k to see how the storks were getting on in their dancing;
and she could see them in the distance, scampering up and down the
street, and bumping violently against one another in a frantic attempt
to keep time with the music. At any other time she would have been
vastly amused at this spectacle; but just then she was feeling a little
afraid that some of the astrologers might come out to see what was going
on, and she was therefore quite relieved when the storks presently gave
up all hope of finishing their quadrille, and rising in the air with a
tremendous flapping of wings, flew away over the tops of the houses and
disappeared. Strangely enough, the sound of the fiddling followed them
like a traveling band, and grew fainter and fainter until it finally
died away in the distance.

But the scuffling noise in the houses continued, and Dorothy did just
what you'd suppose such a curious little child would have done--that is,
she stole up and peeped in at one of the windows; but she could see
nothing through the thick glass but some strange-looking shadows bobbing
confusedly about inside. Of course you know what she did _then_. In
fact, after hesitating a moment, she softly opened the door of the house
and went in.

The room was full of animals of every description, dancing around in a
ring with the greatest enthusiasm; and as Dorothy appeared they all
shouted, "Here she is!" and, before she could say a single word, the two
nearest to her (they were an elephant and a sheep, by the way) seized
her by the hands, and the next moment she was dancing in the ring. She
was quite surprised to see that the elephant was no bigger than the
sheep; and, as she looked about, it seemed to her, in the confusion,
that all the animals in the room were of precisely the same size.

[Illustration: "AN ELEPHANT AND A SHEEP SEIZED HER BY THE HANDS, AND THE
NEXT MOMENT SHE WAS DANCING IN THE RING."]

"Isn't it rather unusual--" she said to the Sheep (it seemed more
natural, somehow, to speak to the Sheep)--"isn't it rather unusual for
different animals to be so much alike?"

"Not in _our_ set," said the Sheep, conceitedly. "We all know who's who.
Of course we have to mark the pigs, as they're so extremely like the
polar-bears;" and Dorothy noticed that two pigs, who were dancing just
opposite to her, had labels with "PIG" on them hung around their necks
by little chains, as if they had been a couple of decanters--"only," she
thought, "it would