“Well, what sort of thing is it, then?”
“Why, I don’t think it’s a thing, either,” Rose put in.
“Ridiculous. Must be a thing or a place or a person. I suppose next you’ll say it’s me, or you. But where are your goloshes?”
“Goloshes,” the three replied. “Why, you don’t need goloshes unless the ground is wet.”
“Where I was brought up, goloshes have nothing to do with the ground,” returned the Red Queen. “They are for you. Just look at your feet!”
“It does seem as though they were wet,” Alice said, in a puzzled voice, lifting up first one foot and then the other. Rose and Ruth looked quickly at their own shoes. To their surprise they were sopping wet.
“Isn’t that extraordinary,” Rose exclaimed. “Why, I don’t remember that we went through a puddle!”
The Red Queen laughed scornfully. “Next time you’ll wear your goloshes, I hope. And now take off your shoes and stockings. Walking barefoot will help you grow.”
“Does it?” asked Ruth, as the three little girls sat down and joyfully pulled off their shoes and stockings, for who doesn’t love to walk barefoot in short fine grass! “I don’t see why it should.”
“Whys should be asked, not seen,” the Red Queen retorted. “And that reminds me....” With the last word she turned on her pedestal, and jumping about a foot into the air, rapidly glided out of sight.