Alice's adventures in wonderland The Caterpillar
The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.
"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, " I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."
"What do you mean by that?" said the Caterpillar sternly. "Explain yourself!"
"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir," said Alice, "because I'm not myself, you see."
"I don't see," said the Caterpillar.
"I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly," Alice replied very politely, "for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing."
" It isn't," said the Caterpillar.
" Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet," said Alice; " but when you have to turn into a chrysalis—you will some day, you know—and then after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little queer, won't you V " Not a bit," said the Caterpillar. " Well, perhaps your feelings may be different," said Alice; " all I know is, it would feel very queer to me." " You !" said the Caterpillar contemptuously. " Who are you ? " |
"Why?" said the Caterpillar.
Here was another puzzling question ; and as Alice could not think of any good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a very unpleasant state of mind, she turned away.
"Come back!" the Caterpillar called after her. "I've something important to say!"
This sounded promising, certainly : Alice turned and came back again.
" Keep your temper," said the Caterpillar.
" Is that all V said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she could.
"No," said the Caterpillar.
Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its arms, took the hookah out of its mouth again, and said, " So you think you're changed, do you?"
" I'm afraid I am, sir," said Alice; " I can't remember things as I used—and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!"
Title Alice's adventures in wonderland. Author: Lewis Carroll. Publisher: Macmillan, 1898. First Published 1865. Original from: Harvard University. Digitized: Sep 20, 2007. Length: 192 pages, with original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel (28 February 1820 – 25 February 1914)
This Image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1923 are copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 (in this case 1865) are now in the public domain.
This file is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris in this case Sir John Tenniel (28 February 1820 – 25 February 1914), and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31 of that year.
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