Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in
saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.
As if it wasn t trouble enough hatching the eggs, said the Pigeon;
but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and day! Why, I
haven t had a wink of sleep these three weeks!
I m very sorry you ve been annoyed, said Alice, who was beginning to
see its meaning.
And just as I d taken the highest tree in the wood, continued the
Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, and just as I was thinking I
should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down
from the sky! Ugh, Serpent!
But I m _not_ a serpent, I tell you! said Alice. I m a I m a
Well! _What_ are you? said the Pigeon. I can see you re trying to
invent something!
I I m a little girl, said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered
the number of changes she had gone through that day.
A likely story indeed! said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest
contempt. I ve seen a good many little girls in my time, but never
_one_ with such a neck as that! No, no! You re a serpent; and there s
no use denying it. I suppose you ll be telling me next that you never
tasted an egg!
I _have_ tasted eggs, certainly, said Alice, who was a very truthful
child; but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you
know.
I don t believe it, said the Pigeon; but if they do, why then
they re a kind of serpent, that s all I can say.
This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a
minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, You re
looking for eggs, I know _that_ well enough; and what does it matter to
30