His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.]

  `That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,'

said the Gryphon.

  `Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; `but it

sounds uncommon nonsense.'

  Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her

hands, wondering if anything would EVER happen in a natural way

again.

  `I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.

  `She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily.  `Go on with

the next verse.'

  `But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted.  `How COULD

he turn them out with his nose, you know?'

  `It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was

dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the

subject.

  `Go on with the next verse,' the Gryphon repeated impatiently:

`it begins "I passed by his garden."'

  Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would

all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:--

    `I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,

    How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie--'

        [later editions continued as follows

    The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,

    While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat.

    When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,

    Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:

    While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,

    And concluded the banquet--]

  `What IS the use of repeating all that stuff,' the Mock Turtle

interrupted, `if you don't explain it as you go on?  It's by far

the most confusing thing I ever heard!'

  `Yes, I think you'd better leave off,' said the Gryphon:  and

Alice was only too glad to do so.

  `Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?' the

Gryphon went on.  `Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing you

a song?'

  `Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,'

Alice replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather

offended tone, `Hm!  No accounting for tastes!  Sing her

"Turtle Soup," will you, old fellow?'

  The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice sometimes

choked with sobs, to sing this:--

    `Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, ()