Mouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

The Mouse is a fictional character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He appears in Chapter II "The Pool of Tears" and Chapter III "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale".

Alice, the eponymous heroine in the book, first talks to the mouse when she is floating in a pool of her own tears, having shrunk in size:

"`O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, `A mouse—of a mouse—to a mouse—a mouse—O mouse!' The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing."

With no response from the mouse, Alice fears that it may not speak English and attempts to speak French. Upon mentioning the French word for cat, chatte, the mouse panics. This leads to a discussion about cats and dogs, culminating in the mouse telling Alice his history.

The Mouse's Tale
When Alice hears the mouse's "long and sad tale", she is watching his tail. So, she imagines the tale in its shape. Fury said to                 a mouse, That he met in the house, "Let us             both go to                law:  I will                  prosecute                    YOU.  --Come,                       I'll take no                        denial; We                     must have a                 trial:  For              really this           morning I've          nothing         to do." Said the mouse to the cur, "Such                a trial,                   dear Sir,                         With                     no jury                  or judge,                would be              wasting             our              breath." "I'll be                judge, I'll                   be jury," Said cunning old Fury: "I'll                     try the                         whole                          cause,                             and                        condemn                       you                      to                       death."'