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.