the Knight said, gravely: ‘so I can’t tell for certain — but I’m afraid it would be a little hard.’

He looked so vexed at the idea, that Alice changed the subject hastily. ‘What a curious helmet you’ve got!’ she said cheerfully. ‘Is that your invention too?’

The Knight looked down proudly at his helmet, which hung from the saddle. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but I’ve invented a better one than that — like a sugar loaf. When I used to wear it, if I fell off the horse, it always touched the ground directly. So I had a very little way to fall, you see — But there was the danger of falling into it, to be sure. That happened to me once — and the worst of it was, before I could get out again, the other