A fish in a coat brought an invitation from the Queen, and a frog footman took it into the house. The kitchen was full of pepper. The Duchess sat nursing a baby, the cook threw plates and pans at them both, and a large cat sat by the fire grinning from ear to ear. "Why does your cat grin like that?" Alice asked. "It's a Cheshire cat," said the Duchess, "and that's why." Then the Duchess threw the baby at Alice and went off to play croquet. Alice carried the poor thing out under the trees, where it began to grunt, and soon it turned into a pig and trotted quietly away into the wood. The Cheshire cat appeared on a branch above her. It told her that everyone in that country was mad, showed her the way to the March Hare, and then vanished slowly, beginning with the tail and ending with the grin.