In this excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Cat engages Alice in a humorous logic puzzle about emotions and behavior. He argues that since a dog growls when angry and wags its tail when happy, and he does the opposite—growls when pleased and wags when angry—he must be mad. The Cat's playful reasoning challenges Alice to think differently about what constitutes normal behavior.

When Alice comments that the Cat's behavior is actually purring rather than growling, the Cat dismisses her, suggesting that she can call it whatever she wants. The dialogue illustrates the whimsical and nonsensical logic typical of Carroll's writing, emphasizing the fun and absurdity of how we interpret emotions and actions, highlighting the playful defiance of conventional reasoning.