The knight looked so solemn about it that Alice did not dare to laugh . ` I 'm afraid you must have hurt him , ' she said in a trembling voice , ` being on the top of his head . ' ' I had to kick him , of course , ' the Knight said , very seriously . ` And then he took the helmet off again -- but it took hours and hours to get me out . I was as fast as -- as lightning , you know . ' ` But that 's a different kind of fastness , ' Alice objected . The Knight shook his head . ` It was all kinds of fastness with me , I can assure you ! ' he said . He raised his hands in some excitement as he said this , and instantly rolled out of the saddle , and fell headlong into a deep ditch . Alice ran to the side of the ditch to look for him . She was rather startled by the fall , as for some time he had kept on very well , and she was afraid that he really WAS hurt this time . However , though she could see nothing but the soles of his feet , she was much relieved to hear that he was talking on in his usual tone . ` All kinds of fastness , ' he repeated : ` but it was careless of him to put another man 's helmet on -- with the man in it , too . ' ` How CAN you go on talking so quietly , head downwards ? ' Alice asked , as she dragged him out by the feet , and laid him in a heap on the bank . The Knight looked surprised at the question . ` What does it matter where my body happens to be ? ' he said . ` My mind goes on working all the same .
In fact , the more head XXXXX I am , the more I keep inventing new things . '
Alice ditch downwards fall fastness feet helmet hours lightning mind