Alice said nothing; she had sat down again with her face in her hands, wondering if anything would ever happen in a natural way again.
"I should like to have it explained," said the Mock Turtle.
"She can't explain it," said the Gryphon hastily. "Go on with the next verse."
"But about his toes?" the Mock Turtle persisted. "How COULD he turn them out with his nose, you know?"
"It's the first position in dancing," Alice said; but she was dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
"Go on with the next verse," the Gryphon repeated impatiently; "it begins 'I passed by his garden.'"
Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:
"I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
How the owl and the oyster were sharing the pie."
"What IS the use of repeating all that stuff," the Mock Turtle interrupted, "if you don't explain it as you go on? It's by far the most confusing thing I ever heard."
"Yes, I think you'd better leave off," said the Gryphon, and Alice was only too glad to do so.