``You are sad'', the Knight said in an anxious tone: ``let me sing you a song to comfort you.''

``Is it very long?'' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.

``It's long,'' said the Knight, ``but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it - either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else -''

``Or else what?'' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.

``Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes'.''

``Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?'' Alice said, trying to feel interested.

``No, you don't understand,'' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. ``That is what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged Aged Man'.''

``Then I ought to have said 'That's what the song is called?' '' Alice corrected herself.

``No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called `Ways And Means': but that's only what it's called, you know!''

``Well, what is the song, then?'' said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.

``I was coming to that,'' the Knight said. ``The song really is `A-sitting On A Gate': and the tune's my own invention.''