Alice's Adventures under Ground by Lewis Carroll

They were indeed a curious looking party that assembled on the / bank -- the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their / fur clinging close to them -- all dripping wet, cross, and / uncomfortable. The first question of course was, how to get dry: / they had a consultation about this, and Alice hardly felt at all / surprised at finding herself talking familiarly with the birds, / as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a / long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would / only say "I am older than you, and must know best," and this / Alice would not admit without knowing how old the Lory was, and / as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was nothing / more to be said.

At last the mouse, who seemed to have some authority among them, / called out "sit down, all of you, and attend to me! I'll soon / make you dry enough! " They all sat down at once, shivering, in a / large ring, Alice in the middle, with her eyes anxiously fixed on / the mouse, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she / did not get dry very soon.

"Ahem! " said the mouse, with a self-important air, "are you all / ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you / please!

"William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was / soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had / been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin / and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria -- "

"Ugh! " said the Lory with a shiver.

"I beg your pardon? " said the mouse, frowning, but very politely, / "did you speak?"

"Not I! " said the Lory hastily.

"I thought you did," said the mouse, "I proceed. Edwin and / Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him; / and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found / it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer / him the crown. William's conduct was at first moderate -- how are / you getting on now, dear? " said the mouse, turning to Alice as it / spoke.

"As wet as ever," said poor Alice, "it doesn't seem to dry me at / all."

"In that case," said the Dodo solemnly, rising to his feet, "I / move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more / energetic remedies -- "

"Speak English! " said the Duck, "I don't know the meaning of half / those long words, and what's more, I don't believe you do / either! " And the Duck quacked a comfortable laugh to itself. Some / of the other birds tittered audibly.

"I only meant to say," said the Dodo in a rather offended tone, / "that I know of a house near here, where we could get the young / lady and the rest of the party dried, and then we could listen / comfortably to the story which I think you were good enough to / promise to tell us," bowing gravely to the mouse.

The mouse made no objection to this, and the whole party moved / along the river bank, (for the pool had by this time began to / flow out of the hall, and the edge of it was fringed with rushes / and forget-me-nots,) in a slow procession, the Dodo leading the / way. After a time the Dodo became impatient, and, leaving the / Duck to bring up the rest of the party, moved on at a quicker / pace with Alice, the Lory, and the Eaglet, and soon brought them / to a little cottage, and there they sat snugly by the fire, / wrapped up in blankets, until the rest of the party had arrived, / and they were all dry again.

Then they all sat down again in a large ring on the bank, and / begged the mouse to begin his story.

"Mine is a long and a sad tale! " said the mouse, turning to / Alice, and sighing.

"It is a long tail, certainly," said Alice, looking down with / wonder at the mouse's tail, which was coiled nearly all round the / party, "but why do you call it sad? " and she went on puzzling / about this as the mouse went on speaking, so that her idea of the / tale was something like this:

We lived beneath the mat / Warm and snug and fat / But one woe, & that / Was the cat! / To our joys / a clog, In / our eyes a / fog, On our / hearts a log / Was the dog! / When the / cat's away, / Then / the mice / will / play, / But, alas! / one day, (So they say) / Came the dog and / cat, Hunting / for a / rat, / Crushed / the mice / all flat; / Each / one / as / he / sat.

/ U / n / d / e / r / n / e / a / t / h

/ t / h / e

/ m / a / t / , / m r a W / g u n s & / t a f & / T h i n k? o f t h a t!