The Caterpillarand Alice looked at each other for some time in silence:  at lastthe Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her ina languid, sleepy voice.

        `Who are YOU?'said the Caterpillar.

        This was notan encouraging opening for a conversation.  Alice replied, rathershyly, `I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--at least I know who I WASwhen I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed severaltimes since then.'

        `What do youmean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. `Explain yourself!'

        `I can't explainMYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, `because I'm not myself, you see.'

        `I don't see,'said the Caterpillar.

        `I'm afraidI can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, `for I can'tunderstand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes ina day is very confusing.'

        `It isn't,'said the Caterpillar.

        `Well, perhapsyou haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; `but when you have to turn intoa 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, perhapsyour feelings may be different,' said Alice ; `all I know is, it wouldfeel very queer to ME.'

        `You!' saidthe Caterpillar contemptuously.  `Who are YOU?'

        Which broughtthem back again to the beginning of the conversation.  Alice felta little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY short remarks,and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, `I think, you ought totell me who YOU are, first.'

        `Why?' saidthe Caterpillar.

        Here was anotherpuzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any good reason, andas the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant state of mind, sheturned away.

        `Come back!'the Caterpillar called after her.  `I've something important to say!'

        This soundedpromising, certainly:  Alice turned and came back again.

        `Keep yourtemper,' said the Caterpillar.

        `Is that all?'said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she could.

        `No,' saidthe Caterpillar.

        Alice thoughtshe might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and perhaps afterall it might tell her something worth hearing.  For some minutes itpuffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its arms, took thehookah out of its mouth again, and said, `So you think you're changed,do you?'

        `I'm afraidI am, sir,' said Alice; `I can't remember things as I used--and I don'tkeep the same size for ten minutes together!'

        `Can't rememberWHAT things?' said the Caterpillar.

        `Well, I'vetried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but it all came different!'Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.

        `Repeat, "YOUARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar.

        Alice foldedher hands, and began:--

  `You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
      `And your hair has becomevery white;
    And yet you incessantly stand on yourhead--
      Do you think, at yourage, it is right?'

    `In my youth,' Father William repliedto his son,
      `I feared it might injurethe brain;
    But, now that I'm perfectly sure Ihave none,
      Why, I do it again andagain.'

    `You are old,' said the youth, `asI mentioned before,
      And have grown most uncommonlyfat;
    Yet you turned a back-somersault inat the door--
      Pray, what is the reasonof that?'

    `In my youth,' said the sage, as heshook his grey locks,
      `I kept all my limbs verysupple
    By the use of this ointment--one shillingthe box--
      Allow me to sell you acouple?'

    `You are old,' said the youth, `andyour jaws are too weak
      For anything tougher thansuet;
    Yet you finished the goose, with thebones and the beak--
      Pray how did you manageto do it?'

    `In my youth,' said his father, `Itook to the law,
      And argued each case withmy wife;
    And the muscular strength, which itgave to my jaw,
      Has lasted the rest ofmy life.'

    `You are old,' said the youth, `onewould hardly suppose
      That your eye was as steadyas ever;
    Yet you balanced an eel on the endof your nose--
      What made you so awfullyclever?'

    `I have answered three questions, andthat is enough,'
      Said his father; `don'tgive yourself airs!
    Do you think I can listen all dayto such stuff?
      Be off, or I'll kick youdown stairs!'
 

        `That is notsaid right,' said the Caterpillar.

        `Not QUITEright, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; `some of the words have got altered.'

        `It is wrongfrom beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and there was silencefor some minutes.

        The Caterpillarwas the first to speak.

        `What sizedo you want to be?' it asked.

        `Oh, I'm notparticular as to size,' Alice hastily replied ; `only one doesn't likechanging so often, you know.'

        `I DON'T know,'said the Caterpillar.

        Alice saidnothing:  she had never been so much contradicted in her life before,and she felt that she was losing her temper.

        `Are you contentnow?' said the Caterpillar.

        `Well, I shouldlike 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 verygood height indeed!' said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing itself uprightas it spoke (it was exactly three inches high).

        `But I'm notused 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 getused to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it put the hookah into itsmouth and began smoking again.

        This time Alicewaited patiently until it chose to speak again. In a minute or two theCaterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice,and shook itself.  Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawledaway in the grass, merely remarking as it went, `One side will make yougrow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'

        `One side ofWHAT?  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 anothermoment it was out of sight.

        Alice remainedlooking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying to make out whichwere the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly round, she found thisa very difficult question. However, at last she stretched her arms roundit as far as they would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand.

        `And now whichis which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a little of the right-handbit to try the effect:  the next moment she felt a violent blow underneathher chin:  it had struck her foot!

        She was a gooddeal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt that there wasno time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she set to work atonce to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed so closely againsther foot, that there was hardly room to open her mouth; but she did itat last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the lefthand bit.

        `Come, my head'sfree at last !' said Alice in a tone of delight, which changed into alarmin another moment, when she found that her shoulders were nowhere to befound:  all she could see, when she looked down, was an immense lengthof neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leavesthat lay far below her.

        `What CAN allthat green stuff be?' said Alice.  `And where HAVE my shoulders gotto?  And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?'  Shewas moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow, excepta little shaking among the distant green leaves.

        As there seemedto be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she tried to get herhead down to them, and was delighted to find that her neck would bend abouteasily in any direction, like a serpent.  She had just succeeded incurving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in amongthe leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees underwhich she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in ahurry :  a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating herviolently with its wings.

        `Serpent!'screamed the Pigeon.

        `I'm NOT aserpent!' said Alice indignantly.  `Let me alone!'

        `Serpent, Isay again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone, and addedwith a kind of sob, `I've tried every way, and nothing seems to suit them!'

        `I haven'tthe least idea what you're talking about,' said Alice.

        `I've triedthe roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried hedges,' the Pigeonwent on, without attending to her; `but those serpents!  There's nopleasing them!'

        Alice was moreand more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in saying anything moretill the Pigeon had finished.

        `As if it wasn'ttrouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the Pigeon; `but I must be on thelook-out for serpents night and day!  Why, I haven't had a wink ofsleep these three weeks!'

        `I'm very sorryyou've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was beginning to see its meaning.

        `And just asI'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued the Pigeon, raisingits voice to a shriek, `and just as I was thinking I should be free ofthem at last, they must needs come wriggling down from the sky!  Ugh,Serpent!'

        `But I'm NOTa 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 inventsomething!'

        `I--I'm a littlegirl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changesshe had gone through that day.

        `A likely storyindeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest contempt.  `I'veseen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE with such a neckas that!  No, no!  You're a serpent; and there's no use denyingit.  I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted anegg!'

        `I HAVE tastedeggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful child; `but littlegirls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know.'

        `I don't believeit,' said the Pigeon; `but if they do, why then they're a kind of serpent,that's all I can say.'

        This was sucha new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a minute or two, whichgave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, `You're looking for eggs, Iknow THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me whether you're a littlegirl or a serpent ?'

        `It mattersa 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 likethem raw.'

        `Well, be off,then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled down again into itsnest.  Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, forher neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and thenshe had to stop and untwist it.  After a while she remembered thatshe still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to workvery carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growingsometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringingherself down to her usual height.

        It was so longsince she had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strangeat first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began talking toherself, as usual.  `Come, there's half my plan done now!  Howpuzzling all these changes
are!  I'm never sure what I'm going to be, fromone 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 bedone, I wonder?'  As she said this, she came suddenly upon an openplace, 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 nibblingat the righthand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house tillshe had brought herself down to nine inches high.