Here was another puzzling question; and, as Alice could not think of any good reason, and the Caterpillar seemed to be in a _very_ unpleasant state of mind, she turned away. "Come back!" the Caterpillar called after her. "I've something important to say!" This sounded promising, certainly. Alice turned and came back again. "Keep your temper," said the Caterpillar. "Is that all?" said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she could. "No," said the Caterpillar. Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some minutes it puffed away without speaking; but at last it unfolded its arms, took the hookah out of its mouth again, and said, "So you think you're changed, do you?" "I'm afraid I am, Sir," said Alice. "I can't remember things as I used--and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!" "Can't remember _what_ things?" said the Caterpillar. "Well, I've tried to say, '_How doth the little busy bee_,' but it all came different!" Alice replied in a very melancholy voice. "Repeat, '_You are old, Father William_,'" said the Caterpillar. Alice folded her hands, and began: "You are old, Father William," the young man said, "And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head-- Do you think, at your age, it is right?" "In my youth," Father William replied to his son, "I feared it might injure the brain; But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, Why, I do it again and again." "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, And have grown most uncommonly fat; Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door-- Pray, what is the reason of that?" "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his gray locks, "I kept all my limbs very supple By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box-- Allow me to sell you a couple?" "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak For anything tougher than suet; Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-- Pray, how did you manage to do it?" "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, And argued each case with my wife; And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw Has lasted the rest of my life." "You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose That your eye was as steady as ever; Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-- What made you so awfully clever?" "I have answered three questions, and that is enough," Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs! Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? Be off, or I'll kick you down-stairs!" "That is not said right," said the Caterpillar. "Not _quite_ right, I'm afraid," said Alice, timidly: "some of the words have got altered." "It is wrong from beginning to end," said the Caterpillar, decidedly; and there was silence for some minutes.