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 , and with a yelp of delight 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 at the other side , the puppy made another dart at the stick , and tumbled head over heels in its hurry to get hold : 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 begin 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 . She set off at once , and ran till the puppy 's bark sounded quite faint in the distance , and till she was quite tired and out of breath . `` And yet what a dear little puppy it was ! '' said Alice , as she leant against a buttercup to rest herself , and fanned herself with her hat . `` I should have liked teaching it tricks , if -- if I 'd only been the right size to do it ! Oh ! 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 could not see anything that looked like the right thing to eat under the circumstances . There was a large mushroom 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 to 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 , which was sitting with its arms folded , quietly smoking a long hookah , and taking not the least notice of her or of anything else . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- For some time they looked at each other in silence : at last the caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth , and languidly addressed her . `` 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 that . '' `` What do you mean by that ? '' said the caterpillar , `` explain yourself ! ''
`` I ca 'n' t XXXXX myself , I 'm afraid , sir , '' said Alice , `` because I 'm not myself , you see . ''
addressed eat explain fanned jumped managed mean replied rest see