`Oh, as to the whiting,' said the Mock Turtle, `they--you've

seen them, of course?'

  `Yes,' said Alice, `I've often seen them at dinn--' she

checked herself hastily.

  `I don't know where Dinn may be,' said the Mock Turtle, `but

if you've seen them so often, of course you know what they're

like.'

  `I believe so,' Alice replied thoughtfully.  `They have their

tails in their mouths--and they're all over crumbs.'

  `You're wrong about the crumbs,' said the Mock Turtle:

`crumbs would all wash off in the sea.  But they HAVE their tails

in their mouths; and the reason is--' here the Mock Turtle

yawned and shut his eyes.--`Tell her about the reason and all

that,' he said to the Gryphon.

  `The reason is,' said the Gryphon, `that they WOULD go with

the lobsters to the dance.  So they got thrown out to sea.  So

they had to fall a long way.  So they got their tails fast in

their mouths.  So they couldn't get them out again.  That's all.'

  `Thank you,' said Alice, `it's very interesting.  I never knew

so much about a whiting before.'

  `I can tell you more than that, if you like,' said the

Gryphon.  `Do you know why it's called a whiting?'

  `I never thought about it,' said Alice.  `Why?'

  `IT DOES THE BOOTS AND SHOES.' the Gryphon replied very

solemnly.

  Alice was thoroughly puzzled.  `Does the boots and shoes!' she

repeated in a wondering tone.

  `Why, what are YOUR shoes done with?' said the Gryphon.  `I

mean, what makes them so shiny?'

  Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before she

gave her answer.  `They're done with blacking, I believe.'

  `Boots and shoes under the sea,' the Gryphon went on in a deep

voice, `are done with a whiting.  Now you know.'

  `And what are they made of?' Alice asked in a tone of great

curiosity.

  `Soles and eels, of course,' the Gryphon replied rather

impatiently:  `any shrimp could have told you that.'

  `If I'd been the whiting,' said Alice, whose thoughts were

still running on the song, `I'd have said to the porpoise, "Keep

back, please:  we don't want YOU with us!"'

  `They were obliged to have him with them,' the Mock Turtle

said:  `no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.'

  `Wouldn't it really?' said Alice in a tone of great surprise.

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