94 a l i c e ’ s a dv e n t u r e s i n wo n d e r la n d
hands, wondering if anything would ever happen in a natural
way again.
‘I should like to have it explained,’ said the Mock
Turtle.
‘She ca’n’t explain it,’ said the Gryphon hastily. ‘Go on
with the next verse.’
‘But about his toes?’ the Mock Turtle persisted. ‘How
could he turn them out with his nose, you know?’
‘It’s the first position in dancing,’* Alice said; but she was
dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change
the subject.
‘Go on with the next verse,’ the Gryphon repeated: ‘it
begins “I passed by his garden.” ’
Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would
all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:––
‘I passed by his garden,* and marked, with one eye,
How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,
While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by——’
‘What is the use of repeating all that stuff?’ the Mock
Turtle interrupted, ‘if you don’t explain it as you go on? It’s
by far the most confusing thing I ever heard!’
‘Yes, I think you’d better leave off,’ said the Gryphon, and
Alice was only too glad to do so.
‘Shall we try another figure of the Lobster-Quadrille?’ the
Gryphon went on. ‘Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing
you another song?’
‘Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,’
Alice replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather
offended tone, ‘Hm! No accounting for tastes! Sing her
“Turtle Soup,” will you, old fellow?’
