When she fell into the salt water, Alice thought she had fallen into the sea. But she soon realized she was in a pool of her own tears.
"I cried all these tears when I was nine feet high," Alice said. She swam about, trying to find her way to dry land. "I wish I hadn't cried so much. I'll be punished for that by drowning in my own tears. That will be strange indeed, but everything is strange today."
Just then Alice heard something splashing. At first she thought it must be a walrus or a hippo. But then she remembered how small she was. The creature must be small too.
Alice swam toward the sound and soon spotted a mouse, which had also fallen into the pool.
"Is there any point in speaking to this creature?" Alice thought. "Can he even understand me? Everything is so strange down here that he probably can talk." She decided to take a chance and speak to him.
"Oh, Mouse!" Alice called. "Do you know the way out of this pool? I'm very tired of swimming. Oh, Mouse!"
The Mouse looked at Alice with some interest. He also seemed to wink at her but said nothing.
"Hmm. Perhaps he doesn't understand English," Alice said to herself. "Maybe he's from France."
Alice decided to try speaking some French. All she could think of was the first sentence in her French grammar book. Unfortunately, that sentence was "Where is my cat?"
The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water and quivered with fright.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Alice said quickly. "I forgot that mice dislike cats."
"Dislike cats?" the Mouse cried. "Would you like cats, if you were me?"
"Well, perhaps not, but don't be angry with me," Alice said calmly. She was glad that the Mouse spoke English. "I wish that I could show you my cat, Dinah. I think you'd learn to like cats if you met her. Dinah is such a dear, quiet thing."
The Mouse said nothing.
Alice swam lazily around the pool as she described Dinah for the Mouse. "Dinah lies by the fire, purring so nicely. She licks her paws and washes her face. She's such a nice, soft thing to pet. And she's the best at catching mice . . ."
The Mouse was shaking with anger, and Alice was sure she had offended him. "Oh, I beg your pardon," Alice said. "We won't talk about Dinah anymore."
"We!" the Mouse squeaked. "As if I would talk about such a thing! Our family has always hated cats. Don't let me hear that word again."
"All right," Alice said as she desperately tried to think of another topic of conversation. "How about dogs? Are you fond of dogs?"
The Mouse did not reply, so Alice went on eagerly. "There's such a nice dog on the farm near our house. It fetches things when you throw them. And it sits up and begs for its dinner. The farmer says it's worth a lot of money. That's because it's so good at catching rats, and—"
The Mouse started swimming away from Alice as fast as he could.
"Oh, no, I'm afraid I've hurt his feelings again," Alice said in a sad voice. She decided to try one more time to make friends with the frightened animal.
"Mouse, dear!" Alice called softly. "If you come back, I promise we won't talk about dogs or cats anymore."