Chapter 3
Each of the birds and the creatures rushed towards the bank. It was indeed a very strange looking gathering of so many animals and birds. There were birds with sharp hooked beaks, sharp claws and beautiful plumage. There were animals with handsome fur and mane.
But alas! All the animals and the birds were dripping wet. They were feeling uncomfortable and had no idea as to how they should dry their bodies. They were very worried on this very count. Alice was also present there. But she could not do anything for them.
Each of the animals and the birds put forward his/her suggestion. But it was not liked by others. As a result, a fight broke out among them. The animals were growling, howling and roaring. Similarly, the birds were cooing, squawking, croaking and twittering.
Seeing them in such deplorable state Alice felt pity towards them. She tried to step in. But all her efforts proved an exercise in futility. She was unable to calm them. At last the little mouse came forward. Gathering courage he addressed the gathering of animals and birds, “O dear ones! be seated. Be calm and don’t get frustrated. I have an idea. Listen to me carefully. If you do as I tell you, you all will be dry and fine. I assure you.’
Hearing the words of the little mouse two leaders stood up, one from the side of birds and one from the side of animals. They calmed down their followers. Now all the animals made a large ring with the little mouse in the middle. Alice was sitting out of the ring. The mouse was somewhat shivering with fright.
He said to the gathering, “That is nice of you. In a few minutes you will be able to dry your bodies.” Saying these words the mouse started narrating them the tale of William the Conqueror. He told them who William was, where he lived and how he conquered his fears. The gathering of birds and animals could not make out much. They failed to understand what the mouse was actually trying to say. They started feeling bored. Some of them started yawning. There were some ferocious wild animals which started roaring and growling. They wanted to eat the mouse which was making a fool of them.
Hearing the words of the mouse Alice exclaimed, “If won’t do any good to these animals and birds, how will they dry themselves after all? The frog croaked, “I opine that the mouse is befooling us. He has no remedy. He is just playing with our emotions and feelings. Order him to go away from here. He can’t benefit us in any way.”
Hearing the words of the frog Dodo rose to his feet and supported the frog saying, “Mr. Frog is absolutely right. We had better postpone the meeting with immediate effect. We should find out some more energetic remedies.” The owl spoke in a shrill voice, “I am against the viewpoint of Mr. Frog. He is very shrewd and always blows his own trumpet. I don’t see eye to eye with him.”
Now the eaglet spoke his mind, “Speak English only. I fail to make out the meaning of such long words as the frog and the owl use. I don’t believe in what you say. You two are bluffs and cheats. You always speak your minds and never play attention to what others say.”
Saying these words the eaglet bent down his head and smiled a lot. In this way, all the birds took their turns and expressed their viewpoints. Now it was the turn of the animals. First of all, the lion roared and said loudly, “I don’t think that this meeting will yield any result. It is a mere wastage of time. Let us go back to the forest.”
Hearing the words of the lion the tiger growled and said, “This meeting makes no sense. The mouse is making a fool of each and everybody. Let us not be taken in by his oily tongue.”
In this way all the animals too took their turns and voiced their feelings. After each of the birds and the animals had taken his/her turn, the Dodo once again got up from his seat and addressed the gathering thus, “Much has been said and listened to. Nothing has come out. Now I suggest all of you the best way to sort out this problem. We can dry us only and only if we run a caucus race. I think it is the best option we have. What do you say, my friends?”
All the animals and the birds looked at one another but said nothing. Then Alice rose from her seat and asked smilingly, “O dear, would you let us know what a caucus race is? Please elaborate it. Only then can we decide whether we should run it or not.”
Hearing the words of Alice the Dodo retorted, “Why? The best way to understand it is to run it. Only then can we make it out better.” Saying these words the Dodo instructed all the animals and the birds to follow him. Dodo led them all to a grassy pasture. There, he took a long stick and drew a large circle. Thus he marked out a race course. All the birds and animals were placed along the race course. There was no referee to start the race. There was no ‘one, two, three and off’. The race got under way.
As per the rule of the race each of the birds and the animals ran when he/she liked. They stopped when they wished. Such was the race. In fact, none was able to know when the race had started or when it was over. After running for half an hour in this fashion all of them became dry. Everyone was huffing and puffing. They thanked the Dodo for his sweet suggestion.
Now the Dodo said to all of them, “Sit down everybody. The race has come to an end. It is time for me to distribute the prizes.” The frog stood up from his seat and asked, “Please let us know who the winner is. How can everybody get the prize? Only the winner of the race will be given away a prize.”
The other animals and birds too said in chorus, “Yes, the frog is absolutely right. Tell us who has won the race.” Now it was a difficult question. The Dodo was on the horns of dilemma. He was out of his wits. He didn’t know what to do. But he did not lose heart. He kept his composure. He thought hard and hard.
After some time an idea struck him. He said to all of them, “Listen to me, my dear friends. You all will be amazed to know that each of you has won the race. So, it is compulsory that each of you will get a prize. All of you have performed better and run to your utmost capacity. So, I feel no hesitation in declaring all of you the winners of the race.”
All the animals and the birds felt very elated when they heard the words of Dodo. The eaglet stretched his wings and said, “We feel glad to know that each of us has won the prize. But let us know who is going to distribute the prize to the winners.”
The Dodo replied, “None other than Alice, the beautiful girl. She has lovely eyes and curly hair. She is sitting over there. Go to her and ask for your prizes.” Hearing the words of the Dodo all the animals and the birds rushed towards Alice and crowded around her. Seeing them Alice felt extremely happy.
Now the frog observed, “Dear Alice, where are our prizes? Don’t make any delay. We are getting very excited. Tell us quickly where the prizes are.”
The Duck too remarked, “O Alice, why are you taking so much time in giving away the prizes? Be quick and give away our prizes.”
Alice was cut to the quick. She was absolutely dumbfounded. She was in a state of shock. She had no prizes to give away to them. She was in a fix. How could she tell the animals and the birds that she had no prizes in her pockets. But she kept her composure. She maintained the balance of mind.
All of a sudden, she recollected that she put a box of comfits in one of her pockets. She at once pulled it out of her pocket and gave away a piece to each of them as prize. All felt very elated. It was good luck for Alice that the salt water had not got into the box of comfits. Otherwise she would have put herself in a very miserable condition. Now the little mouse get up from his seat and observed, “It is very right that Alice has given away the prizes to each of us. But I doubt she must have a prize for herself. I think there must be something else in her pocket.”
Hearing the words of the little mouse the Dodo turned to Alice and asked, “Dear Alice, what do you say in this regard? Is there anything else in your pocket? Show all of us your pockets.”
With a heavy heart Alice said, “Dear friends, I have nothing except this thimble in my pocket.” Saying these words she pulled it out of the pocket.
Seeing the thimble in the hand of Alice the Dodo observed, “Dear Alice, show me this thimble. Hand it over to me at once. We all want to have a look at it.
Alice felt very sad and dejected. She handed the thimble over to Dodo. All the animals and the birds gathered around her once more. Taking the thimble from the hand of Alice the Dodo observed, “We feel very happy to accept this thimble from you. We all are thankful to you for this wonderful gift.”
All present there clapped their hands and cheered up. They were all praise for Alice. After some time the Dodo returned the thimble to Alice who found the whole episode quite absurd. But she dared not laugh because all of the animals and the birds looked in rough mood. So, she thought it wire to keep cool and calm. She received the thimble from the Dodo without saying anything to him.
It was time to eat the comfits presented to each of the animals and the birds. No sooner did the animals start eating up the comfits than it caused a lot of noise and confusion. There was an atmosphere of chaos all around. The large birds observed, “We are unable to taste our comfits because they produce a lot of noise. We find it difficult to cope with these comfits.”
Similarly, the small birds made a complaint saying, “These comfits have choked our throats. We need to be patted on our beaks. We don’t like these comfits.” After much chaos and confusion if was over at last. All the animals and the birds crowded around the little mouse and said, “Dear, we are feeling bored. Tell us something more so that we may pass our time fruitfully.”
Alice interrupted saying, “Dear! you promised me that you would tell me your history. Now it is the opportune time to tell the history in front of all the animals and the birds. It will be fun and frolic. One more thing, don’t forget to tell why you hate cats and dogs. Please don’t get offended.”
The little mouse observed, “My tale is quite long and sad, as you all know. Alice cut a joke saying, “I see, your tail is very long. But how is it sad?” But the mouse was quite engrossed in telling his tale of woes.
On the other hand, Alice was bent upon cutting jokes on his tail. After some time the mouse got irritated and said angrily, “O Alice, you are not listening to my tale with full attention. You are not yourself today. You are physically present here but mentally somewhere else. Tell me what you are thinking.”
Alice at once replied, “I think you have reached the fifth bend. But there is risk. So, be careful.”
Hearing the words of Alice the mouse observed, “I haven’t entered any fifth bend. You are talking rubbish. It is all nonsense.” Saying these words the mouse got up and was on his way. He was very much angry with Alice who was making fun of him in front of all the animals and the birds. Alice ran after the mouse and pleaded him to return. All the animals and the birds followed suit.
But the mouse was a tough creature. He said to Alice, “Dear, I won’t come back again. You have been making fun of me for quite a long time. It is enough. You have crossed all your limits. Now I am going for good.”
Saying these words the mouse hurried on and made an announcement that he won’t come back again. After the departure of the mouse Alice wondered, “I wish I had Dinah here. She would have soon fetched it back. I miss you very much, O Dinah.”
Hearing the words of Alice the Lory observed, “Dear Alice! would you like tell us who Dinah is. You take its name quite frequently. Please tell us something about it.”
Hearing the words of the Lory Alice felt very happy. Dinah was her darling pet. She loved it very much. Puffed up with pride and arrogance Alice addressed the gathering thus, “Dear friends, Dinah is the name of my darling cat. She is very cute and active. She is good at catching birds. No sooner does she see any bird then she pounces upon it like flash of lightning. No bird has so far saved itself from her lethal attack. She has beautiful fur and lovely eyes. If she had been here, she would have fetched the mouse at once. Such is my Dinah.”
Hearing the words of Alice all the birds got scared of Dinah. Some of the birds got up from their seats and took flight at once.
The old Magpie too got up from his seat and remarked, “It is high time I should get back home quickly. My throat is hoarse and it will be quite uncomfortable for me to stay here during night.” Similarly, the canary called out to her children, “Dear ones, come down. It is time to go to bed. The evening has fallen.”
Saying these words the canary too got away from there. All other animals and birds followed suit one by one. Alice remained there all alone. She felt very unhappy and dejected. She began to cry at the top of her voice. She was once again in loveliness.
She said to herself. ‘This has happened because of my dear cat Dinah. Had I not mentioned about it here, I would not have lost all my friends. O dear! How sweet you are! I can’t forget you. I can’t part from you either. I am sure you are the best cat in the world. But these animals and birds don’t know your worth. You are my life and soul. Had you been here I would have kissed you a hundred times.
No other cat can match your agility. You are very quick at catching birds and mice. Your beauty is unparalleled.’
Saying these words Alice cried a lot. After some time she wiped her tears. All of a sudden she again heard the noise of some footsteps at some distance. She hoped that it would be the little mouse which had changed his mind and was coming back to resume his story. To her utter amazement, it was the White Rabbit.
