on that -- something about "horse" and "hoarse," you know.'

  Then a very gentle voice in the distance said, `She must be
labelled "Lass, with care," you know -- '

  And after that other voices went on (What a number of people there
are in the carriage!' thought Alice), saying, `She must go by post,
as she's got a head on her -- ' `She must be sent as a message by the
telegraph -- ' `She must draw the train herself the rest of the way
-- ' and so on.

  But the gentleman dressed in white paper leaned forwards and
whispered in her ear, `Never mind what they all say, my dear, but
take a return-ticket every time the train stops."

  `Indeed I shan't!' Alice said rather impatiently.  `I don't belong
to this railway journey at all -- I was in a wood just now -- and I
wish I could get back there.'

  `You might make a joke on THAT, said the little voice close to her
ear: `something about "you WOULD if you could," you know.'

  `Don't tease so,' said Alice, looking about in vain to see where
the voice came from; `if you're so anxious to have a joke made, why
don't you make one yourself?'

  The little voice sighed deeply: it was VERY unhappy, evidently, and
Alice would have said something pitying to comfort it, `If it would
only sigh like other people!' she thought.  But this was such a
wonderfully small sigh, that she wouldn't have heard it at all, if it
hadn't come QUITE close to her ear.  The consequence of this was that
it tickled her ear very much, and quite took off her thoughts from
the unhappiness of the poor little creature.

  `I know you are a friend, the little voice went on; `a dear friend,
and an old friend.  And you won't hurt me, though I AM an insect.'

  `What kind of insect?' Alice inquired a little anxiously.  What she
really wanted to know was, whether it could sting or not, but she
thought this wouldn't be quite a civil question to ask.

  `What, then you don't -- ' the little voice began, when it was
drowned by a shrill scream from the engine, and everybody jumped up
in alarm, Alice among the rest.

  The Horse, who had put his head out of the window, quietly drew it
in and said, `It's only a brook we have to jump over.' Everybody
seemed satisfied with this, though Alice felt a little nervous at the
idea of trains jumped at all.  `However, it'll take us into the
Fourth Square, that's some comfort!' she said to herself.  In another
moment she felt the carriage rise straight up into the air, and in
her fright she caught at the thing nearest to her hand. which
happened to be the Goat's beard.

  But the beard seemed to melt away as she touched it, and she found
herself sitting quietly under a tree -- while the Gnat (for that was
the insect she had been talking to) was balancing itself on a twig
just over her head, and fanning her with its wings.

  It certainly was a VERY large Gnat: `about the size of a chicken,'
Alice thought.  Still, she couldn't feel nervous with it, after they
had been talking together so long.

  ` -- then you don't like all insects?' the Gnat went on, as quietly
as if nothing had happened.

  `I like them when they can talk,' Alice said.  `None of them ever
talk, where _I_ come from.'

  `What sort of insects do you rejoice in, where YOU come from?'  the
Gnat inquired.

  `I don't REJOICE in insects at all,' Alice explained, `because I'm
rather afraid of them -- at least the large kinds.  But I can tell
you the names of some of them."

  `Of course they answer to their names?' the Gnat remarked
carelessly.

  `I never knew them do it.'

  `What's the use of their having names the Gnat said, `if they won't
answer to them?'

  `No use to THEM,' said Alice; `but it's useful to the people who
name them, I suppose.  If not, why do things have names at all?'

  `I can't say,' the Gnat replied.  `Further on, in the wood down
there, they've got no names -- however, go on with your list of
insects: you're wasting time.'

  `Well, there's the Horse-fly,' Alice began, counting off the names
on her fingers.

  `All right,' said the Gnat: `half way up that bush, you'll see a
Rocking-horse-fly, if you look.  It's made entirely of wood, and gets
about by swinging itself from branch to branch.'

  `What does it live on?' Alice asked, with great curiosity.