if you'd rather
not."

"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.

THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might;
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No clo