The Mouse said, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle.

      'Ahem!' said the Mouse, 'are you all ready? Silence, if you please!'

      And it began to talk about William the Conqueror[4].

      '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 proceed,' said the Mouse. 'Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, found it-'

      'Found WHAT?' said the Duck.

      'Found IT,' the Mouse replied: '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 those gentlemen find?'

      The Mouse did not notice this question.

      'How are you, my dear?' it asked Alice.

      'I'm wet,' said Alice.

      How to get dry? They had a long talk about this, but it was hard to tell what was best.

      'I think,' said the Dodo, 'that the best thing to become dry is a Caucus-race.'

      'What is a Caucus-race?' said Alice.

      'Oh,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do it.'

      First it painted a circle, and then everybody began to run. Soon they were quite dry again, and the Dodo said 'The race is over!'

      The birds and animals began to ask, 'But who is the winner?'

      Dodo said, 'Everybody is a winner, and will have prizes.'

      'But who will give the prizes?' they asked.

      'She, of course,' said the Dodo, and pointed to Alice with the long claw. And everybody at once crowded round her and cried, 'A prize, a prize!'

      Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, and handed them round as prizes.

      '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 turned to Alice.

      'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.

      'Give it to me,' said the Dodo.

      The Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, 'Please accept this elegant thimble'; and they all cheered. Alice simply bowed, and took the thimble.

      The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise. It was over at last and they sat down in a ring and begged the Mouse to tell them a tale.

      'You promised to tell me your story, you know,' said Alice to the Mouse, 'why do you hate cats and dogs,' she added in a whisper.

      'It's a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse. And it began:

      'It is a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, she looked at the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?'

      “I shall not tell you,” said the Mouse. It got up and walked away.

      “Please come back and tell us your tale,” called Alice; and all joined in, “Yes, please do!”

      But the Mouse shook its head.

      'You are not listening!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. 'What are you thinking of? You are always talking nonsense!' and was soon out of sight.

      “Oh, where is my Dinah?” said Alice. “Dinah can bring her back.”

      “And who is Dinah, if I may ask such a thing?” said one of the birds.

      Alice was glad to talk about her pet.

      “Dinah is our cat; and it catches mice very fast. Moreover, Dinah catches birds even faster! And it eats them at once!”

      These words caused a great stir in the party. The birds rushed off; they were saying, “We must get home, it's late, it's time to sleep”.

      Everybody went home, and Alice was soon alone. Poor Alice began to cry again, because she felt very lonely. Suddenly she heard some noise.

      Chapter IV

      The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill