* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
Come, my head s free at last! said Alice in a tone of delight, which
changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders
were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was
an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a
sea of green leaves that lay far below her.
What _can_ all that green stuff be? said Alice. And where _have_ my
shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can t see you?
She was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow,
except a little shaking among the distant green leaves.
As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head,
she tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that
her neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She
had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was
going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but
the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp
hiss made her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her
face, and was beating her violently with its wings.
Serpent! screamed the Pigeon.
I m _not_ a serpent! said Alice indignantly. Let me alone!
Serpent, I say again! repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued
tone, and added with a kind of sob, I ve tried every way, and nothing
seems to suit them!
I haven t the least idea what you re talking about, said Alice.
I ve tried the roots of trees, and I ve tried banks, and I ve tried
hedges, the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; but those
serpents! There s no pleasing them!
29