The Caterpillar is one of several Alice in Wonderland characters to appear in Dreamchild. Moderately less menacing than the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar appears to an aging Alice Hargreaves, not long after a visit to a radio studio and an encounter with a chirpy English sound effects man, who had once played the caterpillar over "the wireless." The Caterpillar remains serene atop his mushroom, but offers his own meditations on mortality, asking Alice to recite "You are old, Mrs. Hargreaves."