e hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half shut.

This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she
set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and
till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance.

"And yet what a dear little puppy it was!" said Alice, as she leant
against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the
leaves. "I should have liked teaching it tricks very much, if--if I'd
only been the right size to do it! Oh, dear! I'd nearly forgotten that
I've got to grow up again! Let me see--how _is_ it to be managed? I
suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great
question is, what?"

The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round her at
the flowers and the blades of grass, but she could not see anything that
looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances.
There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as
herself; and, when she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and
behind it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what
was on the top of it.

She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the
mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large blue
caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly
smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of
anything else.

CHAPTER V

[Sidenote: _Advice from a 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 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, "