So she called softly after it, “Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we won’t talk about cats or dogs either, if you don’t like them!” When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its face was quite pale (with passion |от эмоций|, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, “Let us get to the shore, and then I’ll tell you my history, and you’ll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.”

It was high time |Было самое время| to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded |перенаселен| with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet |птица додо, попугай и орленок|, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way |поплыла вперед|, and the whole party swam to the shore.

They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank |собрались на берегу| – the birds with draggled feathers |с взъерошенными перьями|, the animals with their fur clinging |прилипшим мехом| close to them, and all dripping wet, cross | промокшим, спутанным|, and uncomfortable.

The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly |непринужденно общаясь| with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory |спор с попугаем Лори|, who at last turned sulky |в конце концов надулся|, and would only say, “I am older than you, and must know better;” and this Alice would not allow |буквально – не позволяла. Лучше – не принимала в расчет| without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively |решительно| refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.

At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority |авторитетной личностью| among them, called out, “Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I’ll soon make you dry enough!” They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry |высохнет| very soon.

“Ahem!” |звук откашливания| said the Mouse with an important air, “are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! ‘William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest |Вильгельм Завоеватель с благословения Папы добился подчинения англичан, которые нуждались в лидерах, и были не понаслышке знакомы с узурпацией и завоеваниями|. Edwin and Morcar, the earls |графы| of Mercia and Northumbria —’”

“Ugh!” said the Lory, with a shiver |с дрожью|.

“I beg your pardon!” said the Mouse, frowning |нахмурившись|, but very politely: “Did you speak?”

“Not I!” said the Lory hastily.

“I thought you did,” said the Mouse. “– I proceed |продолжу|. ‘Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable |нашел это благоразумным| —’”

“Found what?” said the Duck.

“Found it,” the Mouse replied rather crossly: “of course you know what ‘it’ means.”

“I know what ‘it’ means well enough, when I find a thing,” said the Duck: “it’s generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?”

The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly |спешно| went on, “‘– found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William’s conduct |правление| at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans |Но наглость его воинов-норманнов| —’ How are you getting on now |Как ты там?|, my dear?” it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.

“As wet as ever,” |Промокшая как никогда| said Alice in a melancholy tone: “it doesn’t seem to dry me at all.”

“In that case,” said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, “I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies |Я предлагаю принять резолюцию о немедленном роспуске собрания в свете принятия наличия более важных…| —”

“Speak English!” said the Eaglet. “I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and, what’s more, I don’t believe you do either |тоже|!” And the Eaglet bent down |наклонил| its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly |захихикали вслух|.

“What I was going to say,” said the Dodo in an offended tone, “was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.”

“What is a Caucus-race?” said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought |как будто он подумал| that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined |склонен| to say anything.

“Why,” said the Dodo, “the best way to explain it is to do it.” (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)

First it marked out a race-course |Во-первых он нарисовал маршрут|, in a sort of |что-то вроде| circle, (“the exact shape doesn’t matter,” it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course |по кругу|, here and there. There was no “One, two, three, and away,” but they began running when they liked, and left off |останавливались| when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out “The race is over!” and they all crowded round it |собрались вокруг него|, panting |пыхтя|, and asking, “But who has won?”

This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought |буквально – без большого количества мысли. Лучше – без того, чтобы хорошенько подумать|, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead |приложив палец ко лбу| (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, “Everybody has won, and all must have prizes.”

“But who is to give the prizes?” quite a chorus of voices asked.

“Why, she, of course,” said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; and the whole party at once |сразу же| crowded round her, calling out in a confused way |наперебой|, “Prizes! Prizes!”

Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair |в отчаянии| she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits |конфетами|, (luckily the salt water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one a-piece, all round.

“But she must have a prize herself, you know,” said the Mouse.

“Of course,” the Dodo replied very gravely |серьезно|. “What else have you got in your pocket?” he went on, turning to Alice.