The Caterpillar's Mushroom and the Pigeon

1 On tiptoe at the mushroom, Alice looks at the blue Caterpillar in silence

2 The blue Caterpillar lowers his hookah and breaks the long silence with a lazy question

3 Alice answers the Caterpillar's "Who are you?" shyly and haltingly.

4 Alice stands on tiptoe at the edge of the mushroom and looks up at the blue Caterpillar.

5 By the mushroom, Alice spreads her hands and explains how confusing changing size is

6 The Caterpillar sits on the mushroom with his arms folded.

7 A close detail of the Caterpillar's small blue hand.

8 Standing very straight, Alice gravely tells the Caterpillar to say who it is first

9 With no answer for the Caterpillar, Alice turns and walks off into forest-tall grass

10 Walking away from the rude Caterpillar, Alice stops mid-step when he calls her back

11 Back at the mushroom, the blue Caterpillar calmly tells Alice to keep her temper

12 Alice has been waiting a long time in the grass at the foot of the mushroom.

13 Small among towering buttercups, Alice admits her busy bee verse has come out wrong

14 Alice stands to attention in the grass, hands folded, ready to recite Father William

15 Hands folded, Alice recites Father William in a singsong voice, eyes on the grass-tops

16 At the foot of the mushroom, tiny Alice recites Father William to the drowsy Caterpillar

17 The Caterpillar sits still on the mushroom, hookah held below his mouth, eyes narrowed

18 On tiptoe, Alice shouts the last rude line of Father William up at the Caterpillar

19 The Caterpillar gives his verdict on Alice's recitation.

20 After a long silence, the Caterpillar speaks first and asks Alice what size she wants to be.

21 Alice has been contradicted once too often.

22 Alice politely asks to be "a little larger" and calls three inches a wretched height.

23 The Caterpillar is offended by Alice's "wretched height" and rears up to his full three inches.

24 Alice pleads, "But I'm not used to it!"

25 The Caterpillar yawns, climbs off the mushroom and slips into the tall grass

26 With the Caterpillar gone, three-inch Alice stands alone beside the great mushroom

27 The Caterpillar has gone, and Alice is left alone with the perfectly round mushroom.

28 Alice holds up two identical bits of mushroom, wondering which makes her grow or shrink

29 Alice nibbles the right-hand bit of mushroom and shrinks so fast her chin hits her shoe

30 Alice has shrunk so fast that her chin is pressed against her own shoe.

31 The wood from high above: a calm sea of green tree-tops.

32 Alice's small head, still smiling, rises high above the wood on a very long neck.

33 High above the wood, Alice's head sits on an immensely long neck.

34 Delighted, Alice curves her serpent-like neck into a graceful zigzag over the tree-tops

35 High above the tree-tops, a large Pigeon crashes into Alice's face, screaming Serpent!

36 High above the tree-tops, Alice stares, puzzled and still indignant, at the exhausted Pigeon.

37 High above the tree-tops, the Pigeon stands on her nest and complains to the empty sky

38 The worn-out Pigeon sits hunched over her pale eggs in the highest tree of the wood.

39 High in the tallest tree, the Pigeon rises from her nest and shrieks at the long-necked Alice.

40 Alice tells the Pigeon she's a little girl, then drops her eyes, recalling her changes

41 Seen from behind the scornful Pigeon, Alice looks down at the bird, unsure of herself

42 Two pale, fragile eggs in a twig nest, half-covered by the Pigeon's ruffled wing

43 Alice turns her long neck toward the Pigeon's nest and insists she isn't after eggs

44 The Pigeon sulks back down onto her eggs in the highest tree.

45 Back among the tree trunks, Alice carefully nibbles mushroom to regain her usual height

46 Alice is back at her own height and steps out of the wood into a sunny clearing.

47 At the wood's edge, Alice nibbles the right-hand mushroom piece to make herself small

48 The four-foot house fills the sunny clearing, with nine-inch Alice far off in the grass