sake of three obscure species of Podurella, and a
Buddhist bat.

"Well," thought Tom, "this is a very pretty quarrel, with a good deal to
be said on both sides. But it is no business of mine."

And no more it was, because he was a water-baby, and had the original
sow by the right ear; which you will never have, unless you be a baby,
whether of the water, the land, or the air, matters not, provided you
can only keep on continually being a baby.

So the giant ran round after the people, and the people ran round after
the giant, and they are running unto this day for aught I know, or do
not know; and will run till either he, or they, or both, turn into
little children. And then, as Shakespeare says (and therefore it must be
true)--

"_Jack shall have Gill
Nought shall go ill
The man shall have his mare again, and all go well._"

Then Tom came to a very famous island, which was called, in the days of
the great traveller Captain Gulliver, the Isle of Laputa. But Mrs.
Bedonebyasyoudid has named it over again the Isle of Tomtoddies, all
heads and no bodies.

And when Tom came near it, he heard such a grumbling and grunting and
growling and wailing and weeping and whining that he thought people must
be ringing little pigs, or cropping puppies' ears, or drowning kittens:
but when he came nearer still, he began to hear words among the noise;
which was the Tomtoddies' song which they sing morning and evening, and
all night too, to their great idol Examination--

"_I can't learn my lesson: the examiner's coming!_"

And that was the only song which they knew.

And when Tom got on shore the first thing he saw was a great pillar, on
one side of which was inscribed, "Playthings not allowed here"; at which
he was so shocked that he would not stay to see what was written on the
other side. Then he looked round for the people of the island: but
instead of men, women, and children, he found nothing but turnips and
radishes, beet and mangold wurzel, without a single green leaf among
them, and half of them burst and decayed, with toadstools growing out of
them. Those which were left began crying to Tom, in half a dozen
different languages at once, and all of them badly spoken, "I can't
learn my lesson; do come and help me!" And one cried, "Can you show me
how to extract this square root?"

And another, "Can you tell me the distance between [Greek: a] Lyrae and
[Greek: b] Camelopardis?"