`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.
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