Alice pleaded . ` If you do n't mind stopping the boat for a minute . ' ` How am I to stop it ? ' said the Sheep . ` If you leave off rowing , it 'll stop of itself . ' So the boat was left to drift down the stream as it would , till it glided gently in among the waving rushes . And then the little sleeves were carefully rolled up , and the little arms were plunged in elbow-deep to get the rushes a good long way down before breaking them off -- and for a while Alice forgot all about the Sheep and the knitting , as she bent over the side of the boat , with just the ends of her tangled hair dipping into the water -- while with bright eager eyes she caught at one bunch after another of the darling scented rushes . ' I only hope the boat wo n't tipple over ! ' she said to herself . ` Oh , WHAT a lovely one ! Only I could n't quite reach it . ' ` And it certainly DID seem a little provoking -LRB- ` almost as if it happened on purpose , ' she thought -RRB- that , though she managed to pick plenty of beautiful rushes as the boat glided by , there was always a more lovely one that she could n't reach . ` The prettiest are always further ! ' she said at last , with a sigh at the obstinacy of the rushes in growing so far off , as , with flushed cheeks and dripping hair and hands , she scrambled back into her place , and began to arrange her new-found treasures . What mattered it to her just then that the rushes had begun to fade , and to lose all their scent and beauty , from the very moment that she picked them ? Even real scented rushes , you know , last only a very little while -- and these , being dream-rushes , melted away almost like snow , as they lay in heaps at her feet -- but Alice hardly noticed this , there were so many other curious things to think about . They had n't gone much farther before the blade of one of the oars got fast in the water and WOULD N'T come out again -LRB- so Alice explained it afterwards -RRB- , and the consequence was that the handle of it caught her under the chin , and , in spite of a series of little shrieks of ` Oh , oh , oh ! ' from poor Alice , it swept her straight off the seat , and down among the heap of rushes . However , she was n't hurt , and was soon up again : the Sheep went on with her knitting all the while , just as if nothing had happened . ` That was a nice crab you caught ! '
she remarked , as XXXXX got back into her place , very much relieved to find herself still in the boat .
Alice crab dream-rushes elbow-deep left minute oars obstinacy rowing shrieks