Alice in Wonderland

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Something was in the water — Alice could hear it.' Perhaps it's a big fish or sea animal,' she thought. She looked round. There, very near her, was a mouse.

'I'll speak to it,' thought Alice. 'Everything is strange here. Perhaps it can speak and understand me.'

' Oh Mouse,' she said. ' Do you know the way out of this room?' The Mouse didn't answer.

'Perhaps it doesn't understand English. Perhaps it's a French mouse,' Alice thought. She remembered some words from her schoolbook, so she spoke to the mouse in French.

' Where is my cat ?' she asked.

The Mouse moved quickly away from her.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' said Alice. 'I forgot. You're a mouse, so you don't like cats.'

'Don't like cats!' cried the mouse. 'I'm a mouse. Of course I don't like cats!'

'No,'Alice said. 'No. But I think you will like Dinah. She is a nice, dear thing. She's very quiet and good. She catches a mouse every day - Oh! You're angry again! We won't talk about Dinah any more - '

' We!' cried the Mouse.' I never speak about cats! Our family hates cats! I don't want to hear any more about them.'

' No, no,' said Alice quickly.' Perhaps — perhaps you like dogs ? There's a very nice little dog near our house. It likes playing with children but it works too. It kills all the m — Oh! I'm sorry!'

The Mouse looked angrily at her and swam quickly away. ' Dear Mouse!' said Alice softly. ' Come back again and we won't talk about cats or dogs.'

When the Mouse heard this, it turned round. It swam slowly back. 'All right,' it said. 'I'll talk to you, but let's get out of the

water.'

They climbed out and Alice looked round. There were a lot of animals and birds in the water. When they saw her, they got out of the water too.

Chapter 3 A Race

Alice and the birds and animals felt cold and wet. The largest bird spoke to Alice.

' Good afternoon,' it said loudly.' I am the Dodo.'

'What is a Dodo?' thought Alice, but she smiled politely. ' Hello, Dodo. I'm Alice,' she said.

' I have an idea,' said the Dodo.' We all want to get warm.