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.

  `I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly.  `Let me alone!'

  `Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more

subdued tone, and added with a kind of sob, `I've tried every

way, and nothing seems to suit them!'

  `I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said

Alice.

  `I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've

tried hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; `but

those serpents!  There's no pleasing them!'

  Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no

use in saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.

  `As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the

Pigeon; `but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and

day!  Why, I haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!'

  `I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was

beginning to see its meaning.

  `And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued

the Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, `and just as I was

thinking I should be free of them at last, they must needs come

wriggling down from the sky!  Ugh, Serpent!'

  `But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice.  `I'm a--I'm

a--'

  `Well!  WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon.  `I can see you're

trying to invent something!'

  `I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she

remembered the number of changes she had gone through that day.

  `A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the

deepest contempt.  `I've seen a good many little girls in my

time, but never ONE with such a neck as that!  No, no!  You're a

serpent; and there's no use denying it.  I suppose you'll be

telling me next that you never tasted an egg!'

  `I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very

truthful child; `but little girls eat eggs quite as much as

serpents do, you know.'

  `I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; `but if they do, why

then they're a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'

  This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent

for a minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of

adding, `You're looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and

what does it matter to me whether you're a little girl or a ()