t isn't
very likely there would be any mice on the horse's back.'

'Not very likely, perhaps,' said the Knight: 'but if they DO come, I
don't choose to have them running all about.'

'You see,' he went on after a pause, 'it's as well to be provided for
EVERYTHING. That's the reason the horse has all those anklets round his
feet.'

'But what are they for?' Alice asked in a tone of great curiosity.

'To guard against the bites of sharks,' the Knight replied. 'It's an
invention of my own. And now help me on. I'll go with you to the end of
the wood--What's the dish for?'

'It's meant for plum-cake,' said Alice.

'We'd better take it with us,' the Knight said. 'It'll come in handy if
we find any plum-cake. Help me to get it into this bag.'

This took a very long time to manage, though Alice held the bag open
very carefully, because the Knight was so VERY awkward in putting in
the dish: the first two or three times that he tried he fell in himself
instead. 'It's rather a tight fit, you see,' he said, as they got it in
a last; 'There are so many candlesticks in the bag.' And he hung it
to the saddle, which was already loaded with bunches of carrots, and
fire-irons, and many other things.

'I hope you've got your hair well fastened on?' he continued, as they
set off.

'Only in the usual way,' Alice said, smiling.

'That's hardly enough,' he said, anxiously. 'You see the wind is so VERY
strong here. It's as strong as soup.'

'Have you invented a plan for keeping the hair from being blown off?'
Alice enquired.

'Not yet,' said the Knight. 'But I've got a plan for keeping it from
FALLING off.'

'I should like to hear it, very much.'

'First you take an upright stick,' said the Knight. 'Then you make your
hair creep up it, like a fruit-tree. Now the reason hair falls off is
because it hangs DOWN--things never fall UPWARDS, you know. It's a plan
of my own invention. You may try it if you like.'

It didn't sound a comfortable plan, Alice thought, and for a few minutes
she walked on in silence, puzzling over the idea, and every now and then
stopping to help the poor Knight, who certainly was NOT a good rider.

Whenever the horse stopped (which it did very often), he fell off in
front; and whenever it went on again (which it generally did rather
suddenly), he fell off behind. Otherwise he kept on pretty well, except
that he had a habit of now and then falling off sideways; and as he
generally did this on the side o