`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—“’
