A Caucus Race
Alice was very cold after being in the pool, and all the animals and birds were cold and unhappy.
Alice did not wonder about it when they began to speak to her.
"The best thing if you are cold," the Dodo said, "is to have a race--a Caucus race."None of the other birds or animals said anything, but the Dodo was waiting for a question, so Alice asked, "What is a Caucus race?""I could tell you," the Dodo said, "but the best thing is to do it."The Dodo made marks to show where to run.
There was no place to begin running. There was no place to run to. There was no 'One, two, three, go!" They began running when they liked, and they stopped when they liked. Only the Dodo knew when the race was over. When everybody was hot again and happy, the Dodo called out: "The race is over!"Then they all stood round the Dodo and asked, "Who has won?"The Dodo could not answer at once. He sat for a long time with a finger to his head, and at last he said:
Everybody has won. Everybody must have a prize.
"But who is to give the prizes?" the Mouse and a lot of other animals asked.
"She is," the Dodo said, looking at Alice.
"Prizes! Prizes!" all the birds and animals cried, standing round Alice.
Alice was not ready for this, but she put her hand in her pocket. She found a small box of very small sweets in it. (It was a good thing that the water had not got into it.) There was just one sweet for each of the birds and animals.
"But she must have a prize herself, you know." the Mouse said.
"Yes," the Dodo answered. He told Alice to find another prize in her pocket.
"I only have the box," Alice said.
"Give it to me." The Dodo put his hand out, and Alice put the box into it.
They all stood round Alice again, and the Dodo gave her the box, saying: "Please take this very beautiful box with our thanks."The next thing was to eat the sweets. There was some noise and crying about this. The sweets were too small for the big birds: they did not last. They were too big for the small birds. "Quick! Pat them on their backs!" Alice cried.
At last the sweets were all gone, and the birds and animals sat round in a ring and waited for something to happen.
"If Dinah were here, I should be very happy," Alice said. She said it to herself, but her new friends heard the words.
"And who is Dinah, may I ask?" the Dodo said.
Alice was always ready to speak about her friend the cat.
"Dinah's our cat. She's very nice. And she's very quick. You should see her catching mice. She's very good at catching birds too. --Oh, why have they all gone?"All the animals and birds had gone. Alice was alone again. " They don't like me to speak about Dinah," she told herself. "Nobody likes Dinah down here, but she's the best cat of all. I wonder if I shall ever see her again."Alice began to cry again because she was alone, but she heard little feet coming towards her, and she stopped crying. " Perhaps it's the Mouse," she thought. |