Still unable to enter the garden, alice begins to cry again, and her giant tears from a pool at her feet. As she cries, alice shrinks and falls into the pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water she meets a mouse. The mouse accompanies alice to shore, where a number of animals stand gathered on a bank. After a "caucus race," alice scares the animal away with tales of her cat, dinah, and finds herself alone again.