"I think I will have another talk with him," she said. "Perhaps, if I go all alone, he will tell me what to do. Oh, wouldn't it be perfectly¹ lovely if I could change him into a king with a golden-diamond-ruby crown. Yes, I certainly shall go."

 

So Alice swam off up the pond, in the direction the gold fish had once led Lulu and Jimmie and her.

 

Well, Alice went on and on and on, for ever so long, but she couldn't seem to find the place where the mud turtle fairy prince lived. She saw the green rushes hanging over the water's edge, she saw the bright ripples², just like diamonds that might be in a king's crown, and she heard the birds singing; but there was no mud hole where the fairy prince lived.

 

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Alice. "I'm afraid I'm lost."

 

"What? Lost in this beautiful place?" asked a voice just above her head, and, looking up, Alice saw a dear little yellow bird sitting on a tree over the water.

 

"Yes," said Alice, and a tear came into her eye, and ran down her yellow bill. "I am lost. I can't find the fairy prince."

 

"Oh, that is too bad," said the little yellow bird. "I don't just know what a fairy prince is, but it must be dreadful not to be able to find one when you want to. Do not feel badly, however. I can take you to an enchanted³ castle, if that will do."

 

"Oh, can you?" cried Alice. "That will be lovely. I had almost as soon see an enchanted castle as a fairy prince. Is it a really, truly one?"

 

"Oh, yes," answered the bird. "It certainly is. It is the most beautiful place in all the world. Come, and I will show you."

 

Then Alice felt delighted, and she walked out of the water, and waddled⁴ along on the land. The bird flew along, going slowly, so as not to get ahead of Alice. On and on they went, over green fields, and through the woods, until, pretty soon, they came to a place where the bird stopped.

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