Advice from the Caterpillar

Alice finds a large mushroom and sees a blue Caterpillar sitting on top, smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar asks 'Who are you?' and Alice struggles to answer, feeling she has changed so many times. The Caterpillar is curt and contradictory, but eventually tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her grow taller and the other side shorter. Alice breaks off a piece from each side and nibbles first from the right, which makes her shrink rapidly, then from the left, which makes her neck grow long. She manages to balance her size by nibbling both pieces, eventually returning to her usual height.