Hardly knowing what she did , she picked up a little bit of stick , and held it out to the puppy ; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet at once , with a yelp of delight , and rushed at the stick , and made believe to worry it ; then Alice dodged behind a great thistle , to keep herself from being run over ; and the moment she appeared on the other side , the puppy made another rush at the stick , and tumbled head over heels in its hurry to get hold of it ; then Alice , thinking it was very like having a game of play with a cart-horse , and expecting every moment to be trampled under its feet , ran round the thistle again ; then the puppy began a series of short charges at the stick , running a very little way forwards each time and a long way back , and barking hoarsely all the while , till at last it sat down a good way off , panting , with its tongue 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 did 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 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. 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 -- 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 ca n't explain MYSELF , I 'm afraid , sir ' said XXXXX , ` because I 'm not myself , you see . ' '
Alice Caterpillar buttercup cart-horse escape hookah morning right smoking thistle