The first verse of the poem on page 9 talks about a crocodile putting final touches on his shining tail. It means that he is excitingly touching up each individual scale on his tail. Alice follows the rabbit because she is a young, curious and adventurous little girl. She keeps going after the rabbit more and more in hopes of something even weirder or more exciting to happen to her. The tale that the mouse tells on page 17 is shaped the way it is to show how he after every couple of words is out of breath or pauses and it slowly winds down in volume and comes to nothing. The caucus race that the dodo mentioned would help them dry off is very different from a regular race for in the caucus race there is no starting line, finish line, or no winner or loser.