There was a table set out under a tree in front of the cemetary, and the March Were and the Dead Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was laying between them, fast dead, and the other two were using it as a steak, filling their stomachs with it, and talking over its head with a rotten apple in it's mouth. `Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; `only, as it's dead, I suppose it doesn't mind.'
`Have some tea,' the March Were said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but wine. `I don't see any tea,' she remarked.
`There isn't any,' said the March Were.
`Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily.
`It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said the March Were.
`Your head wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.
`You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some severity; `it's very rude.'
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why is a raven like a gravestone?'
`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud.
`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Were.
`Exactly so,' said Alice.
`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Were went on.
`I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.'
`Not the same thing a bit!' said the Dead Hatter. `You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!'
