From: Greg Colvin (gcolvin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-07-31 22:11:04
Alice could only look puzzled: she was thinking of the pudding.
`You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: `let me sing
you a song to comfort you.'
`Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of
poetry that day.
`It's long,' said the Knight, `but it's very, very beautiful.
Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into
their eyes, or else --'
`Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden
pause.
`Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called
"Haddocks' Eyes".'
`Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to
feel interested.
`No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little
vexed. `That's what the name is called. The name really is "The
Aged Aged Man".'
`Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called"?'
Alice corrected herself.
`No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called
"Ways and Means": but that's only what it's called, you know!'
`Well, what is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time
completely bewildered.
`I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really is "A-
sitting On a Gate": and the tune's my own invention.'
So saying, he stopped his horse and let the reins fall on its
neck: then, slowly beating time with one hand, and with a faint
smile lighting up his gentle foolish face, as if he enjoyed the
music of his song, he began.