"You are not discouraged, are you?" asked the Red Knight, a little wistfully. "You mustn't be, you know. If I gave up the fight who else would there be to carry it on?"
"I'm sure I don't know," said Alice.
"There is no one else," said the Red Knight. "I'll prove it to you." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a collapsible foot-measure of the kind carpenters use in their business. He handed it to Alice and asked her to open it out.
"This is a very funny rule," said Alice. "I thought all these pocket-measures ran up to six feet, but this one stops short at five feet ten inches."
"Exactly," said the Red Knight. "Now would you mind taking my measure, just as I lie here."
Alice wondered, but complied.
"Why," she said, "it is just your height."
"Of course it is," said the Red Knight. "This, you see, is the rule of the people. I always carry it about with me. It is a very good rule, because it works only one way."