round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each

hand.


“And now which is which?” she said to herself, and nibbled a little

of the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment she felt a violent

blow underneath her chin: it had struck her foot!


She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt that

there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she set to work

at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed so closely against

her foot, that there was hardly room to open her mouth; but she did it at last,

and managed to swallow a morsel of the lefthand bit.


*      *      *      *      *      *      *


    *      *      *      *      *      *


*      *      *      *      *      *      *


“Come, my head’s free at last!” said Alice in a tone of

delight, which changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her

shoulders were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down,

was an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea

of green leaves that lay far below her.


“What can all that green stuff be?” said Alice. “And

where have my shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I

can’t see you?” She was moving them about as she spoke, but no

result seemed to follow, except a little shaking among the distant green

leaves.


As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she tried

to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that her neck would

bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had just succeeded in

curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the

leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she

had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: a large

pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating her violently with its wings.


“Serpent!” screamed the Pigeon.