing her child again, singing a sort of -lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a violent shake at the end of -every line: - - 'Speak roughly to your little boy, - And beat him when he sneezes: - He only does it to annoy, - Because he knows it teases.' - - CHORUS. - - (In which the cook and the baby joined):-- - - 'Wow! wow! wow!' - -While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing -the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so, -that Alice could hardly hear the words:-- - - 'I speak severely to my boy, - I beat him when he sneezes; - For he can thoroughly enjoy - The pepper when he pleases!' - - CHORUS. - - 'Wow! wow! wow!' - -'Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said to Alice, -flinging the baby at her as she spoke. 'I must go and get ready to play -croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of the room. The cook threw -a frying-pan after her as she went out, but it just missed her. - -Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer-shaped -little creature, and held out its arms and legs in all directions, 'just -like a star-fish,' thought Alice. The poor little thing was snorting -like a steam-engine when she caught it, and kept doubling itself up and -straightening itself out again, so that altogether, for the first minute -or two, it was as much as she could do to hold it. - -As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it, (which was to -twist it up into a sort of knot, and then keep tight hold of its right -ear and left foot, so as to prevent its undoing itself,) she carried -it out into the open air. 'IF I don't take this child away with me,' -thought Alice, 'they're sure to kill it in a day or two: wouldn't it be -murder to leave it behind?' She said the last words out loud, and the -little thing grunted in reply (it had left off sneezing by this time). -'Don't grunt,' said Alice; 'that's not at all a proper way of expressing -yourself.' - -The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into its face to -see what was the matter with it. There could be no doubt that it had -a VERY turn-up nose, much more like a snout than a real nose; also its -eyes were getting extremely small for a baby: altogether Alice did not -like the look of the thing at all. 'But perhaps it was only sobbing,' -she thought, and looked into its eyes again, to see if there were any -tears. - -No, there were no tears. 'If you're going to turn into a pig, my dear,' -said Alice, seriously, 'I'll have nothing more to do with you. Mind -now!' The poor little thing sobbed again (or grunted, it was impossible -to say which), and they went on for some while in silence. - -Alice was just beginning to think to herself, 'Now, what am I to do with -this creature when I get it home?' when it grunted again, so violently, -that she looked down into its face in some alarm. This time there could -be NO mistake about it: it was neither more nor less than a pig, and she -felt that it would be quite absurd for her to carry it further. - -So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved to see -it trot away quietly into the wood. 'If it had grown up,' she said -to herself, 'it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes -rather a handsome pig, I think.' And she began thinking over other -children she knew, who might do very well as pigs, and was just saying -to herself, 'if one only knew the right way to change them--' when she -was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a -tree a few yards off. - -The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she -thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she -felt that it ought to be treated with respect. - -'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know -whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. -'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. 'Would you -tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' - -'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. - -'I don't much care where--' said Alice. - -'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. - -'--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation. - -'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long -enough.' - -Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. -'What sort of people live about here?' - -'In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, 'lives -a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, 'lives a March -Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' - -'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. - -'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. -You're mad.' - -'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. - -'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.' - -Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on 'And how -do you know that you're mad?' - -'To begin with,' said the Cat, 'a dog's not mad. You grant that?' - -'I suppose so,' said Alice. - -'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when it's angry, -and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and -wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.' - -'I call it purring, not growling,' said Alice. - -'Call it what you like,' said the Cat. 'Do you play croquet with the -Queen to-day?' - -'I should like it very much,' said Alice, 'but I haven't been invited -yet.' - -'You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished. - -Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer -things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, -it suddenly appeared again. - -'By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. 'I'd nearly -forgotten to ask.' - -'It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had come back -in a natural way. - -'I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again. - -Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it did not -appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in -which the March Hare was said to live. 'I've seen hatters before,' she -said to herself; 'the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and -perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad--at least not so mad as -it was in March.' As she said this, she looked up, and there was the Cat -again, sitting on a branch of a tree. - -'Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat. - -'I said pig,' replied Alice; 'and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and -vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.' - -'All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, -beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which -remained some time after the rest of it had gone. - -'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; 'but a grin -without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!' - -She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the house -of the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house, because the -chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was thatched with fur. It -was so large a house, that she did not like to go nearer till she had -nibbled some more of the lefthand bit of mushroom, and raised herself to -about two feet high: even then she walked up towards it rather timidly, -saying to herself 'Suppose it should be raving mad after all! I almost -wish I'd gone to see the Hatter instead!' - - - - -CHAPTER VII. A Mad Tea-Party - -There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the -March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting -between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a -cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. 'Very -uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; 'only, as it's asleep, I -suppose it doesn't mind.' - -The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at -one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice -coming. 'There's PLENTY of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat -down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. - -'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. - -Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. -'I don't see any wine,' she remarked. - -'There isn't any,' said the March Hare. - -'Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily. - -'It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said -the March Hare. - -'I didn't know it was YOUR table,' said Alice; 'it's laid for a great -many more than three.' - -'Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice -for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. - -'You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some -severity; 'it's very rude.' - -The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID -was, 'Why is a raven like a writing-desk?' - -'Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they've -begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud. - -'Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the -March Hare. - -'Exactly so,' said Alice. - -'Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on. - -'I do,' Alice hastily replied; 'at least--at least I mean what I -say--that's the same thing, you know.' - -'Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. 'You might just as well say -that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!' - -'You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, 'that "I like what I -get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!' - -'You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be -talking in his sleep, 'that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing -as "I sleep when I breathe"!' - -'It IS the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the -conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice -thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, -which wasn't much. - -The Hatter was the first to break the silence. 'What day of the month -is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his -pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, -and holding it to his ear. - -Alice considered a little, and then said 'The fourth.' - -'Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. 'I told you butter wouldn't suit -the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare. - -'It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied. - -'Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: -'you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.' - -The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped -it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of -nothing better to say than his first remark, 'It was the BEST butter, -you know.' - -Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. 'What a -funny watch!' she remarked. 'It tells the day of the month, and doesn't -tell what o'clock it is!' - -'Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. 'Does YOUR watch tell you what -year it is?' - -'Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: 'but that's because it -stays the same year for such a long time together.' - -'Which is just the case with MINE,' said the Hatter. - -Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no -sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. 'I don't quite -understand you,' she said, as politely as she could. - -'The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little -hot tea upon its nose. - -The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its -eyes, 'Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.' - -'Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice -again. - -'No, I give it up,' Alice replied: 'what's the answer?' - -'I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter. - -'Nor I,' said the March Hare. - -Alice sighed wearily. 'I think you might do something better with the -time,' she said, 'than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.' - -'If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, 'you wouldn't talk -about wasting IT. It's HIM.' - -'I don't know what you mean,' said Alice. - -'Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. -'I dare say you never even spoke to Time!' - -'Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: 'but I know I have to beat time -when I learn music.' - -'Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. 'He won't stand beating. -Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything -you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in -the morning, just time to begin lessons: you'd only have to whisper a -hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, -time for dinner!' - -('I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a whisper.) - -'That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully: 'but then--I -shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.' - -'Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: 'but you could keep it to -half-past one as long as you liked.' - -'Is that the way YOU manage?' Alice asked. - -The Hatter shook his head mournfully. 'Not I!' he replied. 'We -quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing -with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) '--it was at the great concert -given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing - - "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! - How I wonder what you're at!" - -You know the song, perhaps?' - -'I've heard something like it,' said Alice. - -'It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, 'in this way:-- - - "Up above the world you fly, - Like a tea-tray in the sky. - Twinkle, twinkle--"' - -Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep 'Twinkle, -twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch -it to make it stop. - -'Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter, 'when the -Queen jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the time! Off with his -head!"' - -'How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice. - -'And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, 'he won't -do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.' - -A bright idea came into Alice's head. 'Is that the reason so many -tea-things are put out here?' she asked. - -'Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: 'it's always tea-time, -and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.' - -'Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice. - -'Exactly so,' said the Hatter: 'as the things get used up.' - -'But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured -to ask. - -'Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted, yawning. -'I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.' - -'I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at the -proposal. - -'Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. 'Wake up, Dormouse!' And -they pinched it on both sides at once. - -The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes. 'I wasn't asleep,' he said in a -hoarse, feeble voice: 'I heard every word you fellows were saying.' - -'Tell us a story!' said the March Hare. - -'Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice. - -'And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, 'or you'll be asleep again -before it's done.' - -'Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began -in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and -they lived at the bottom of a well--' - -'What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in -questions of eating and drinking. - -'They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or -two. - -'They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked; 'they'd -have been ill.' - -'So they were,' said the Dormouse; 'VERY ill.' - -Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of -living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: 'But -why did they live at the bottom of a well?' - -'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. - -'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't -take more.' - -'You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take -MORE than nothing.' - -'Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice. - -'Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked triumphantly. - -Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself -to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the Dormouse, and -repeated her question. 'Why did they live at the bottom of a well?' - -The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then -said, 'It was a treacle-well.' - -'There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but the -Hatter and the March Hare went 'Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse sulkily -remarked, 'If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for -yourself.' - -'No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; 'I won't interrupt again. I -dare say there may be ONE.' - -'One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he consented to -go on. 'And so these three little sisters--they were learning to draw, -you know--' - -'What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise. - -'Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this time. - -'I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: 'let's all move one place -on.' - -He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare -moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took -the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any -advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than -before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate. - -Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began very -cautiously: 'But I don't understand. Where did they draw the treacle -from?' - -'You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; 'so I should -think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh, stupid?' - -'But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to -notice this last remark. - -'Of course they were', said the Dormouse; '--well in.' - -This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for -some time without interrupting it. - -'They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing -its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; 'and they drew all manner of -things--everything that begins with an M--' - -'Why with an M?' said Alice. - -'Why not?' said the March Hare. - -Alice was silent. - -The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into -a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with -a little shriek, and went on: '--that begins with an M, such as -mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness--you know you say -things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a -drawing of a muchness?' - -'Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, 'I don't -think--' - -'Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter. - -This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in -great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and -neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she -looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: -the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into -the teapot. - -'At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her -way through the wood. 'It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all -my life!' - -Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a door -leading right into it. 'That's very curious!' she thought. 'But -everything's curious today. I think I may as well go in at once.' And in -she went. - -Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the little -glass table. 'Now, I'll manage better this time,' she said to herself, -and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that -led into the garden. Then she went to work nibbling at the mushroom (she -had kept a piece of it in her pocket) till she was about a foot high: -then she walked down the little passage: and THEN--she found herself at -last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool -fountains. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. The Queen's Croquet-Ground - -A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses -growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily -painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went -nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of -them say, 'Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like -that!' - -'I couldn't help it,' said Five, in a sulky tone; 'Seven jogged my -elbow.' - -On which Seven looked up and said, 'That's right, Five! Always lay the -blame on others!' - -'YOU'D better not talk!' said Five. 'I heard the Queen say only -yesterday you deserved to be beheaded!' - -'What for?' said the one who had spoken first. - -'That's none of YOUR business, Two!' said Seven. - -'Yes, it IS his business!' said Five, 'and I'll tell him--it was for -bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions.' - -Seven flung down his brush, and had just begun 'Well, of all the unjust -things--' when his eye chanced to fall upon Alice, as she stood watching -them, and he checked himself suddenly: the others looked round also, and -all of them bowed low. - -'Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, 'why you are painting -those roses?' - -Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low -voice, 'Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a -RED rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen -was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know. -So you see, Miss, we're doing our best, afore she comes, to--' At this -moment Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called -out 'The Queen! The Queen!' and the three gardeners instantly threw -themselves flat upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps, -and Alice looked round, eager to see the Queen. -