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+ Project Gutenberg's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
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+
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+ This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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+ almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
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+ re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
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+ with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
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+
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+
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+ Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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+
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+ Author: Lewis Carroll
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+
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+ Posting Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #11]
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+ Release Date: March, 1994
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+
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+ Language: English
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+
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+ Character set encoding: ASCII
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+
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+ *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND ***
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+ ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
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+
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+ Lewis Carroll
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+
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+ THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+ CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole
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+
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+ Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the
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+ bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the
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+ book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in
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+ it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or
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+ conversation?'
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+
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+ So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
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+ hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure
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+ of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
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+ picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
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+ close by her.
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+
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+ There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
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+ VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear!
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+ Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
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+ occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
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+ it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
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+ OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
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+ Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
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+ never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch
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+ to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
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+ after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
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+ rabbit-hole under the hedge.
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+
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+ In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
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+ in the world she was to get out again.
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+
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+ The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then
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+ dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think
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+ about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep
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+ well.
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+
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+ Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
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+ plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
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+ going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
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+ she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she
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+ looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
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+ cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
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+ hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as
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+ she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
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+ disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
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+ of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
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+ she fell past it.
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+
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+ 'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall
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+ think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at
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+ home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top
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+ of the house!' (Which was very likely true.)
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+
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+ Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how
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+ many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting
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+ somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four
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+ thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several
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+ things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this
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+ was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there
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+ was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over)
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+ '--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude
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+ or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or
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+ Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)
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+
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+ Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the
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+ earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with
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+ their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad
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+ there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the
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+ right word) '--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country
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+ is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and
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+ she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling
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+ through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) 'And what an
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+ ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to
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+ ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'
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+
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+ Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began
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+ talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!'
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+ (Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at
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+ tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no
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+ mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very
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+ like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice
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+ began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy
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+ sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do
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+ bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question,
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+ it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing
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+ off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with
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+ Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me the truth:
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+ did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon
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+ a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
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+
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+ Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment:
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+ she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another
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+ long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it.
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+ There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and
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+ was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears
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+ and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it when she
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+ turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found
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+ herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging
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+ from the roof.
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+
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+ There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when
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+ Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every
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+ door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to
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+ get out again.
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+
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+ Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid
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+ glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's
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+ first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall;
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+ but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small,
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+ but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second
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+ time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and
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+ behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the
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+ little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!
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+
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+ Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not
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+ much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage
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+ into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of
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+ that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and
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+ those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the
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+ doorway; 'and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it
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+ would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could
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+ shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin.'
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+ For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately,
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+ that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really
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+ impossible.
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+
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+ There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went
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+ back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at
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+ any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this
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+ time she found a little bottle on it, ('which certainly was not here
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+ before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper
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+ label, with the words 'DRINK ME' beautifully printed on it in large
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+ letters.
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+
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+ It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was
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+ not going to do THAT in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and
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+ see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice
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+ little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild
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+ beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember
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+ the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot
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+ poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your
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+ finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never
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+ forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison,' it is
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+ almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.
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+
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+ However, this bottle was NOT marked 'poison,' so Alice ventured to taste
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+ it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour
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+ of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot
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+ buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.
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+
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+ * * * * * * *
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+
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+ * * * * * *
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+
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+ * * * * * * *
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+
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+ 'What a curious feeling!' said Alice; 'I must be shutting up like a
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+ telescope.'
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+
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+ And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face
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+ brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going
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+ through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she
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+ waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further:
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+ she felt a little nervous about this; 'for it might end, you know,' said
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+ Alice to herself, 'in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder
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+ what I should be like then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a
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+ candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember
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+ ever having seen such a thing.
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+
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+ After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going
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+ into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the
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+ door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she
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+ went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach
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+ it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her
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+ best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery;
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+ and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing
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+ sat down and cried.
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+
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+ 'Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself,
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+ rather sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally
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+ gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it),
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+ and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into
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+ her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having
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+ cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself,
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+ for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.
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+ 'But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to pretend to be two people!
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+ Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!'
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+
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+ Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table:
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+ she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words
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+ 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said
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+ Alice, 'and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it
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+ makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll
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+ get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'
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+
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+ She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 'Which way? Which
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+ way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was
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+ growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same
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+ size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice
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+ had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way
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+ things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on
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+ in the common way.
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+
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+ So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.
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+
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+ * * * * * * *
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+
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+ * * * * * *
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+
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+ * * * * * * *
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+ CHAPTER II. The Pool of Tears
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+
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+ 'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that
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+ for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); 'now I'm
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+ opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!'
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+ (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of
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+ sight, they were getting so far off). 'Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder
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+ who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure
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+ _I_ shan't be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble
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+ myself about you: you must manage the best way you can;--but I must be
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+ kind to them,' thought Alice, 'or perhaps they won't walk the way I want
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+ to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.'
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+
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+ And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. 'They must
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+ go by the carrier,' she thought; 'and how funny it'll seem, sending
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+ presents to one's own feet! And how odd the directions will look!
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+
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+ ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.
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+ HEARTHRUG,
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+ NEAR THE FENDER,
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+ (WITH ALICE'S LOVE).
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+
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+ Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'
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+
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+ Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was
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+ now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden
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+ key and hurried off to the garden door.
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+
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+ Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to
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+ look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more
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+ hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.
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+
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+ 'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, 'a great girl like
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+ you,' (she might well say this), 'to go on crying in this way! Stop this
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+ moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of
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+ tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches
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+ deep and reaching half down the hall.
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+
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+ After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and
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+ she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White
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+ Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in
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+ one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great
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+ hurry, muttering to himself as he came, 'Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess!
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+ Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so
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+ desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit
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+ came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, 'If you please, sir--'
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+ The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan,
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+ and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.
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+
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+ Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she
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+ kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: 'Dear, dear! How
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+ queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual.
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+ I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the
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+ same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a
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+ little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who
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+ in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!' And she began thinking
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+ over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to
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+ see if she could have been changed for any of them.
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+
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+ 'I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, 'for her hair goes in such long
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+ ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't
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+ be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a
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+ very little! Besides, SHE'S she, and I'm I, and--oh dear, how puzzling
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+ it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me
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+ see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and
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+ four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!
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+ However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography.
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+ London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and
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+ Rome--no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for
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+ Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little--"' and she crossed her
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+ hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it,
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+ but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the
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+ same as they used to do:--
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+
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+ 'How doth the little crocodile
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+ Improve his shining tail,
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+ And pour the waters of the Nile
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+ On every golden scale!
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+
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+ 'How cheerfully he seems to grin,
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+ How neatly spread his claws,
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+ And welcome little fishes in
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+ With gently smiling jaws!'
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+
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+ 'I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and her eyes
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+ filled with tears again as she went on, 'I must be Mabel after all, and
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+ I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to
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+ no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I've
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+ made up my mind about it; if I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no
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+ use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I
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+ shall only look up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then,
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+ if I like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here
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+ till I'm somebody else"--but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst
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+ of tears, 'I do wish they WOULD put their heads down! I am so VERY tired
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+ of being all alone here!'
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+
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+ As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see
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+ that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while
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+ she was talking. 'How CAN I have done that?' she thought. 'I must
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+ be growing small again.' She got up and went to the table to measure
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+ herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now
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+ about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found
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+ out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped
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+ it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.
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+
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+ 'That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at the
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+ sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; 'and
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+ now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed back to the little door:
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+ but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was
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+ lying on the glass table as before, 'and things are worse than ever,'
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+ thought the poor child, 'for I never was so small as this before, never!
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+ And I declare it's too bad, that it is!'
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+
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+ As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash!
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+ she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she
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+ had somehow fallen into the sea, 'and in that case I can go back by
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+ railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in
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+ her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go
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+ to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the
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+ sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row
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+ of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon
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+ made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she
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+ was nine feet high.
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+
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+ 'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying
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+ to find her way out. 'I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by
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+ being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure!
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+ However, everything is queer to-day.'
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+
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+ Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way
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+ off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought
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+ it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small
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+ she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had
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+ slipped in like herself.
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+
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+ 'Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, 'to speak to this mouse?
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+ Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should think very
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+ likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no harm in trying.' So she
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+ began: 'O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired
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+ of swimming about here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right
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+ way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but
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+ she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse--of
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+ a mouse--to a mouse--a mouse--O mouse!') The Mouse looked at her rather
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+ inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes,
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+ but it said nothing.
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+
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+ 'Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; 'I daresay it's
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+ a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.' (For, with all
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+ her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago
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+ anything had happened.) So she began again: 'Ou est ma chatte?' which
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+ was the first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a
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+ sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright.
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+ 'Oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt
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+ the poor animal's feelings. 'I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'
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+
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+ 'Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. 'Would
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+ YOU like cats if you were me?'
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+
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+ 'Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: 'don't be angry
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+ about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you'd
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+ take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet
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+ thing,' Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the
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+ pool, 'and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and
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+ washing her face--and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse--and she's
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+ such a capital one for catching mice--oh, I beg your pardon!' cried
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+ Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she
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+ felt certain it must be really offended. 'We won't talk about her any
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+ more if you'd rather not.'
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+
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+ 'We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his
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+ tail. 'As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always HATED
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+ cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!'
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+
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+ 'I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of
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+ conversation. 'Are you--are you fond--of--of dogs?' The Mouse did not
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+ answer, so Alice went on eagerly: 'There is such a nice little dog near
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+ our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you
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+ know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! And it'll fetch things when
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+ you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts
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+ of things--I can't remember half of them--and it belongs to a farmer,
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+ you know, and he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He
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+ says it kills all the rats and--oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful
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+ tone, 'I'm afraid I've offended it again!' For the Mouse was swimming
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+ away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in
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+ the pool as it went.
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+
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+ So she called softly after it, 'Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we
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+ won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them!' When the
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+ Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its
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+ face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low
442
+ trembling voice, 'Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my
443
+ history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.'
444
+
445
+ It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the
446
+ birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo,
447
+ a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the
448
+ way, and the whole party swam to the shore.
449
+
450
+
451
+
452
+
453
+ CHAPTER III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
454
+
455
+ They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank--the
456
+ birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close
457
+ to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.
458
+
459
+ The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a
460
+ consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural
461
+ to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had
462
+ known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the
463
+ Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, 'I am older than
464
+ you, and must know better'; and this Alice would not allow without
465
+ knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its
466
+ age, there was no more to be said.
467
+
468
+ At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
469
+ called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you
470
+ dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse
471
+ in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt
472
+ sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
473
+
474
+ 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
475
+ is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William
476
+ the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted
477
+ to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much
478
+ accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of
479
+ Mercia and Northumbria--"'
480
+
481
+ 'Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver.
482
+
483
+ 'I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: 'Did
484
+ you speak?'
485
+
486
+ 'Not I!' said the Lory hastily.
487
+
488
+ 'I thought you did,' said the Mouse. '--I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar,
489
+ the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand,
490
+ the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--"'
491
+
492
+ 'Found WHAT?' said the Duck.
493
+
494
+ 'Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of course you know what
495
+ "it" means.'
496
+
497
+ 'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the
498
+ Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the
499
+ archbishop find?'
500
+
501
+ The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, '"--found
502
+ it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the
503
+ crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his
504
+ Normans--" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning
505
+ to Alice as it spoke.
506
+
507
+ 'As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: 'it doesn't seem to
508
+ dry me at all.'
509
+
510
+ 'In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, 'I move
511
+ that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic
512
+ remedies--'
513
+
514
+ 'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half
515
+ those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!' And
516
+ the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds
517
+ tittered audibly.
518
+
519
+ 'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, 'was, that
520
+ the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.'
521
+
522
+ 'What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know,
523
+ but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak,
524
+ and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.
525
+
526
+ 'Why,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as
527
+ you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell
528
+ you how the Dodo managed it.)
529
+
530
+ First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ('the exact
531
+ shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed
532
+ along the course, here and there. There was no 'One, two, three, and
533
+ away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they
534
+ liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However,
535
+ when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again,
536
+ the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!' and they all crowded
537
+ round it, panting, and asking, 'But who has won?'
538
+
539
+ This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought,
540
+ and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead
541
+ (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures
542
+ of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said,
543
+ 'EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.'
544
+
545
+ 'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked.
546
+
547
+ 'Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger;
548
+ and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused
549
+ way, 'Prizes! Prizes!'
550
+
551
+ Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her
552
+ pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had
553
+ not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one
554
+ a-piece all round.
555
+
556
+ 'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse.
557
+
558
+ 'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have you got in
559
+ your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice.
560
+
561
+ 'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.
562
+
563
+ 'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.
564
+
565
+ Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly
566
+ presented the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of this elegant
567
+ thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.
568
+
569
+ Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave
570
+ that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything
571
+ to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she
572
+ could.
573
+
574
+ The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and
575
+ confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste
576
+ theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back.
577
+ However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and
578
+ begged the Mouse to tell them something more.
579
+
580
+ 'You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice, 'and why
581
+ it is you hate--C and D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it
582
+ would be offended again.
583
+
584
+ 'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and
585
+ sighing.
586
+
587
+ 'It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at
588
+ the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling
589
+ about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was
590
+ something like this:--
591
+
592
+ 'Fury said to a
593
+ mouse, That he
594
+ met in the
595
+ house,
596
+ "Let us
597
+ both go to
598
+ law: I will
599
+ prosecute
600
+ YOU.--Come,
601
+ I'll take no
602
+ denial; We
603
+ must have a
604
+ trial: For
605
+ really this
606
+ morning I've
607
+ nothing
608
+ to do."
609
+ Said the
610
+ mouse to the
611
+ cur, "Such
612
+ a trial,
613
+ dear Sir,
614
+ With
615
+ no jury
616
+ or judge,
617
+ would be
618
+ wasting
619
+ our
620
+ breath."
621
+ "I'll be
622
+ judge, I'll
623
+ be jury,"
624
+ Said
625
+ cunning
626
+ old Fury:
627
+ "I'll
628
+ try the
629
+ whole
630
+ cause,
631
+ and
632
+ condemn
633
+ you
634
+ to
635
+ death."'
636
+
637
+
638
+ 'You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. 'What are you
639
+ thinking of?'
640
+
641
+ 'I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: 'you had got to the fifth
642
+ bend, I think?'
643
+
644
+ 'I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.
645
+
646
+ 'A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking
647
+ anxiously about her. 'Oh, do let me help to undo it!'
648
+
649
+ 'I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up and walking
650
+ away. 'You insult me by talking such nonsense!'
651
+
652
+ 'I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. 'But you're so easily offended,
653
+ you know!'
654
+
655
+ The Mouse only growled in reply.
656
+
657
+ 'Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after it; and the
658
+ others all joined in chorus, 'Yes, please do!' but the Mouse only shook
659
+ its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker.
660
+
661
+ 'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite
662
+ out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her
663
+ daughter 'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose
664
+ YOUR temper!' 'Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little
665
+ snappishly. 'You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!'
666
+
667
+ 'I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing
668
+ nobody in particular. 'She'd soon fetch it back!'
669
+
670
+ 'And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?' said the
671
+ Lory.
672
+
673
+ Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet:
674
+ 'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you
675
+ can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why,
676
+ she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!'
677
+
678
+ This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the
679
+ birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very
680
+ carefully, remarking, 'I really must be getting home; the night-air
681
+ doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to
682
+ its children, 'Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!'
683
+ On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.
684
+
685
+ 'I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a melancholy
686
+ tone. 'Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best
687
+ cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you
688
+ any more!' And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very
689
+ lonely and low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard
690
+ a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up
691
+ eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming
692
+ back to finish his story.
693
+
694
+
695
+
696
+
697
+ CHAPTER IV. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
698
+
699
+ It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking
700
+ anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard
701
+ it muttering to itself 'The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh
702
+ my fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are
703
+ ferrets! Where CAN I have dropped them, I wonder?' Alice guessed in a
704
+ moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves,
705
+ and she very good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were
706
+ nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her swim in
707
+ the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and the little door,
708
+ had vanished completely.
709
+
710
+ Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and
711
+ called out to her in an angry tone, 'Why, Mary Ann, what ARE you doing
712
+ out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan!
713
+ Quick, now!' And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once
714
+ in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it
715
+ had made.
716
+
717
+ 'He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. 'How
718
+ surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd better take him
719
+ his fan and gloves--that is, if I can find them.' As she said this, she
720
+ came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass
721
+ plate with the name 'W. RABBIT' engraved upon it. She went in without
722
+ knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the
723
+ real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the
724
+ fan and gloves.
725
+
726
+ 'How queer it seems,' Alice said to herself, 'to be going messages for
727
+ a rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!' And she
728
+ began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: '"Miss Alice! Come
729
+ here directly, and get ready for your walk!" "Coming in a minute,
730
+ nurse! But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't
731
+ think,' Alice went on, 'that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it
732
+ began ordering people about like that!'
733
+
734
+ By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table
735
+ in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs
736
+ of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves,
737
+ and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little
738
+ bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time
739
+ with the words 'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it
740
+ to her lips. 'I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said
741
+ to herself, 'whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what
742
+ this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really
743
+ I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!'
744
+
745
+ It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she had
746
+ drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling,
747
+ and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put
748
+ down the bottle, saying to herself 'That's quite enough--I hope I shan't
749
+ grow any more--As it is, I can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't
750
+ drunk quite so much!'
751
+
752
+ Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and growing,
753
+ and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there
754
+ was not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with
755
+ one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head.
756
+ Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out
757
+ of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself 'Now I
758
+ can do no more, whatever happens. What WILL become of me?'
759
+
760
+ Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect,
761
+ and she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there
762
+ seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room
763
+ again, no wonder she felt unhappy.
764
+
765
+ 'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
766
+ always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
767
+ rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and
768
+ yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what
769
+ CAN have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that
770
+ kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
771
+ There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I
772
+ grow up, I'll write one--but I'm grown up now,' she added in a sorrowful
773
+ tone; 'at least there's no room to grow up any more HERE.'
774
+
775
+ 'But then,' thought Alice, 'shall I NEVER get any older than I am
776
+ now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman--but
777
+ then--always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!'
778
+
779
+ 'Oh, you foolish Alice!' she answered herself. 'How can you learn
780
+ lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no room at all
781
+ for any lesson-books!'
782
+
783
+ And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other, and making
784
+ quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few minutes she heard
785
+ a voice outside, and stopped to listen.
786
+
787
+ 'Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice. 'Fetch me my gloves this moment!'
788
+ Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Alice knew it was
789
+ the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the
790
+ house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large
791
+ as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.
792
+
793
+ Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it; but, as
794
+ the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed hard against it,
795
+ that attempt proved a failure. Alice heard it say to itself 'Then I'll
796
+ go round and get in at the window.'
797
+
798
+ 'THAT you won't' thought Alice, and, after waiting till she fancied
799
+ she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly spread out her
800
+ hand, and made a snatch in the air. She did not get hold of anything,
801
+ but she heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass,
802
+ from which she concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into a
803
+ cucumber-frame, or something of the sort.
804
+
805
+ Next came an angry voice--the Rabbit's--'Pat! Pat! Where are you?' And
806
+ then a voice she had never heard before, 'Sure then I'm here! Digging
807
+ for apples, yer honour!'
808
+
809
+ 'Digging for apples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily. 'Here! Come and
810
+ help me out of THIS!' (Sounds of more broken glass.)
811
+
812
+ 'Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?'
813
+
814
+ 'Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He pronounced it 'arrum.')
815
+
816
+ 'An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole
817
+ window!'
818
+
819
+ 'Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.'
820
+
821
+ 'Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it away!'
822
+
823
+ There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers
824
+ now and then; such as, 'Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at
825
+ all!' 'Do as I tell you, you coward!' and at last she spread out her
826
+ hand again, and made another snatch in the air. This time there were
827
+ TWO little shrieks, and more sounds of broken glass. 'What a number of
828
+ cucumber-frames there must be!' thought Alice. 'I wonder what they'll do
829
+ next! As for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD! I'm
830
+ sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!'
831
+
832
+ She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came a
833
+ rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices
834
+ all talking together: she made out the words: 'Where's the other
835
+ ladder?--Why, I hadn't to bring but one; Bill's got the other--Bill!
836
+ fetch it here, lad!--Here, put 'em up at this corner--No, tie 'em
837
+ together first--they don't reach half high enough yet--Oh! they'll
838
+ do well enough; don't be particular--Here, Bill! catch hold of this
839
+ rope--Will the roof bear?--Mind that loose slate--Oh, it's coming
840
+ down! Heads below!' (a loud crash)--'Now, who did that?--It was Bill, I
841
+ fancy--Who's to go down the chimney?--Nay, I shan't! YOU do it!--That I
842
+ won't, then!--Bill's to go down--Here, Bill! the master says you're to
843
+ go down the chimney!'
844
+
845
+ 'Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?' said Alice to
846
+ herself. 'Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn't be in
847
+ Bill's place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but
848
+ I THINK I can kick a little!'
849
+
850
+ She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited
851
+ till she heard a little animal (she couldn't guess of what sort it was)
852
+ scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above her: then,
853
+ saying to herself 'This is Bill,' she gave one sharp kick, and waited to
854
+ see what would happen next.
855
+
856
+ The first thing she heard was a general chorus of 'There goes Bill!'
857
+ then the Rabbit's voice along--'Catch him, you by the hedge!' then
858
+ silence, and then another confusion of voices--'Hold up his head--Brandy
859
+ now--Don't choke him--How was it, old fellow? What happened to you? Tell
860
+ us all about it!'
861
+
862
+ Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, ('That's Bill,' thought
863
+ Alice,) 'Well, I hardly know--No more, thank ye; I'm better now--but I'm
864
+ a deal too flustered to tell you--all I know is, something comes at me
865
+ like a Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes like a sky-rocket!'
866
+
867
+ 'So you did, old fellow!' said the others.
868
+
869
+ 'We must burn the house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and Alice called
870
+ out as loud as she could, 'If you do. I'll set Dinah at you!'
871
+
872
+ There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to herself, 'I
873
+ wonder what they WILL do next! If they had any sense, they'd take the
874
+ roof off.' After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and
875
+ Alice heard the Rabbit say, 'A barrowful will do, to begin with.'
876
+
877
+ 'A barrowful of WHAT?' thought Alice; but she had not long to doubt,
878
+ for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the
879
+ window, and some of them hit her in the face. 'I'll put a stop to this,'
880
+ she said to herself, and shouted out, 'You'd better not do that again!'
881
+ which produced another dead silence.
882
+
883
+ Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into
884
+ little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright idea came into her
885
+ head. 'If I eat one of these cakes,' she thought, 'it's sure to make
886
+ SOME change in my size; and as it can't possibly make me larger, it must
887
+ make me smaller, I suppose.'
888
+
889
+ So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find that she
890
+ began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small enough to get through
891
+ the door, she ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of little
892
+ animals and birds waiting outside. The poor little Lizard, Bill, was
893
+ in the middle, being held up by two guinea-pigs, who were giving it
894
+ something out of a bottle. They all made a rush at Alice the moment she
895
+ appeared; but she ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself
896
+ safe in a thick wood.
897
+
898
+ 'The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she wandered
899
+ about in the wood, 'is to grow to my right size again; and the second
900
+ thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be
901
+ the best plan.'
902
+
903
+ It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply
904
+ arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea
905
+ how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among
906
+ the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a
907
+ great hurry.
908
+
909
+ An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round eyes, and
910
+ feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her. 'Poor little thing!'
911
+ said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried hard to whistle to it; but
912
+ she was terribly frightened all the time at the thought that it might be
913
+ hungry, in which case it would be very likely to eat her up in spite of
914
+ all her coaxing.
915
+
916
+ Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and
917
+ held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off
918
+ all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick,
919
+ and made believe to worry it; then Alice dodged behind a great thistle,
920
+ to keep herself from being run over; and the moment she appeared on the
921
+ other side, the puppy made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head
922
+ over heels in its hurry to get hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was
923
+ very like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every
924
+ moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle again; then
925
+ the puppy began a series of short charges at the stick, running a very
926
+ little way forwards each time and a long way back, and barking hoarsely
927
+ all the while, till at last it sat down a good way off, panting, with
928
+ its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half shut.
929
+
930
+ This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she
931
+ set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and
932
+ till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance.
933
+
934
+ 'And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she leant
935
+ against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the
936
+ leaves: 'I should have liked teaching it tricks very much, if--if I'd
937
+ only been the right size to do it! Oh dear! I'd nearly forgotten that
938
+ I've got to grow up again! Let me see--how IS it to be managed? I
939
+ suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great
940
+ question is, what?'
941
+
942
+ The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round her at
943
+ the flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see anything that
944
+ looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances.
945
+ There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as
946
+ herself; and when she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and
947
+ behind it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what
948
+ was on the top of it.
949
+
950
+ She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the
951
+ mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar,
952
+ that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long
953
+ hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.
954
+
955
+
956
+
957
+
958
+ CHAPTER V. Advice from a Caterpillar
959
+
960
+ The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence:
961
+ at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed
962
+ her in a languid, sleepy voice.
963
+
964
+ 'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.
965
+
966
+ This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied,
967
+ rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--at least I know
968
+ who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been
969
+ changed several times since then.'
970
+
971
+ 'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain
972
+ yourself!'
973
+
974
+ 'I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, 'because I'm not
975
+ myself, you see.'
976
+
977
+ 'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.
978
+
979
+ 'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely,
980
+ 'for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many
981
+ different sizes in a day is very confusing.'
982
+
983
+ 'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar.
984
+
985
+ 'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; 'but when you
986
+ have to turn into a chrysalis--you will some day, you know--and then
987
+ after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little
988
+ queer, won't you?'
989
+
990
+ 'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar.
991
+
992
+ 'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice; 'all I know
993
+ is, it would feel very queer to ME.'
994
+
995
+ 'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. 'Who are YOU?'
996
+
997
+ Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation.
998
+ Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY
999
+ short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, 'I think,
1000
+ you ought to tell me who YOU are, first.'
1001
+
1002
+ 'Why?' said the Caterpillar.
1003
+
1004
+ Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any
1005
+ good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant
1006
+ state of mind, she turned away.
1007
+
1008
+ 'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something important
1009
+ to say!'
1010
+
1011
+ This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back again.
1012
+
1013
+ 'Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar.
1014
+
1015
+ 'Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she
1016
+ could.
1017
+
1018
+ 'No,' said the Caterpillar.
1019
+
1020
+ Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and
1021
+ perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some
1022
+ minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its
1023
+ arms, took the hookah out of its mouth again, and said, 'So you think
1024
+ you're changed, do you?'
1025
+
1026
+ 'I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; 'I can't remember things as I
1027
+ used--and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!'
1028
+
1029
+ 'Can't remember WHAT things?' said the Caterpillar.
1030
+
1031
+ 'Well, I've tried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but it all came
1032
+ different!' Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.
1033
+
1034
+ 'Repeat, "YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar.
1035
+
1036
+ Alice folded her hands, and began:--
1037
+
1038
+ 'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
1039
+ 'And your hair has become very white;
1040
+ And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
1041
+ Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
1042
+
1043
+ 'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
1044
+ 'I feared it might injure the brain;
1045
+ But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
1046
+ Why, I do it again and again.'
1047
+
1048
+ 'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before,
1049
+ And have grown most uncommonly fat;
1050
+ Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--
1051
+ Pray, what is the reason of that?'
1052
+
1053
+ 'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
1054
+ 'I kept all my limbs very supple
1055
+ By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box--
1056
+ Allow me to sell you a couple?'
1057
+
1058
+ 'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak
1059
+ For anything tougher than suet;
1060
+ Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
1061
+ Pray how did you manage to do it?'
1062
+
1063
+ 'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law,
1064
+ And argued each case with my wife;
1065
+ And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
1066
+ Has lasted the rest of my life.'
1067
+
1068
+ 'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose
1069
+ That your eye was as steady as ever;
1070
+ Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
1071
+ What made you so awfully clever?'
1072
+
1073
+ 'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
1074
+ Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs!
1075
+ Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
1076
+ Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
1077
+
1078
+
1079
+ 'That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar.
1080
+
1081
+ 'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
1082
+ have got altered.'
1083
+
1084
+ 'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
1085
+ there was silence for some minutes.
1086
+
1087
+ The Caterpillar was the first to speak.
1088
+
1089
+ 'What size do you want to be?' it asked.
1090
+
1091
+ 'Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied; 'only one
1092
+ doesn't like changing so often, you know.'
1093
+
1094
+ 'I DON'T know,' said the Caterpillar.
1095
+
1096
+ Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in her life
1097
+ before, and she felt that she was losing her temper.
1098
+
1099
+ 'Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar.
1100
+
1101
+ 'Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn't mind,'
1102
+ said Alice: 'three inches is such a wretched height to be.'
1103
+
1104
+ 'It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing
1105
+ itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three inches high).
1106
+
1107
+ 'But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone. And
1108
+ she thought of herself, 'I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily
1109
+ offended!'
1110
+
1111
+ 'You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it put the
1112
+ hookah into its mouth and began smoking again.
1113
+
1114
+ This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again. In
1115
+ a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth
1116
+ and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the
1117
+ mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went,
1118
+ 'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you
1119
+ grow shorter.'
1120
+
1121
+ 'One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself.
1122
+
1123
+ 'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it
1124
+ aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.
1125
+
1126
+ Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying
1127
+ to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly
1128
+ round, she found this a very difficult question. However, at last she
1129
+ stretched her arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit
1130
+ of the edge with each hand.
1131
+
1132
+ 'And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a little of
1133
+ the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment she felt a violent
1134
+ blow underneath her chin: it had struck her foot!
1135
+
1136
+ She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt
1137
+ that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she
1138
+ set to work at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed
1139
+ so closely against her foot, that there was hardly room to open her
1140
+ mouth; but she did it at last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the
1141
+ lefthand bit.
1142
+
1143
+
1144
+ * * * * * * *
1145
+
1146
+ * * * * * *
1147
+
1148
+ * * * * * * *
1149
+
1150
+ 'Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of delight, which
1151
+ changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders
1152
+ were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was
1153
+ an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a
1154
+ sea of green leaves that lay far below her.
1155
+
1156
+ 'What CAN all that green stuff be?' said Alice. 'And where HAVE my
1157
+ shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?'
1158
+ She was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow,
1159
+ except a little shaking among the distant green leaves.
1160
+
1161
+ As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she
1162
+ tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that her
1163
+ neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had
1164
+ just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going
1165
+ to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops
1166
+ of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made
1167
+ her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and
1168
+ was beating her violently with its wings.
1169
+
1170
+ 'Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon.
1171
+
1172
+ 'I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. 'Let me alone!'
1173
+
1174
+ 'Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone,
1175
+ and added with a kind of sob, 'I've tried every way, and nothing seems
1176
+ to suit them!'
1177
+
1178
+ 'I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said Alice.
1179
+
1180
+ 'I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried
1181
+ hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; 'but those
1182
+ serpents! There's no pleasing them!'
1183
+
1184
+ Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in
1185
+ saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.
1186
+
1187
+ 'As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the Pigeon;
1188
+ 'but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and day! Why, I
1189
+ haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!'
1190
+
1191
+ 'I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was beginning to
1192
+ see its meaning.
1193
+
1194
+ 'And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued the
1195
+ Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, 'and just as I was thinking I
1196
+ should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from
1197
+ the sky! Ugh, Serpent!'
1198
+
1199
+ 'But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. 'I'm a--I'm a--'
1200
+
1201
+ 'Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. 'I can see you're trying to
1202
+ invent something!'
1203
+
1204
+ 'I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered
1205
+ the number of changes she had gone through that day.
1206
+
1207
+ 'A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest
1208
+ contempt. 'I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE
1209
+ with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use
1210
+ denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an
1211
+ egg!'
1212
+
1213
+ 'I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful
1214
+ child; 'but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you
1215
+ know.'
1216
+
1217
+ 'I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; 'but if they do, why then they're
1218
+ a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'
1219
+
1220
+ This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a
1221
+ minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, 'You're
1222
+ looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me
1223
+ whether you're a little girl or a serpent?'
1224
+
1225
+ 'It matters a good deal to ME,' said Alice hastily; 'but I'm not looking
1226
+ for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn't want YOURS: I don't
1227
+ like them raw.'
1228
+
1229
+ 'Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled
1230
+ down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as
1231
+ she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and
1232
+ every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she
1233
+ remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and
1234
+ she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the
1235
+ other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had
1236
+ succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.
1237
+
1238
+ It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it
1239
+ felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes,
1240
+ and began talking to herself, as usual. 'Come, there's half my plan done
1241
+ now! How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going
1242
+ to be, from one minute to another! However, I've got back to my right
1243
+ size: the next thing is, to get into that beautiful garden--how IS that
1244
+ to be done, I wonder?' As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open
1245
+ place, with a little house in it about four feet high. 'Whoever lives
1246
+ there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never do to come upon them THIS size: why,
1247
+ I should frighten them out of their wits!' So she began nibbling at the
1248
+ righthand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she
1249
+ had brought herself down to nine inches high.
1250
+
1251
+
1252
+
1253
+
1254
+ CHAPTER VI. Pig and Pepper
1255
+
1256
+ For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what
1257
+ to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the
1258
+ wood--(she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery:
1259
+ otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a
1260
+ fish)--and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened
1261
+ by another footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a
1262
+ frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all
1263
+ over their heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about,
1264
+ and crept a little way out of the wood to listen.
1265
+
1266
+ The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter,
1267
+ nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other,
1268
+ saying, in a solemn tone, 'For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen
1269
+ to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone,
1270
+ only changing the order of the words a little, 'From the Queen. An
1271
+ invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.'
1272
+
1273
+ Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together.
1274
+
1275
+ Alice laughed so much at this, that she had to run back into the
1276
+ wood for fear of their hearing her; and when she next peeped out the
1277
+ Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was sitting on the ground near the
1278
+ door, staring stupidly up into the sky.
1279
+
1280
+ Alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked.
1281
+
1282
+ 'There's no sort of use in knocking,' said the Footman, 'and that for
1283
+ two reasons. First, because I'm on the same side of the door as you
1284
+ are; secondly, because they're making such a noise inside, no one could
1285
+ possibly hear you.' And certainly there was a most extraordinary noise
1286
+ going on within--a constant howling and sneezing, and every now and then
1287
+ a great crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken to pieces.
1288
+
1289
+ 'Please, then,' said Alice, 'how am I to get in?'
1290
+
1291
+ 'There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went on
1292
+ without attending to her, 'if we had the door between us. For instance,
1293
+ if you were INSIDE, you might knock, and I could let you out, you know.'
1294
+ He was looking up into the sky all the time he was speaking, and this
1295
+ Alice thought decidedly uncivil. 'But perhaps he can't help it,' she
1296
+ said to herself; 'his eyes are so VERY nearly at the top of his head.
1297
+ But at any rate he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she
1298
+ repeated, aloud.
1299
+
1300
+ 'I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, 'till tomorrow--'
1301
+
1302
+ At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate came
1303
+ skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just grazed his nose,
1304
+ and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind him.
1305
+
1306
+ '--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly
1307
+ as if nothing had happened.
1308
+
1309
+ 'How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone.
1310
+
1311
+ 'ARE you to get in at all?' said the Footman. 'That's the first
1312
+ question, you know.'
1313
+
1314
+ It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so. 'It's really
1315
+ dreadful,' she muttered to herself, 'the way all the creatures argue.
1316
+ It's enough to drive one crazy!'
1317
+
1318
+ The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for repeating his
1319
+ remark, with variations. 'I shall sit here,' he said, 'on and off, for
1320
+ days and days.'
1321
+
1322
+ 'But what am I to do?' said Alice.
1323
+
1324
+ 'Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling.
1325
+
1326
+ 'Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately: 'he's
1327
+ perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in.
1328
+
1329
+ The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of smoke from
1330
+ one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a three-legged stool in
1331
+ the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring
1332
+ a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup.
1333
+
1334
+ 'There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself,
1335
+ as well as she could for sneezing.
1336
+
1337
+ There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the Duchess
1338
+ sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was sneezing and howling
1339
+ alternately without a moment's pause. The only things in the kitchen
1340
+ that did not sneeze, were the cook, and a large cat which was sitting on
1341
+ the hearth and grinning from ear to ear.
1342
+
1343
+ 'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was
1344
+ not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why
1345
+ your cat grins like that?'
1346
+
1347
+ 'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
1348
+
1349
+ She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite
1350
+ jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby,
1351
+ and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:--
1352
+
1353
+ 'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know
1354
+ that cats COULD grin.'
1355
+
1356
+ 'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
1357
+
1358
+ 'I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely, feeling quite
1359
+ pleased to have got into a conversation.
1360
+
1361
+ 'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.'
1362
+
1363
+ Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought it would
1364
+ be as well to introduce some other subject of conversation. While she
1365
+ was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the
1366
+ fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at
1367
+ the Duchess and the baby--the fire-irons came first; then followed a
1368
+ shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of
1369
+ them even when they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already,
1370
+ that it was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not.
1371
+
1372
+ 'Oh, PLEASE mind what you're doing!' cried Alice, jumping up and down in
1373
+ an agony of terror. 'Oh, there goes his PRECIOUS nose'; as an unusually
1374
+ large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off.
1375
+
1376
+ 'If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in a hoarse
1377
+ growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does.'
1378
+
1379
+ 'Which would NOT be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt very glad to get
1380
+ an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. 'Just think of
1381
+ what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes
1382
+ twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis--'
1383
+
1384
+ 'Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, 'chop off her head!'
1385
+
1386
+ Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she meant to take
1387
+ the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the soup, and seemed not to
1388
+ be listening, so she went on again: 'Twenty-four hours, I THINK; or is
1389
+ it twelve? I--'
1390
+
1391
+ 'Oh, don't bother ME,' said the Duchess; 'I never could abide figures!'
1392
+ And with that she began nursing her child again, singing a sort of
1393
+ lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a violent shake at the end of
1394
+ every line:
1395
+
1396
+ 'Speak roughly to your little boy,
1397
+ And beat him when he sneezes:
1398
+ He only does it to annoy,
1399
+ Because he knows it teases.'
1400
+
1401
+ CHORUS.
1402
+
1403
+ (In which the cook and the baby joined):--
1404
+
1405
+ 'Wow! wow! wow!'
1406
+
1407
+ While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing
1408
+ the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so,
1409
+ that Alice could hardly hear the words:--
1410
+
1411
+ 'I speak severely to my boy,
1412
+ I beat him when he sneezes;
1413
+ For he can thoroughly enjoy
1414
+ The pepper when he pleases!'
1415
+
1416
+ CHORUS.
1417
+
1418
+ 'Wow! wow! wow!'
1419
+
1420
+ 'Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said to Alice,
1421
+ flinging the baby at her as she spoke. 'I must go and get ready to play
1422
+ croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of the room. The cook threw
1423
+ a frying-pan after her as she went out, but it just missed her.
1424
+
1425
+ Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer-shaped
1426
+ little creature, and held out its arms and legs in all directions, 'just
1427
+ like a star-fish,' thought Alice. The poor little thing was snorting
1428
+ like a steam-engine when she caught it, and kept doubling itself up and
1429
+ straightening itself out again, so that altogether, for the first minute
1430
+ or two, it was as much as she could do to hold it.
1431
+
1432
+ As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it, (which was to
1433
+ twist it up into a sort of knot, and then keep tight hold of its right
1434
+ ear and left foot, so as to prevent its undoing itself,) she carried
1435
+ it out into the open air. 'IF I don't take this child away with me,'
1436
+ thought Alice, 'they're sure to kill it in a day or two: wouldn't it be
1437
+ murder to leave it behind?' She said the last words out loud, and the
1438
+ little thing grunted in reply (it had left off sneezing by this time).
1439
+ 'Don't grunt,' said Alice; 'that's not at all a proper way of expressing
1440
+ yourself.'
1441
+
1442
+ The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into its face to
1443
+ see what was the matter with it. There could be no doubt that it had
1444
+ a VERY turn-up nose, much more like a snout than a real nose; also its
1445
+ eyes were getting extremely small for a baby: altogether Alice did not
1446
+ like the look of the thing at all. 'But perhaps it was only sobbing,'
1447
+ she thought, and looked into its eyes again, to see if there were any
1448
+ tears.
1449
+
1450
+ No, there were no tears. 'If you're going to turn into a pig, my dear,'
1451
+ said Alice, seriously, 'I'll have nothing more to do with you. Mind
1452
+ now!' The poor little thing sobbed again (or grunted, it was impossible
1453
+ to say which), and they went on for some while in silence.
1454
+
1455
+ Alice was just beginning to think to herself, 'Now, what am I to do with
1456
+ this creature when I get it home?' when it grunted again, so violently,
1457
+ that she looked down into its face in some alarm. This time there could
1458
+ be NO mistake about it: it was neither more nor less than a pig, and she
1459
+ felt that it would be quite absurd for her to carry it further.
1460
+
1461
+ So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved to see
1462
+ it trot away quietly into the wood. 'If it had grown up,' she said
1463
+ to herself, 'it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes
1464
+ rather a handsome pig, I think.' And she began thinking over other
1465
+ children she knew, who might do very well as pigs, and was just saying
1466
+ to herself, 'if one only knew the right way to change them--' when she
1467
+ was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a
1468
+ tree a few yards off.
1469
+
1470
+ The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she
1471
+ thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she
1472
+ felt that it ought to be treated with respect.
1473
+
1474
+ 'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know
1475
+ whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.
1476
+ 'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. 'Would you
1477
+ tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
1478
+
1479
+ 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
1480
+
1481
+ 'I don't much care where--' said Alice.
1482
+
1483
+ 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
1484
+
1485
+ '--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
1486
+
1487
+ 'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long
1488
+ enough.'
1489
+
1490
+ Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question.
1491
+ 'What sort of people live about here?'
1492
+
1493
+ 'In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, 'lives
1494
+ a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, 'lives a March
1495
+ Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.'
1496
+
1497
+ 'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
1498
+
1499
+ 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad.
1500
+ You're mad.'
1501
+
1502
+ 'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
1503
+
1504
+ 'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.'
1505
+
1506
+ Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on 'And how
1507
+ do you know that you're mad?'
1508
+
1509
+ 'To begin with,' said the Cat, 'a dog's not mad. You grant that?'
1510
+
1511
+ 'I suppose so,' said Alice.
1512
+
1513
+ 'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when it's angry,
1514
+ and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and
1515
+ wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.'
1516
+
1517
+ 'I call it purring, not growling,' said Alice.
1518
+
1519
+ 'Call it what you like,' said the Cat. 'Do you play croquet with the
1520
+ Queen to-day?'
1521
+
1522
+ 'I should like it very much,' said Alice, 'but I haven't been invited
1523
+ yet.'
1524
+
1525
+ 'You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished.
1526
+
1527
+ Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer
1528
+ things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been,
1529
+ it suddenly appeared again.
1530
+
1531
+ 'By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. 'I'd nearly
1532
+ forgotten to ask.'
1533
+
1534
+ 'It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had come back
1535
+ in a natural way.
1536
+
1537
+ 'I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again.
1538
+
1539
+ Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it did not
1540
+ appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in
1541
+ which the March Hare was said to live. 'I've seen hatters before,' she
1542
+ said to herself; 'the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and
1543
+ perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad--at least not so mad as
1544
+ it was in March.' As she said this, she looked up, and there was the Cat
1545
+ again, sitting on a branch of a tree.
1546
+
1547
+ 'Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat.
1548
+
1549
+ 'I said pig,' replied Alice; 'and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and
1550
+ vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.'
1551
+
1552
+ 'All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly,
1553
+ beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which
1554
+ remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
1555
+
1556
+ 'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; 'but a grin
1557
+ without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!'
1558
+
1559
+ She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the house
1560
+ of the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house, because the
1561
+ chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was thatched with fur. It
1562
+ was so large a house, that she did not like to go nearer till she had
1563
+ nibbled some more of the lefthand bit of mushroom, and raised herself to
1564
+ about two feet high: even then she walked up towards it rather timidly,
1565
+ saying to herself 'Suppose it should be raving mad after all! I almost
1566
+ wish I'd gone to see the Hatter instead!'
1567
+
1568
+
1569
+
1570
+
1571
+ CHAPTER VII. A Mad Tea-Party
1572
+
1573
+ There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the
1574
+ March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting
1575
+ between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a
1576
+ cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. 'Very
1577
+ uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; 'only, as it's asleep, I
1578
+ suppose it doesn't mind.'
1579
+
1580
+ The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at
1581
+ one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice
1582
+ coming. 'There's PLENTY of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat
1583
+ down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.
1584
+
1585
+ 'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
1586
+
1587
+ Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea.
1588
+ 'I don't see any wine,' she remarked.
1589
+
1590
+ 'There isn't any,' said the March Hare.
1591
+
1592
+ 'Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily.
1593
+
1594
+ 'It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said
1595
+ the March Hare.
1596
+
1597
+ 'I didn't know it was YOUR table,' said Alice; 'it's laid for a great
1598
+ many more than three.'
1599
+
1600
+ 'Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice
1601
+ for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.
1602
+
1603
+ 'You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some
1604
+ severity; 'it's very rude.'
1605
+
1606
+ The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID
1607
+ was, 'Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'
1608
+
1609
+ 'Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they've
1610
+ begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud.
1611
+
1612
+ 'Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the
1613
+ March Hare.
1614
+
1615
+ 'Exactly so,' said Alice.
1616
+
1617
+ 'Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.
1618
+
1619
+ 'I do,' Alice hastily replied; 'at least--at least I mean what I
1620
+ say--that's the same thing, you know.'
1621
+
1622
+ 'Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. 'You might just as well say
1623
+ that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!'
1624
+
1625
+ 'You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, 'that "I like what I
1626
+ get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'
1627
+
1628
+ 'You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be
1629
+ talking in his sleep, 'that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing
1630
+ as "I sleep when I breathe"!'
1631
+
1632
+ 'It IS the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the
1633
+ conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice
1634
+ thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks,
1635
+ which wasn't much.
1636
+
1637
+ The Hatter was the first to break the silence. 'What day of the month
1638
+ is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his
1639
+ pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then,
1640
+ and holding it to his ear.
1641
+
1642
+ Alice considered a little, and then said 'The fourth.'
1643
+
1644
+ 'Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. 'I told you butter wouldn't suit
1645
+ the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
1646
+
1647
+ 'It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.
1648
+
1649
+ 'Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled:
1650
+ 'you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'
1651
+
1652
+ The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped
1653
+ it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of
1654
+ nothing better to say than his first remark, 'It was the BEST butter,
1655
+ you know.'
1656
+
1657
+ Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. 'What a
1658
+ funny watch!' she remarked. 'It tells the day of the month, and doesn't
1659
+ tell what o'clock it is!'
1660
+
1661
+ 'Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. 'Does YOUR watch tell you what
1662
+ year it is?'
1663
+
1664
+ 'Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: 'but that's because it
1665
+ stays the same year for such a long time together.'
1666
+
1667
+ 'Which is just the case with MINE,' said the Hatter.
1668
+
1669
+ Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no
1670
+ sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. 'I don't quite
1671
+ understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.
1672
+
1673
+ 'The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little
1674
+ hot tea upon its nose.
1675
+
1676
+ The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its
1677
+ eyes, 'Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.'
1678
+
1679
+ 'Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice
1680
+ again.
1681
+
1682
+ 'No, I give it up,' Alice replied: 'what's the answer?'
1683
+
1684
+ 'I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.
1685
+
1686
+ 'Nor I,' said the March Hare.
1687
+
1688
+ Alice sighed wearily. 'I think you might do something better with the
1689
+ time,' she said, 'than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.'
1690
+
1691
+ 'If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, 'you wouldn't talk
1692
+ about wasting IT. It's HIM.'
1693
+
1694
+ 'I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.
1695
+
1696
+ 'Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously.
1697
+ 'I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'
1698
+
1699
+ 'Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: 'but I know I have to beat time
1700
+ when I learn music.'
1701
+
1702
+ 'Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. 'He won't stand beating.
1703
+ Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything
1704
+ you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in
1705
+ the morning, just time to begin lessons: you'd only have to whisper a
1706
+ hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one,
1707
+ time for dinner!'
1708
+
1709
+ ('I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a whisper.)
1710
+
1711
+ 'That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully: 'but then--I
1712
+ shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.'
1713
+
1714
+ 'Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: 'but you could keep it to
1715
+ half-past one as long as you liked.'
1716
+
1717
+ 'Is that the way YOU manage?' Alice asked.
1718
+
1719
+ The Hatter shook his head mournfully. 'Not I!' he replied. 'We
1720
+ quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing
1721
+ with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) '--it was at the great concert
1722
+ given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing
1723
+
1724
+ "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
1725
+ How I wonder what you're at!"
1726
+
1727
+ You know the song, perhaps?'
1728
+
1729
+ 'I've heard something like it,' said Alice.
1730
+
1731
+ 'It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, 'in this way:--
1732
+
1733
+ "Up above the world you fly,
1734
+ Like a tea-tray in the sky.
1735
+ Twinkle, twinkle--"'
1736
+
1737
+ Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep 'Twinkle,
1738
+ twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch
1739
+ it to make it stop.
1740
+
1741
+ 'Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter, 'when the
1742
+ Queen jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the time! Off with his
1743
+ head!"'
1744
+
1745
+ 'How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice.
1746
+
1747
+ 'And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, 'he won't
1748
+ do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.'
1749
+
1750
+ A bright idea came into Alice's head. 'Is that the reason so many
1751
+ tea-things are put out here?' she asked.
1752
+
1753
+ 'Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: 'it's always tea-time,
1754
+ and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'
1755
+
1756
+ 'Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
1757
+
1758
+ 'Exactly so,' said the Hatter: 'as the things get used up.'
1759
+
1760
+ 'But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured
1761
+ to ask.
1762
+
1763
+ 'Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted, yawning.
1764
+ 'I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.'
1765
+
1766
+ 'I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at the
1767
+ proposal.
1768
+
1769
+ 'Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. 'Wake up, Dormouse!' And
1770
+ they pinched it on both sides at once.
1771
+
1772
+ The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes. 'I wasn't asleep,' he said in a
1773
+ hoarse, feeble voice: 'I heard every word you fellows were saying.'
1774
+
1775
+ 'Tell us a story!' said the March Hare.
1776
+
1777
+ 'Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice.
1778
+
1779
+ 'And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, 'or you'll be asleep again
1780
+ before it's done.'
1781
+
1782
+ 'Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began
1783
+ in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and
1784
+ they lived at the bottom of a well--'
1785
+
1786
+ 'What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in
1787
+ questions of eating and drinking.
1788
+
1789
+ 'They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or
1790
+ two.
1791
+
1792
+ 'They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked; 'they'd
1793
+ have been ill.'
1794
+
1795
+ 'So they were,' said the Dormouse; 'VERY ill.'
1796
+
1797
+ Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of
1798
+ living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: 'But
1799
+ why did they live at the bottom of a well?'
1800
+
1801
+ 'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
1802
+
1803
+ 'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't
1804
+ take more.'
1805
+
1806
+ 'You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take
1807
+ MORE than nothing.'
1808
+
1809
+ 'Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice.
1810
+
1811
+ 'Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked triumphantly.
1812
+
1813
+ Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself
1814
+ to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the Dormouse, and
1815
+ repeated her question. 'Why did they live at the bottom of a well?'
1816
+
1817
+ The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then
1818
+ said, 'It was a treacle-well.'
1819
+
1820
+ 'There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but the
1821
+ Hatter and the March Hare went 'Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse sulkily
1822
+ remarked, 'If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for
1823
+ yourself.'
1824
+
1825
+ 'No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; 'I won't interrupt again. I
1826
+ dare say there may be ONE.'
1827
+
1828
+ 'One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he consented to
1829
+ go on. 'And so these three little sisters--they were learning to draw,
1830
+ you know--'
1831
+
1832
+ 'What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.
1833
+
1834
+ 'Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this time.
1835
+
1836
+ 'I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: 'let's all move one place
1837
+ on.'
1838
+
1839
+ He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare
1840
+ moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took
1841
+ the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any
1842
+ advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than
1843
+ before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate.
1844
+
1845
+ Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began very
1846
+ cautiously: 'But I don't understand. Where did they draw the treacle
1847
+ from?'
1848
+
1849
+ 'You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; 'so I should
1850
+ think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh, stupid?'
1851
+
1852
+ 'But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to
1853
+ notice this last remark.
1854
+
1855
+ 'Of course they were', said the Dormouse; '--well in.'
1856
+
1857
+ This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for
1858
+ some time without interrupting it.
1859
+
1860
+ 'They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing
1861
+ its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; 'and they drew all manner of
1862
+ things--everything that begins with an M--'
1863
+
1864
+ 'Why with an M?' said Alice.
1865
+
1866
+ 'Why not?' said the March Hare.
1867
+
1868
+ Alice was silent.
1869
+
1870
+ The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into
1871
+ a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with
1872
+ a little shriek, and went on: '--that begins with an M, such as
1873
+ mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness--you know you say
1874
+ things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a
1875
+ drawing of a muchness?'
1876
+
1877
+ 'Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, 'I don't
1878
+ think--'
1879
+
1880
+ 'Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.
1881
+
1882
+ This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in
1883
+ great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and
1884
+ neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she
1885
+ looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her:
1886
+ the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into
1887
+ the teapot.
1888
+
1889
+ 'At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her
1890
+ way through the wood. 'It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all
1891
+ my life!'
1892
+
1893
+ Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a door
1894
+ leading right into it. 'That's very curious!' she thought. 'But
1895
+ everything's curious today. I think I may as well go in at once.' And in
1896
+ she went.
1897
+
1898
+ Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the little
1899
+ glass table. 'Now, I'll manage better this time,' she said to herself,
1900
+ and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that
1901
+ led into the garden. Then she went to work nibbling at the mushroom (she
1902
+ had kept a piece of it in her pocket) till she was about a foot high:
1903
+ then she walked down the little passage: and THEN--she found herself at
1904
+ last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool
1905
+ fountains.
1906
+
1907
+
1908
+
1909
+
1910
+ CHAPTER VIII. The Queen's Croquet-Ground
1911
+
1912
+ A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses
1913
+ growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily
1914
+ painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went
1915
+ nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of
1916
+ them say, 'Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like
1917
+ that!'
1918
+
1919
+ 'I couldn't help it,' said Five, in a sulky tone; 'Seven jogged my
1920
+ elbow.'
1921
+
1922
+ On which Seven looked up and said, 'That's right, Five! Always lay the
1923
+ blame on others!'
1924
+
1925
+ 'YOU'D better not talk!' said Five. 'I heard the Queen say only
1926
+ yesterday you deserved to be beheaded!'
1927
+
1928
+ 'What for?' said the one who had spoken first.
1929
+
1930
+ 'That's none of YOUR business, Two!' said Seven.
1931
+
1932
+ 'Yes, it IS his business!' said Five, 'and I'll tell him--it was for
1933
+ bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions.'
1934
+
1935
+ Seven flung down his brush, and had just begun 'Well, of all the unjust
1936
+ things--' when his eye chanced to fall upon Alice, as she stood watching
1937
+ them, and he checked himself suddenly: the others looked round also, and
1938
+ all of them bowed low.
1939
+
1940
+ 'Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, 'why you are painting
1941
+ those roses?'
1942
+
1943
+ Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low
1944
+ voice, 'Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a
1945
+ RED rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen
1946
+ was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know.
1947
+ So you see, Miss, we're doing our best, afore she comes, to--' At this
1948
+ moment Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called
1949
+ out 'The Queen! The Queen!' and the three gardeners instantly threw
1950
+ themselves flat upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps,
1951
+ and Alice looked round, eager to see the Queen.
1952
+
1953
+ First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like
1954
+ the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the
1955
+ corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with
1956
+ diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came
1957
+ the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came
1958
+ jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented
1959
+ with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among
1960
+ them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried
1961
+ nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without
1962
+ noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King's
1963
+ crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand
1964
+ procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS.
1965
+
1966
+ Alice was rather doubtful whether she ought not to lie down on her face
1967
+ like the three gardeners, but she could not remember ever having heard
1968
+ of such a rule at processions; 'and besides, what would be the use of
1969
+ a procession,' thought she, 'if people had all to lie down upon their
1970
+ faces, so that they couldn't see it?' So she stood still where she was,
1971
+ and waited.
1972
+
1973
+ When the procession came opposite to Alice, they all stopped and looked
1974
+ at her, and the Queen said severely 'Who is this?' She said it to the
1975
+ Knave of Hearts, who only bowed and smiled in reply.
1976
+
1977
+ 'Idiot!' said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently; and, turning to
1978
+ Alice, she went on, 'What's your name, child?'
1979
+
1980
+ 'My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,' said Alice very politely;
1981
+ but she added, to herself, 'Why, they're only a pack of cards, after
1982
+ all. I needn't be afraid of them!'
1983
+
1984
+ 'And who are THESE?' said the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who
1985
+ were lying round the rosetree; for, you see, as they were lying on their
1986
+ faces, and the pattern on their backs was the same as the rest of the
1987
+ pack, she could not tell whether they were gardeners, or soldiers, or
1988
+ courtiers, or three of her own children.
1989
+
1990
+ 'How should I know?' said Alice, surprised at her own courage. 'It's no
1991
+ business of MINE.'
1992
+
1993
+ The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a
1994
+ moment like a wild beast, screamed 'Off with her head! Off--'
1995
+
1996
+ 'Nonsense!' said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was
1997
+ silent.
1998
+
1999
+ The King laid his hand upon her arm, and timidly said 'Consider, my
2000
+ dear: she is only a child!'
2001
+
2002
+ The Queen turned angrily away from him, and said to the Knave 'Turn them
2003
+ over!'
2004
+
2005
+ The Knave did so, very carefully, with one foot.
2006
+
2007
+ 'Get up!' said the Queen, in a shrill, loud voice, and the three
2008
+ gardeners instantly jumped up, and began bowing to the King, the Queen,
2009
+ the royal children, and everybody else.
2010
+
2011
+ 'Leave off that!' screamed the Queen. 'You make me giddy.' And then,
2012
+ turning to the rose-tree, she went on, 'What HAVE you been doing here?'
2013
+
2014
+ 'May it please your Majesty,' said Two, in a very humble tone, going
2015
+ down on one knee as he spoke, 'we were trying--'
2016
+
2017
+ 'I see!' said the Queen, who had meanwhile been examining the roses.
2018
+ 'Off with their heads!' and the procession moved on, three of the
2019
+ soldiers remaining behind to execute the unfortunate gardeners, who ran
2020
+ to Alice for protection.
2021
+
2022
+ 'You shan't be beheaded!' said Alice, and she put them into a large
2023
+ flower-pot that stood near. The three soldiers wandered about for a
2024
+ minute or two, looking for them, and then quietly marched off after the
2025
+ others.
2026
+
2027
+ 'Are their heads off?' shouted the Queen.
2028
+
2029
+ 'Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty!' the soldiers shouted
2030
+ in reply.
2031
+
2032
+ 'That's right!' shouted the Queen. 'Can you play croquet?'
2033
+
2034
+ The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question was
2035
+ evidently meant for her.
2036
+
2037
+ 'Yes!' shouted Alice.
2038
+
2039
+ 'Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the procession,
2040
+ wondering very much what would happen next.
2041
+
2042
+ 'It's--it's a very fine day!' said a timid voice at her side. She was
2043
+ walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously into her face.
2044
+
2045
+ 'Very,' said Alice: '--where's the Duchess?'
2046
+
2047
+ 'Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He looked
2048
+ anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised himself upon
2049
+ tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered 'She's under
2050
+ sentence of execution.'
2051
+
2052
+ 'What for?' said Alice.
2053
+
2054
+ 'Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked.
2055
+
2056
+ 'No, I didn't,' said Alice: 'I don't think it's at all a pity. I said
2057
+ "What for?"'
2058
+
2059
+ 'She boxed the Queen's ears--' the Rabbit began. Alice gave a little
2060
+ scream of laughter. 'Oh, hush!' the Rabbit whispered in a frightened
2061
+ tone. 'The Queen will hear you! You see, she came rather late, and the
2062
+ Queen said--'
2063
+
2064
+ 'Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and
2065
+ people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each
2066
+ other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game
2067
+ began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in
2068
+ her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs,
2069
+ the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves
2070
+ up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.
2071
+
2072
+ The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo:
2073
+ she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under
2074
+ her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got
2075
+ its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a
2076
+ blow with its head, it WOULD twist itself round and look up in her face,
2077
+ with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out
2078
+ laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin
2079
+ again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled
2080
+ itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was
2081
+ generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the
2082
+ hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up
2083
+ and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the
2084
+ conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.
2085
+
2086
+ The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling
2087
+ all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short
2088
+ time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and
2089
+ shouting 'Off with his head!' or 'Off with her head!' about once in a
2090
+ minute.
2091
+
2092
+ Alice began to feel very uneasy: to be sure, she had not as yet had any
2093
+ dispute with the Queen, but she knew that it might happen any minute,
2094
+ 'and then,' thought she, 'what would become of me? They're dreadfully
2095
+ fond of beheading people here; the great wonder is, that there's any one
2096
+ left alive!'
2097
+
2098
+ She was looking about for some way of escape, and wondering whether she
2099
+ could get away without being seen, when she noticed a curious appearance
2100
+ in the air: it puzzled her very much at first, but, after watching it
2101
+ a minute or two, she made it out to be a grin, and she said to herself
2102
+ 'It's the Cheshire Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to.'
2103
+
2104
+ 'How are you getting on?' said the Cat, as soon as there was mouth
2105
+ enough for it to speak with.
2106
+
2107
+ Alice waited till the eyes appeared, and then nodded. 'It's no use
2108
+ speaking to it,' she thought, 'till its ears have come, or at least one
2109
+ of them.' In another minute the whole head appeared, and then Alice put
2110
+ down her flamingo, and began an account of the game, feeling very glad
2111
+ she had someone to listen to her. The Cat seemed to think that there was
2112
+ enough of it now in sight, and no more of it appeared.
2113
+
2114
+ 'I don't think they play at all fairly,' Alice began, in rather a
2115
+ complaining tone, 'and they all quarrel so dreadfully one can't hear
2116
+ oneself speak--and they don't seem to have any rules in particular;
2117
+ at least, if there are, nobody attends to them--and you've no idea how
2118
+ confusing it is all the things being alive; for instance, there's the
2119
+ arch I've got to go through next walking about at the other end of the
2120
+ ground--and I should have croqueted the Queen's hedgehog just now, only
2121
+ it ran away when it saw mine coming!'
2122
+
2123
+ 'How do you like the Queen?' said the Cat in a low voice.
2124
+
2125
+ 'Not at all,' said Alice: 'she's so extremely--' Just then she noticed
2126
+ that the Queen was close behind her, listening: so she went on,
2127
+ '--likely to win, that it's hardly worth while finishing the game.'
2128
+
2129
+ The Queen smiled and passed on.
2130
+
2131
+ 'Who ARE you talking to?' said the King, going up to Alice, and looking
2132
+ at the Cat's head with great curiosity.
2133
+
2134
+ 'It's a friend of mine--a Cheshire Cat,' said Alice: 'allow me to
2135
+ introduce it.'
2136
+
2137
+ 'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may
2138
+ kiss my hand if it likes.'
2139
+
2140
+ 'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.
2141
+
2142
+ 'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!'
2143
+ He got behind Alice as he spoke.
2144
+
2145
+ 'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice. 'I've read that in some book,
2146
+ but I don't remember where.'
2147
+
2148
+ 'Well, it must be removed,' said the King very decidedly, and he called
2149
+ the Queen, who was passing at the moment, 'My dear! I wish you would
2150
+ have this cat removed!'
2151
+
2152
+ The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small.
2153
+ 'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round.
2154
+
2155
+ 'I'll fetch the executioner myself,' said the King eagerly, and he
2156
+ hurried off.
2157
+
2158
+ Alice thought she might as well go back, and see how the game was going
2159
+ on, as she heard the Queen's voice in the distance, screaming with
2160
+ passion. She had already heard her sentence three of the players to be
2161
+ executed for having missed their turns, and she did not like the look
2162
+ of things at all, as the game was in such confusion that she never knew
2163
+ whether it was her turn or not. So she went in search of her hedgehog.
2164
+
2165
+ The hedgehog was engaged in a fight with another hedgehog, which seemed
2166
+ to Alice an excellent opportunity for croqueting one of them with the
2167
+ other: the only difficulty was, that her flamingo was gone across to the
2168
+ other side of the garden, where Alice could see it trying in a helpless
2169
+ sort of way to fly up into a tree.
2170
+
2171
+ By the time she had caught the flamingo and brought it back, the fight
2172
+ was over, and both the hedgehogs were out of sight: 'but it doesn't
2173
+ matter much,' thought Alice, 'as all the arches are gone from this side
2174
+ of the ground.' So she tucked it away under her arm, that it might not
2175
+ escape again, and went back for a little more conversation with her
2176
+ friend.
2177
+
2178
+ When she got back to the Cheshire Cat, she was surprised to find quite a
2179
+ large crowd collected round it: there was a dispute going on between
2180
+ the executioner, the King, and the Queen, who were all talking at once,
2181
+ while all the rest were quite silent, and looked very uncomfortable.
2182
+
2183
+ The moment Alice appeared, she was appealed to by all three to settle
2184
+ the question, and they repeated their arguments to her, though, as they
2185
+ all spoke at once, she found it very hard indeed to make out exactly
2186
+ what they said.
2187
+
2188
+ The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a head unless
2189
+ there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a
2190
+ thing before, and he wasn't going to begin at HIS time of life.
2191
+
2192
+ The King's argument was, that anything that had a head could be
2193
+ beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense.
2194
+
2195
+ The Queen's argument was, that if something wasn't done about it in less
2196
+ than no time she'd have everybody executed, all round. (It was this last
2197
+ remark that had made the whole party look so grave and anxious.)
2198
+
2199
+ Alice could think of nothing else to say but 'It belongs to the Duchess:
2200
+ you'd better ask HER about it.'
2201
+
2202
+ 'She's in prison,' the Queen said to the executioner: 'fetch her here.'
2203
+ And the executioner went off like an arrow.
2204
+
2205
+ The Cat's head began fading away the moment he was gone, and,
2206
+ by the time he had come back with the Duchess, it had entirely
2207
+ disappeared; so the King and the executioner ran wildly up and down
2208
+ looking for it, while the rest of the party went back to the game.
2209
+
2210
+
2211
+
2212
+
2213
+ CHAPTER IX. The Mock Turtle's Story
2214
+
2215
+ 'You can't think how glad I am to see you again, you dear old thing!'
2216
+ said the Duchess, as she tucked her arm affectionately into Alice's, and
2217
+ they walked off together.
2218
+
2219
+ Alice was very glad to find her in such a pleasant temper, and thought
2220
+ to herself that perhaps it was only the pepper that had made her so
2221
+ savage when they met in the kitchen.
2222
+
2223
+ 'When I'M a Duchess,' she said to herself, (not in a very hopeful tone
2224
+ though), 'I won't have any pepper in my kitchen AT ALL. Soup does very
2225
+ well without--Maybe it's always pepper that makes people hot-tempered,'
2226
+ she went on, very much pleased at having found out a new kind of
2227
+ rule, 'and vinegar that makes them sour--and camomile that makes
2228
+ them bitter--and--and barley-sugar and such things that make children
2229
+ sweet-tempered. I only wish people knew that: then they wouldn't be so
2230
+ stingy about it, you know--'
2231
+
2232
+ She had quite forgotten the Duchess by this time, and was a little
2233
+ startled when she heard her voice close to her ear. 'You're thinking
2234
+ about something, my dear, and that makes you forget to talk. I can't
2235
+ tell you just now what the moral of that is, but I shall remember it in
2236
+ a bit.'
2237
+
2238
+ 'Perhaps it hasn't one,' Alice ventured to remark.
2239
+
2240
+ 'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only
2241
+ you can find it.' And she squeezed herself up closer to Alice's side as
2242
+ she spoke.
2243
+
2244
+ Alice did not much like keeping so close to her: first, because the
2245
+ Duchess was VERY ugly; and secondly, because she was exactly the
2246
+ right height to rest her chin upon Alice's shoulder, and it was an
2247
+ uncomfortably sharp chin. However, she did not like to be rude, so she
2248
+ bore it as well as she could.
2249
+
2250
+ 'The game's going on rather better now,' she said, by way of keeping up
2251
+ the conversation a little.
2252
+
2253
+ ''Tis so,' said the Duchess: 'and the moral of that is--"Oh, 'tis love,
2254
+ 'tis love, that makes the world go round!"'
2255
+
2256
+ 'Somebody said,' Alice whispered, 'that it's done by everybody minding
2257
+ their own business!'
2258
+
2259
+ 'Ah, well! It means much the same thing,' said the Duchess, digging her
2260
+ sharp little chin into Alice's shoulder as she added, 'and the moral
2261
+ of THAT is--"Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of
2262
+ themselves."'
2263
+
2264
+ 'How fond she is of finding morals in things!' Alice thought to herself.
2265
+
2266
+ 'I dare say you're wondering why I don't put my arm round your waist,'
2267
+ the Duchess said after a pause: 'the reason is, that I'm doubtful about
2268
+ the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the experiment?'
2269
+
2270
+ 'HE might bite,' Alice cautiously replied, not feeling at all anxious to
2271
+ have the experiment tried.
2272
+
2273
+ 'Very true,' said the Duchess: 'flamingoes and mustard both bite. And
2274
+ the moral of that is--"Birds of a feather flock together."'
2275
+
2276
+ 'Only mustard isn't a bird,' Alice remarked.
2277
+
2278
+ 'Right, as usual,' said the Duchess: 'what a clear way you have of
2279
+ putting things!'
2280
+
2281
+ 'It's a mineral, I THINK,' said Alice.
2282
+
2283
+ 'Of course it is,' said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to
2284
+ everything that Alice said; 'there's a large mustard-mine near here. And
2285
+ the moral of that is--"The more there is of mine, the less there is of
2286
+ yours."'
2287
+
2288
+ 'Oh, I know!' exclaimed Alice, who had not attended to this last remark,
2289
+ 'it's a vegetable. It doesn't look like one, but it is.'
2290
+
2291
+ 'I quite agree with you,' said the Duchess; 'and the moral of that
2292
+ is--"Be what you would seem to be"--or if you'd like it put more
2293
+ simply--"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might
2294
+ appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise
2295
+ than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."'
2296
+
2297
+ 'I think I should understand that better,' Alice said very politely, 'if
2298
+ I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it.'
2299
+
2300
+ 'That's nothing to what I could say if I chose,' the Duchess replied, in
2301
+ a pleased tone.
2302
+
2303
+ 'Pray don't trouble yourself to say it any longer than that,' said
2304
+ Alice.
2305
+
2306
+ 'Oh, don't talk about trouble!' said the Duchess. 'I make you a present
2307
+ of everything I've said as yet.'
2308
+
2309
+ 'A cheap sort of present!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they don't give
2310
+ birthday presents like that!' But she did not venture to say it out
2311
+ loud.
2312
+
2313
+ 'Thinking again?' the Duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp
2314
+ little chin.
2315
+
2316
+ 'I've a right to think,' said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to
2317
+ feel a little worried.
2318
+
2319
+ 'Just about as much right,' said the Duchess, 'as pigs have to fly; and
2320
+ the m--'
2321
+
2322
+ But here, to Alice's great surprise, the Duchess's voice died away, even
2323
+ in the middle of her favourite word 'moral,' and the arm that was linked
2324
+ into hers began to tremble. Alice looked up, and there stood the Queen
2325
+ in front of them, with her arms folded, frowning like a thunderstorm.
2326
+
2327
+ 'A fine day, your Majesty!' the Duchess began in a low, weak voice.
2328
+
2329
+ 'Now, I give you fair warning,' shouted the Queen, stamping on the
2330
+ ground as she spoke; 'either you or your head must be off, and that in
2331
+ about half no time! Take your choice!'
2332
+
2333
+ The Duchess took her choice, and was gone in a moment.
2334
+
2335
+ 'Let's go on with the game,' the Queen said to Alice; and Alice was
2336
+ too much frightened to say a word, but slowly followed her back to the
2337
+ croquet-ground.
2338
+
2339
+ The other guests had taken advantage of the Queen's absence, and were
2340
+ resting in the shade: however, the moment they saw her, they hurried
2341
+ back to the game, the Queen merely remarking that a moment's delay would
2342
+ cost them their lives.
2343
+
2344
+ All the time they were playing the Queen never left off quarrelling with
2345
+ the other players, and shouting 'Off with his head!' or 'Off with her
2346
+ head!' Those whom she sentenced were taken into custody by the soldiers,
2347
+ who of course had to leave off being arches to do this, so that by
2348
+ the end of half an hour or so there were no arches left, and all the
2349
+ players, except the King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and
2350
+ under sentence of execution.
2351
+
2352
+ Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Alice, 'Have
2353
+ you seen the Mock Turtle yet?'
2354
+
2355
+ 'No,' said Alice. 'I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is.'
2356
+
2357
+ 'It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,' said the Queen.
2358
+
2359
+ 'I never saw one, or heard of one,' said Alice.
2360
+
2361
+ 'Come on, then,' said the Queen, 'and he shall tell you his history,'
2362
+
2363
+ As they walked off together, Alice heard the King say in a low voice,
2364
+ to the company generally, 'You are all pardoned.' 'Come, THAT'S a good
2365
+ thing!' she said to herself, for she had felt quite unhappy at the
2366
+ number of executions the Queen had ordered.
2367
+
2368
+ They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the sun.
2369
+ (IF you don't know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture.) 'Up, lazy
2370
+ thing!' said the Queen, 'and take this young lady to see the Mock
2371
+ Turtle, and to hear his history. I must go back and see after some
2372
+ executions I have ordered'; and she walked off, leaving Alice alone with
2373
+ the Gryphon. Alice did not quite like the look of the creature, but on
2374
+ the whole she thought it would be quite as safe to stay with it as to go
2375
+ after that savage Queen: so she waited.
2376
+
2377
+ The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the Queen till
2378
+ she was out of sight: then it chuckled. 'What fun!' said the Gryphon,
2379
+ half to itself, half to Alice.
2380
+
2381
+ 'What IS the fun?' said Alice.
2382
+
2383
+ 'Why, SHE,' said the Gryphon. 'It's all her fancy, that: they never
2384
+ executes nobody, you know. Come on!'
2385
+
2386
+ 'Everybody says "come on!" here,' thought Alice, as she went slowly
2387
+ after it: 'I never was so ordered about in all my life, never!'
2388
+
2389
+ They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance,
2390
+ sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came
2391
+ nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She
2392
+ pitied him deeply. 'What is his sorrow?' she asked the Gryphon, and the
2393
+ Gryphon answered, very nearly in the same words as before, 'It's all his
2394
+ fancy, that: he hasn't got no sorrow, you know. Come on!'
2395
+
2396
+ So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes
2397
+ full of tears, but said nothing.
2398
+
2399
+ 'This here young lady,' said the Gryphon, 'she wants for to know your
2400
+ history, she do.'
2401
+
2402
+ 'I'll tell it her,' said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone: 'sit
2403
+ down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've finished.'
2404
+
2405
+ So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to
2406
+ herself, 'I don't see how he can EVEN finish, if he doesn't begin.' But
2407
+ she waited patiently.
2408
+
2409
+ 'Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, 'I was a real
2410
+ Turtle.'
2411
+
2412
+ These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only by an
2413
+ occasional exclamation of 'Hjckrrh!' from the Gryphon, and the constant
2414
+ heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was very nearly getting up and
2415
+ saying, 'Thank you, sir, for your interesting story,' but she could
2416
+ not help thinking there MUST be more to come, so she sat still and said
2417
+ nothing.
2418
+
2419
+ 'When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly,
2420
+ though still sobbing a little now and then, 'we went to school in the
2421
+ sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him Tortoise--'
2422
+
2423
+ 'Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.
2424
+
2425
+ 'We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle
2426
+ angrily: 'really you are very dull!'
2427
+
2428
+ 'You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question,'
2429
+ added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and looked at poor
2430
+ Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. At last the Gryphon said
2431
+ to the Mock Turtle, 'Drive on, old fellow! Don't be all day about it!'
2432
+ and he went on in these words:
2433
+
2434
+ 'Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it--'
2435
+
2436
+ 'I never said I didn't!' interrupted Alice.
2437
+
2438
+ 'You did,' said the Mock Turtle.
2439
+
2440
+ 'Hold your tongue!' added the Gryphon, before Alice could speak again.
2441
+ The Mock Turtle went on.
2442
+
2443
+ 'We had the best of educations--in fact, we went to school every day--'
2444
+
2445
+ 'I'VE been to a day-school, too,' said Alice; 'you needn't be so proud
2446
+ as all that.'
2447
+
2448
+ 'With extras?' asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously.
2449
+
2450
+ 'Yes,' said Alice, 'we learned French and music.'
2451
+
2452
+ 'And washing?' said the Mock Turtle.
2453
+
2454
+ 'Certainly not!' said Alice indignantly.
2455
+
2456
+ 'Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock Turtle in
2457
+ a tone of great relief. 'Now at OURS they had at the end of the bill,
2458
+ "French, music, AND WASHING--extra."'
2459
+
2460
+ 'You couldn't have wanted it much,' said Alice; 'living at the bottom of
2461
+ the sea.'
2462
+
2463
+ 'I couldn't afford to learn it.' said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. 'I
2464
+ only took the regular course.'
2465
+
2466
+ 'What was that?' inquired Alice.
2467
+
2468
+ 'Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,' the Mock Turtle
2469
+ replied; 'and then the different branches of Arithmetic--Ambition,
2470
+ Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'
2471
+
2472
+ 'I never heard of "Uglification,"' Alice ventured to say. 'What is it?'
2473
+
2474
+ The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. 'What! Never heard of
2475
+ uglifying!' it exclaimed. 'You know what to beautify is, I suppose?'
2476
+
2477
+ 'Yes,' said Alice doubtfully: 'it means--to--make--anything--prettier.'
2478
+
2479
+ 'Well, then,' the Gryphon went on, 'if you don't know what to uglify is,
2480
+ you ARE a simpleton.'
2481
+
2482
+ Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about it, so she
2483
+ turned to the Mock Turtle, and said 'What else had you to learn?'
2484
+
2485
+ 'Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting off
2486
+ the subjects on his flappers, '--Mystery, ancient and modern, with
2487
+ Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel,
2488
+ that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching, and
2489
+ Fainting in Coils.'
2490
+
2491
+ 'What was THAT like?' said Alice.
2492
+
2493
+ 'Well, I can't show it you myself,' the Mock Turtle said: 'I'm too
2494
+ stiff. And the Gryphon never learnt it.'
2495
+
2496
+ 'Hadn't time,' said the Gryphon: 'I went to the Classics master, though.
2497
+ He was an old crab, HE was.'
2498
+
2499
+ 'I never went to him,' the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: 'he taught
2500
+ Laughing and Grief, they used to say.'
2501
+
2502
+ 'So he did, so he did,' said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn; and both
2503
+ creatures hid their faces in their paws.
2504
+
2505
+ 'And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' said Alice, in a hurry to
2506
+ change the subject.
2507
+
2508
+ 'Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: 'nine the next, and so
2509
+ on.'
2510
+
2511
+ 'What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.
2512
+
2513
+ 'That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked:
2514
+ 'because they lessen from day to day.'
2515
+
2516
+ This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought it over a little
2517
+ before she made her next remark. 'Then the eleventh day must have been a
2518
+ holiday?'
2519
+
2520
+ 'Of course it was,' said the Mock Turtle.
2521
+
2522
+ 'And how did you manage on the twelfth?' Alice went on eagerly.
2523
+
2524
+ 'That's enough about lessons,' the Gryphon interrupted in a very decided
2525
+ tone: 'tell her something about the games now.'
2526
+
2527
+
2528
+
2529
+
2530
+ CHAPTER X. The Lobster Quadrille
2531
+
2532
+ The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and drew the back of one flapper across
2533
+ his eyes. He looked at Alice, and tried to speak, but for a minute or
2534
+ two sobs choked his voice. 'Same as if he had a bone in his throat,'
2535
+ said the Gryphon: and it set to work shaking him and punching him in
2536
+ the back. At last the Mock Turtle recovered his voice, and, with tears
2537
+ running down his cheeks, he went on again:--
2538
+
2539
+ 'You may not have lived much under the sea--' ('I haven't,' said
2540
+ Alice)--'and perhaps you were never even introduced to a lobster--'
2541
+ (Alice began to say 'I once tasted--' but checked herself hastily, and
2542
+ said 'No, never') '--so you can have no idea what a delightful thing a
2543
+ Lobster Quadrille is!'
2544
+
2545
+ 'No, indeed,' said Alice. 'What sort of a dance is it?'
2546
+
2547
+ 'Why,' said the Gryphon, 'you first form into a line along the
2548
+ sea-shore--'
2549
+
2550
+ 'Two lines!' cried the Mock Turtle. 'Seals, turtles, salmon, and so on;
2551
+ then, when you've cleared all the jelly-fish out of the way--'
2552
+
2553
+ 'THAT generally takes some time,' interrupted the Gryphon.
2554
+
2555
+ '--you advance twice--'
2556
+
2557
+ 'Each with a lobster as a partner!' cried the Gryphon.
2558
+
2559
+ 'Of course,' the Mock Turtle said: 'advance twice, set to partners--'
2560
+
2561
+ '--change lobsters, and retire in same order,' continued the Gryphon.
2562
+
2563
+ 'Then, you know,' the Mock Turtle went on, 'you throw the--'
2564
+
2565
+ 'The lobsters!' shouted the Gryphon, with a bound into the air.
2566
+
2567
+ '--as far out to sea as you can--'
2568
+
2569
+ 'Swim after them!' screamed the Gryphon.
2570
+
2571
+ 'Turn a somersault in the sea!' cried the Mock Turtle, capering wildly
2572
+ about.
2573
+
2574
+ 'Change lobsters again!' yelled the Gryphon at the top of its voice.
2575
+
2576
+ 'Back to land again, and that's all the first figure,' said the Mock
2577
+ Turtle, suddenly dropping his voice; and the two creatures, who had been
2578
+ jumping about like mad things all this time, sat down again very sadly
2579
+ and quietly, and looked at Alice.
2580
+
2581
+ 'It must be a very pretty dance,' said Alice timidly.
2582
+
2583
+ 'Would you like to see a little of it?' said the Mock Turtle.
2584
+
2585
+ 'Very much indeed,' said Alice.
2586
+
2587
+ 'Come, let's try the first figure!' said the Mock Turtle to the Gryphon.
2588
+ 'We can do without lobsters, you know. Which shall sing?'
2589
+
2590
+ 'Oh, YOU sing,' said the Gryphon. 'I've forgotten the words.'
2591
+
2592
+ So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every now and
2593
+ then treading on her toes when they passed too close, and waving their
2594
+ forepaws to mark the time, while the Mock Turtle sang this, very slowly
2595
+ and sadly:--
2596
+
2597
+ '"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
2598
+ "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
2599
+
2600
+ See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
2601
+ They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join the dance?
2602
+
2603
+ Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
2604
+ Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
2605
+
2606
+ "You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
2607
+ When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!"
2608
+ But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance--
2609
+ Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
2610
+
2611
+ Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
2612
+ Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.
2613
+
2614
+ '"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.
2615
+ "There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
2616
+ The further off from England the nearer is to France--
2617
+ Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
2618
+
2619
+ Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
2620
+ Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?"'
2621
+
2622
+ 'Thank you, it's a very interesting dance to watch,' said Alice, feeling
2623
+ very glad that it was over at last: 'and I do so like that curious song
2624
+ about the whiting!'
2625
+
2626
+ 'Oh, as to the whiting,' said the Mock Turtle, 'they--you've seen them,
2627
+ of course?'
2628
+
2629
+ 'Yes,' said Alice, 'I've often seen them at dinn--' she checked herself
2630
+ hastily.
2631
+
2632
+ 'I don't know where Dinn may be,' said the Mock Turtle, 'but if you've
2633
+ seen them so often, of course you know what they're like.'
2634
+
2635
+ 'I believe so,' Alice replied thoughtfully. 'They have their tails in
2636
+ their mouths--and they're all over crumbs.'
2637
+
2638
+ 'You're wrong about the crumbs,' said the Mock Turtle: 'crumbs would all
2639
+ wash off in the sea. But they HAVE their tails in their mouths; and the
2640
+ reason is--' here the Mock Turtle yawned and shut his eyes.--'Tell her
2641
+ about the reason and all that,' he said to the Gryphon.
2642
+
2643
+ 'The reason is,' said the Gryphon, 'that they WOULD go with the lobsters
2644
+ to the dance. So they got thrown out to sea. So they had to fall a long
2645
+ way. So they got their tails fast in their mouths. So they couldn't get
2646
+ them out again. That's all.'
2647
+
2648
+ 'Thank you,' said Alice, 'it's very interesting. I never knew so much
2649
+ about a whiting before.'
2650
+
2651
+ 'I can tell you more than that, if you like,' said the Gryphon. 'Do you
2652
+ know why it's called a whiting?'
2653
+
2654
+ 'I never thought about it,' said Alice. 'Why?'
2655
+
2656
+ 'IT DOES THE BOOTS AND SHOES.' the Gryphon replied very solemnly.
2657
+
2658
+ Alice was thoroughly puzzled. 'Does the boots and shoes!' she repeated
2659
+ in a wondering tone.
2660
+
2661
+ 'Why, what are YOUR shoes done with?' said the Gryphon. 'I mean, what
2662
+ makes them so shiny?'
2663
+
2664
+ Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before she gave her
2665
+ answer. 'They're done with blacking, I believe.'
2666
+
2667
+ 'Boots and shoes under the sea,' the Gryphon went on in a deep voice,
2668
+ 'are done with a whiting. Now you know.'
2669
+
2670
+ 'And what are they made of?' Alice asked in a tone of great curiosity.
2671
+
2672
+ 'Soles and eels, of course,' the Gryphon replied rather impatiently:
2673
+ 'any shrimp could have told you that.'
2674
+
2675
+ 'If I'd been the whiting,' said Alice, whose thoughts were still running
2676
+ on the song, 'I'd have said to the porpoise, "Keep back, please: we
2677
+ don't want YOU with us!"'
2678
+
2679
+ 'They were obliged to have him with them,' the Mock Turtle said: 'no
2680
+ wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.'
2681
+
2682
+ 'Wouldn't it really?' said Alice in a tone of great surprise.
2683
+
2684
+ 'Of course not,' said the Mock Turtle: 'why, if a fish came to ME, and
2685
+ told me he was going a journey, I should say "With what porpoise?"'
2686
+
2687
+ 'Don't you mean "purpose"?' said Alice.
2688
+
2689
+ 'I mean what I say,' the Mock Turtle replied in an offended tone. And
2690
+ the Gryphon added 'Come, let's hear some of YOUR adventures.'
2691
+
2692
+ 'I could tell you my adventures--beginning from this morning,' said
2693
+ Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to yesterday,
2694
+ because I was a different person then.'
2695
+
2696
+ 'Explain all that,' said the Mock Turtle.
2697
+
2698
+ 'No, no! The adventures first,' said the Gryphon in an impatient tone:
2699
+ 'explanations take such a dreadful time.'
2700
+
2701
+ So Alice began telling them her adventures from the time when she first
2702
+ saw the White Rabbit. She was a little nervous about it just at first,
2703
+ the two creatures got so close to her, one on each side, and opened
2704
+ their eyes and mouths so VERY wide, but she gained courage as she went
2705
+ on. Her listeners were perfectly quiet till she got to the part about
2706
+ her repeating 'YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,' to the Caterpillar, and the
2707
+ words all coming different, and then the Mock Turtle drew a long breath,
2708
+ and said 'That's very curious.'
2709
+
2710
+ 'It's all about as curious as it can be,' said the Gryphon.
2711
+
2712
+ 'It all came different!' the Mock Turtle repeated thoughtfully. 'I
2713
+ should like to hear her try and repeat something now. Tell her to
2714
+ begin.' He looked at the Gryphon as if he thought it had some kind of
2715
+ authority over Alice.
2716
+
2717
+ 'Stand up and repeat "'TIS THE VOICE OF THE SLUGGARD,"' said the
2718
+ Gryphon.
2719
+
2720
+ 'How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!'
2721
+ thought Alice; 'I might as well be at school at once.' However, she
2722
+ got up, and began to repeat it, but her head was so full of the Lobster
2723
+ Quadrille, that she hardly knew what she was saying, and the words came
2724
+ very queer indeed:--
2725
+
2726
+ ''Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,
2727
+ "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
2728
+ As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
2729
+ Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.'
2730
+
2731
+ [later editions continued as follows
2732
+ When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
2733
+ And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark,
2734
+ But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
2735
+ His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.]
2736
+
2737
+ 'That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,' said the
2738
+ Gryphon.
2739
+
2740
+ 'Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; 'but it sounds
2741
+ uncommon nonsense.'
2742
+
2743
+ Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her hands,
2744
+ wondering if anything would EVER happen in a natural way again.
2745
+
2746
+ 'I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.
2747
+
2748
+ 'She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. 'Go on with the next
2749
+ verse.'
2750
+
2751
+ 'But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. 'How COULD he turn them
2752
+ out with his nose, you know?'
2753
+
2754
+ 'It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was dreadfully
2755
+ puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
2756
+
2757
+ 'Go on with the next verse,' the Gryphon repeated impatiently: 'it
2758
+ begins "I passed by his garden."'
2759
+
2760
+ Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would all come
2761
+ wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:--
2762
+
2763
+ 'I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
2764
+ How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie--'
2765
+
2766
+ [later editions continued as follows
2767
+ The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,
2768
+ While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat.
2769
+ When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
2770
+ Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
2771
+ While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
2772
+ And concluded the banquet--]
2773
+
2774
+ 'What IS the use of repeating all that stuff,' the Mock Turtle
2775
+ interrupted, 'if you don't explain it as you go on? It's by far the most
2776
+ confusing thing I ever heard!'
2777
+
2778
+ 'Yes, I think you'd better leave off,' said the Gryphon: and Alice was
2779
+ only too glad to do so.
2780
+
2781
+ 'Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?' the Gryphon went
2782
+ on. 'Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing you a song?'
2783
+
2784
+ 'Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,' Alice
2785
+ replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather offended tone,
2786
+ 'Hm! No accounting for tastes! Sing her "Turtle Soup," will you, old
2787
+ fellow?'
2788
+
2789
+ The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice sometimes choked
2790
+ with sobs, to sing this:--
2791
+
2792
+ 'Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
2793
+ Waiting in a hot tureen!
2794
+ Who for such dainties would not stoop?
2795
+ Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
2796
+ Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
2797
+ Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
2798
+ Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
2799
+ Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
2800
+ Beautiful, beautiful Soup!
2801
+
2802
+ 'Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
2803
+ Game, or any other dish?
2804
+ Who would not give all else for two
2805
+ Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
2806
+ Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
2807
+ Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
2808
+ Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
2809
+ Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
2810
+ Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!'
2811
+
2812
+ 'Chorus again!' cried the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle had just begun
2813
+ to repeat it, when a cry of 'The trial's beginning!' was heard in the
2814
+ distance.
2815
+
2816
+ 'Come on!' cried the Gryphon, and, taking Alice by the hand, it hurried
2817
+ off, without waiting for the end of the song.
2818
+
2819
+ 'What trial is it?' Alice panted as she ran; but the Gryphon only
2820
+ answered 'Come on!' and ran the faster, while more and more faintly
2821
+ came, carried on the breeze that followed them, the melancholy words:--
2822
+
2823
+ 'Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
2824
+ Beautiful, beautiful Soup!'
2825
+
2826
+
2827
+
2828
+
2829
+ CHAPTER XI. Who Stole the Tarts?
2830
+
2831
+ The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when they
2832
+ arrived, with a great crowd assembled about them--all sorts of little
2833
+ birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards: the Knave was
2834
+ standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on each side to guard
2835
+ him; and near the King was the White Rabbit, with a trumpet in one hand,
2836
+ and a scroll of parchment in the other. In the very middle of the court
2837
+ was a table, with a large dish of tarts upon it: they looked so good,
2838
+ that it made Alice quite hungry to look at them--'I wish they'd get the
2839
+ trial done,' she thought, 'and hand round the refreshments!' But there
2840
+ seemed to be no chance of this, so she began looking at everything about
2841
+ her, to pass away the time.
2842
+
2843
+ Alice had never been in a court of justice before, but she had read
2844
+ about them in books, and she was quite pleased to find that she knew
2845
+ the name of nearly everything there. 'That's the judge,' she said to
2846
+ herself, 'because of his great wig.'
2847
+
2848
+ The judge, by the way, was the King; and as he wore his crown over the
2849
+ wig, (look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he did it,) he did
2850
+ not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly not becoming.
2851
+
2852
+ 'And that's the jury-box,' thought Alice, 'and those twelve creatures,'
2853
+ (she was obliged to say 'creatures,' you see, because some of them were
2854
+ animals, and some were birds,) 'I suppose they are the jurors.' She said
2855
+ this last word two or three times over to herself, being rather proud of
2856
+ it: for she thought, and rightly too, that very few little girls of her
2857
+ age knew the meaning of it at all. However, 'jury-men' would have done
2858
+ just as well.
2859
+
2860
+ The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. 'What are they
2861
+ doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon. 'They can't have anything to put
2862
+ down yet, before the trial's begun.'
2863
+
2864
+ 'They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in reply, 'for
2865
+ fear they should forget them before the end of the trial.'
2866
+
2867
+ 'Stupid things!' Alice began in a loud, indignant voice, but she stopped
2868
+ hastily, for the White Rabbit cried out, 'Silence in the court!' and the
2869
+ King put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round, to make out who
2870
+ was talking.
2871
+
2872
+ Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders,
2873
+ that all the jurors were writing down 'stupid things!' on their slates,
2874
+ and she could even make out that one of them didn't know how to spell
2875
+ 'stupid,' and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him. 'A nice
2876
+ muddle their slates'll be in before the trial's over!' thought Alice.
2877
+
2878
+ One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course, Alice
2879
+ could not stand, and she went round the court and got behind him, and
2880
+ very soon found an opportunity of taking it away. She did it so quickly
2881
+ that the poor little juror (it was Bill, the Lizard) could not make out
2882
+ at all what had become of it; so, after hunting all about for it, he was
2883
+ obliged to write with one finger for the rest of the day; and this was
2884
+ of very little use, as it left no mark on the slate.
2885
+
2886
+ 'Herald, read the accusation!' said the King.
2887
+
2888
+ On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then
2889
+ unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:--
2890
+
2891
+ 'The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
2892
+ All on a summer day:
2893
+ The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
2894
+ And took them quite away!'
2895
+
2896
+ 'Consider your verdict,' the King said to the jury.
2897
+
2898
+ 'Not yet, not yet!' the Rabbit hastily interrupted. 'There's a great
2899
+ deal to come before that!'
2900
+
2901
+ 'Call the first witness,' said the King; and the White Rabbit blew three
2902
+ blasts on the trumpet, and called out, 'First witness!'
2903
+
2904
+ The first witness was the Hatter. He came in with a teacup in one
2905
+ hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other. 'I beg pardon, your
2906
+ Majesty,' he began, 'for bringing these in: but I hadn't quite finished
2907
+ my tea when I was sent for.'
2908
+
2909
+ 'You ought to have finished,' said the King. 'When did you begin?'
2910
+
2911
+ The Hatter looked at the March Hare, who had followed him into the
2912
+ court, arm-in-arm with the Dormouse. 'Fourteenth of March, I think it
2913
+ was,' he said.
2914
+
2915
+ 'Fifteenth,' said the March Hare.
2916
+
2917
+ 'Sixteenth,' added the Dormouse.
2918
+
2919
+ 'Write that down,' the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly
2920
+ wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then added them up, and
2921
+ reduced the answer to shillings and pence.
2922
+
2923
+ 'Take off your hat,' the King said to the Hatter.
2924
+
2925
+ 'It isn't mine,' said the Hatter.
2926
+
2927
+ 'Stolen!' the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who instantly made a
2928
+ memorandum of the fact.
2929
+
2930
+ 'I keep them to sell,' the Hatter added as an explanation; 'I've none of
2931
+ my own. I'm a hatter.'
2932
+
2933
+ Here the Queen put on her spectacles, and began staring at the Hatter,
2934
+ who turned pale and fidgeted.
2935
+
2936
+ 'Give your evidence,' said the King; 'and don't be nervous, or I'll have
2937
+ you executed on the spot.'
2938
+
2939
+ This did not seem to encourage the witness at all: he kept shifting
2940
+ from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at the Queen, and in
2941
+ his confusion he bit a large piece out of his teacup instead of the
2942
+ bread-and-butter.
2943
+
2944
+ Just at this moment Alice felt a very curious sensation, which puzzled
2945
+ her a good deal until she made out what it was: she was beginning to
2946
+ grow larger again, and she thought at first she would get up and leave
2947
+ the court; but on second thoughts she decided to remain where she was as
2948
+ long as there was room for her.
2949
+
2950
+ 'I wish you wouldn't squeeze so.' said the Dormouse, who was sitting
2951
+ next to her. 'I can hardly breathe.'
2952
+
2953
+ 'I can't help it,' said Alice very meekly: 'I'm growing.'
2954
+
2955
+ 'You've no right to grow here,' said the Dormouse.
2956
+
2957
+ 'Don't talk nonsense,' said Alice more boldly: 'you know you're growing
2958
+ too.'
2959
+
2960
+ 'Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,' said the Dormouse: 'not in that
2961
+ ridiculous fashion.' And he got up very sulkily and crossed over to the
2962
+ other side of the court.
2963
+
2964
+ All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the Hatter, and,
2965
+ just as the Dormouse crossed the court, she said to one of the officers
2966
+ of the court, 'Bring me the list of the singers in the last concert!' on
2967
+ which the wretched Hatter trembled so, that he shook both his shoes off.
2968
+
2969
+ 'Give your evidence,' the King repeated angrily, 'or I'll have you
2970
+ executed, whether you're nervous or not.'
2971
+
2972
+ 'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' the Hatter began, in a trembling voice,
2973
+ '--and I hadn't begun my tea--not above a week or so--and what with the
2974
+ bread-and-butter getting so thin--and the twinkling of the tea--'
2975
+
2976
+ 'The twinkling of the what?' said the King.
2977
+
2978
+ 'It began with the tea,' the Hatter replied.
2979
+
2980
+ 'Of course twinkling begins with a T!' said the King sharply. 'Do you
2981
+ take me for a dunce? Go on!'
2982
+
2983
+ 'I'm a poor man,' the Hatter went on, 'and most things twinkled after
2984
+ that--only the March Hare said--'
2985
+
2986
+ 'I didn't!' the March Hare interrupted in a great hurry.
2987
+
2988
+ 'You did!' said the Hatter.
2989
+
2990
+ 'I deny it!' said the March Hare.
2991
+
2992
+ 'He denies it,' said the King: 'leave out that part.'
2993
+
2994
+ 'Well, at any rate, the Dormouse said--' the Hatter went on, looking
2995
+ anxiously round to see if he would deny it too: but the Dormouse denied
2996
+ nothing, being fast asleep.
2997
+
2998
+ 'After that,' continued the Hatter, 'I cut some more bread-and-butter--'
2999
+
3000
+ 'But what did the Dormouse say?' one of the jury asked.
3001
+
3002
+ 'That I can't remember,' said the Hatter.
3003
+
3004
+ 'You MUST remember,' remarked the King, 'or I'll have you executed.'
3005
+
3006
+ The miserable Hatter dropped his teacup and bread-and-butter, and went
3007
+ down on one knee. 'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' he began.
3008
+
3009
+ 'You're a very poor speaker,' said the King.
3010
+
3011
+ Here one of the guinea-pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by
3012
+ the officers of the court. (As that is rather a hard word, I will just
3013
+ explain to you how it was done. They had a large canvas bag, which tied
3014
+ up at the mouth with strings: into this they slipped the guinea-pig,
3015
+ head first, and then sat upon it.)
3016
+
3017
+ 'I'm glad I've seen that done,' thought Alice. 'I've so often read
3018
+ in the newspapers, at the end of trials, "There was some attempts
3019
+ at applause, which was immediately suppressed by the officers of the
3020
+ court," and I never understood what it meant till now.'
3021
+
3022
+ 'If that's all you know about it, you may stand down,' continued the
3023
+ King.
3024
+
3025
+ 'I can't go no lower,' said the Hatter: 'I'm on the floor, as it is.'
3026
+
3027
+ 'Then you may SIT down,' the King replied.
3028
+
3029
+ Here the other guinea-pig cheered, and was suppressed.
3030
+
3031
+ 'Come, that finished the guinea-pigs!' thought Alice. 'Now we shall get
3032
+ on better.'
3033
+
3034
+ 'I'd rather finish my tea,' said the Hatter, with an anxious look at the
3035
+ Queen, who was reading the list of singers.
3036
+
3037
+ 'You may go,' said the King, and the Hatter hurriedly left the court,
3038
+ without even waiting to put his shoes on.
3039
+
3040
+ '--and just take his head off outside,' the Queen added to one of the
3041
+ officers: but the Hatter was out of sight before the officer could get
3042
+ to the door.
3043
+
3044
+ 'Call the next witness!' said the King.
3045
+
3046
+ The next witness was the Duchess's cook. She carried the pepper-box in
3047
+ her hand, and Alice guessed who it was, even before she got into the
3048
+ court, by the way the people near the door began sneezing all at once.
3049
+
3050
+ 'Give your evidence,' said the King.
3051
+
3052
+ 'Shan't,' said the cook.
3053
+
3054
+ The King looked anxiously at the White Rabbit, who said in a low voice,
3055
+ 'Your Majesty must cross-examine THIS witness.'
3056
+
3057
+ 'Well, if I must, I must,' the King said, with a melancholy air, and,
3058
+ after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till his eyes were
3059
+ nearly out of sight, he said in a deep voice, 'What are tarts made of?'
3060
+
3061
+ 'Pepper, mostly,' said the cook.
3062
+
3063
+ 'Treacle,' said a sleepy voice behind her.
3064
+
3065
+ 'Collar that Dormouse,' the Queen shrieked out. 'Behead that Dormouse!
3066
+ Turn that Dormouse out of court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his
3067
+ whiskers!'
3068
+
3069
+ For some minutes the whole court was in confusion, getting the Dormouse
3070
+ turned out, and, by the time they had settled down again, the cook had
3071
+ disappeared.
3072
+
3073
+ 'Never mind!' said the King, with an air of great relief. 'Call the next
3074
+ witness.' And he added in an undertone to the Queen, 'Really, my dear,
3075
+ YOU must cross-examine the next witness. It quite makes my forehead
3076
+ ache!'
3077
+
3078
+ Alice watched the White Rabbit as he fumbled over the list, feeling very
3079
+ curious to see what the next witness would be like, '--for they haven't
3080
+ got much evidence YET,' she said to herself. Imagine her surprise, when
3081
+ the White Rabbit read out, at the top of his shrill little voice, the
3082
+ name 'Alice!'
3083
+
3084
+
3085
+
3086
+ CHAPTER XII
3087
+
3088
+ Alice's Evidence
3089
+
3090
+
3091
+ 'Here!' cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment how
3092
+ large she had grown in the last few minutes, and she jumped up in such
3093
+ a hurry that she tipped over the jury-box with the edge of her skirt,
3094
+ upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below, and there
3095
+ they lay sprawling about, reminding her very much of a globe of goldfish
3096
+ she had accidentally upset the week before.
3097
+
3098
+ 'Oh, I BEG your pardon!' she exclaimed in a tone of great dismay, and
3099
+ began picking them up again as quickly as she could, for the accident of
3100
+ the goldfish kept running in her head, and she had a vague sort of idea
3101
+ that they must be collected at once and put back into the jury-box, or
3102
+ they would die.
3103
+
3104
+ 'The trial cannot proceed,' said the King in a very grave voice, 'until
3105
+ all the jurymen are back in their proper places--ALL,' he repeated with
3106
+ great emphasis, looking hard at Alice as he said do.
3107
+
3108
+ Alice looked at the jury-box, and saw that, in her haste, she had put
3109
+ the Lizard in head downwards, and the poor little thing was waving its
3110
+ tail about in a melancholy way, being quite unable to move. She soon got
3111
+ it out again, and put it right; 'not that it signifies much,' she said
3112
+ to herself; 'I should think it would be QUITE as much use in the trial
3113
+ one way up as the other.'
3114
+
3115
+ As soon as the jury had a little recovered from the shock of being
3116
+ upset, and their slates and pencils had been found and handed back to
3117
+ them, they set to work very diligently to write out a history of the
3118
+ accident, all except the Lizard, who seemed too much overcome to do
3119
+ anything but sit with its mouth open, gazing up into the roof of the
3120
+ court.
3121
+
3122
+ 'What do you know about this business?' the King said to Alice.
3123
+
3124
+ 'Nothing,' said Alice.
3125
+
3126
+ 'Nothing WHATEVER?' persisted the King.
3127
+
3128
+ 'Nothing whatever,' said Alice.
3129
+
3130
+ 'That's very important,' the King said, turning to the jury. They were
3131
+ just beginning to write this down on their slates, when the White Rabbit
3132
+ interrupted: 'UNimportant, your Majesty means, of course,' he said in a
3133
+ very respectful tone, but frowning and making faces at him as he spoke.
3134
+
3135
+ 'UNimportant, of course, I meant,' the King hastily said, and went on
3136
+ to himself in an undertone,
3137
+
3138
+ 'important--unimportant--unimportant--important--' as if he were trying
3139
+ which word sounded best.
3140
+
3141
+ Some of the jury wrote it down 'important,' and some 'unimportant.'
3142
+ Alice could see this, as she was near enough to look over their slates;
3143
+ 'but it doesn't matter a bit,' she thought to herself.
3144
+
3145
+ At this moment the King, who had been for some time busily writing in
3146
+ his note-book, cackled out 'Silence!' and read out from his book, 'Rule
3147
+ Forty-two. ALL PERSONS MORE THAN A MILE HIGH TO LEAVE THE COURT.'
3148
+
3149
+ Everybody looked at Alice.
3150
+
3151
+ 'I'M not a mile high,' said Alice.
3152
+
3153
+ 'You are,' said the King.
3154
+
3155
+ 'Nearly two miles high,' added the Queen.
3156
+
3157
+ 'Well, I shan't go, at any rate,' said Alice: 'besides, that's not a
3158
+ regular rule: you invented it just now.'
3159
+
3160
+ 'It's the oldest rule in the book,' said the King.
3161
+
3162
+ 'Then it ought to be Number One,' said Alice.
3163
+
3164
+ The King turned pale, and shut his note-book hastily. 'Consider your
3165
+ verdict,' he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice.
3166
+
3167
+ 'There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty,' said the White
3168
+ Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; 'this paper has just been picked
3169
+ up.'
3170
+
3171
+ 'What's in it?' said the Queen.
3172
+
3173
+ 'I haven't opened it yet,' said the White Rabbit, 'but it seems to be a
3174
+ letter, written by the prisoner to--to somebody.'
3175
+
3176
+ 'It must have been that,' said the King, 'unless it was written to
3177
+ nobody, which isn't usual, you know.'
3178
+
3179
+ 'Who is it directed to?' said one of the jurymen.
3180
+
3181
+ 'It isn't directed at all,' said the White Rabbit; 'in fact, there's
3182
+ nothing written on the OUTSIDE.' He unfolded the paper as he spoke, and
3183
+ added 'It isn't a letter, after all: it's a set of verses.'
3184
+
3185
+ 'Are they in the prisoner's handwriting?' asked another of the jurymen.
3186
+
3187
+ 'No, they're not,' said the White Rabbit, 'and that's the queerest thing
3188
+ about it.' (The jury all looked puzzled.)
3189
+
3190
+ 'He must have imitated somebody else's hand,' said the King. (The jury
3191
+ all brightened up again.)
3192
+
3193
+ 'Please your Majesty,' said the Knave, 'I didn't write it, and they
3194
+ can't prove I did: there's no name signed at the end.'
3195
+
3196
+ 'If you didn't sign it,' said the King, 'that only makes the matter
3197
+ worse. You MUST have meant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your
3198
+ name like an honest man.'
3199
+
3200
+ There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the first really
3201
+ clever thing the King had said that day.
3202
+
3203
+ 'That PROVES his guilt,' said the Queen.
3204
+
3205
+ 'It proves nothing of the sort!' said Alice. 'Why, you don't even know
3206
+ what they're about!'
3207
+
3208
+ 'Read them,' said the King.
3209
+
3210
+ The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. 'Where shall I begin, please
3211
+ your Majesty?' he asked.
3212
+
3213
+ 'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you
3214
+ come to the end: then stop.'
3215
+
3216
+ These were the verses the White Rabbit read:--
3217
+
3218
+ 'They told me you had been to her,
3219
+ And mentioned me to him:
3220
+ She gave me a good character,
3221
+ But said I could not swim.
3222
+
3223
+ He sent them word I had not gone
3224
+ (We know it to be true):
3225
+ If she should push the matter on,
3226
+ What would become of you?
3227
+
3228
+ I gave her one, they gave him two,
3229
+ You gave us three or more;
3230
+ They all returned from him to you,
3231
+ Though they were mine before.
3232
+
3233
+ If I or she should chance to be
3234
+ Involved in this affair,
3235
+ He trusts to you to set them free,
3236
+ Exactly as we were.
3237
+
3238
+ My notion was that you had been
3239
+ (Before she had this fit)
3240
+ An obstacle that came between
3241
+ Him, and ourselves, and it.
3242
+
3243
+ Don't let him know she liked them best,
3244
+ For this must ever be
3245
+ A secret, kept from all the rest,
3246
+ Between yourself and me.'
3247
+
3248
+ 'That's the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet,' said the
3249
+ King, rubbing his hands; 'so now let the jury--'
3250
+
3251
+ 'If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice, (she had grown so large
3252
+ in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting
3253
+ him,) 'I'll give him sixpence. _I_ don't believe there's an atom of
3254
+ meaning in it.'
3255
+
3256
+ The jury all wrote down on their slates, 'SHE doesn't believe there's an
3257
+ atom of meaning in it,' but none of them attempted to explain the paper.
3258
+
3259
+ 'If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, 'that saves a world of
3260
+ trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know,'
3261
+ he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at them
3262
+ with one eye; 'I seem to see some meaning in them, after all. "--SAID
3263
+ I COULD NOT SWIM--" you can't swim, can you?' he added, turning to the
3264
+ Knave.
3265
+
3266
+ The Knave shook his head sadly. 'Do I look like it?' he said. (Which he
3267
+ certainly did NOT, being made entirely of cardboard.)
3268
+
3269
+ 'All right, so far,' said the King, and he went on muttering over
3270
+ the verses to himself: '"WE KNOW IT TO BE TRUE--" that's the jury, of
3271
+ course--"I GAVE HER ONE, THEY GAVE HIM TWO--" why, that must be what he
3272
+ did with the tarts, you know--'
3273
+
3274
+ 'But, it goes on "THEY ALL RETURNED FROM HIM TO YOU,"' said Alice.
3275
+
3276
+ 'Why, there they are!' said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts
3277
+ on the table. 'Nothing can be clearer than THAT. Then again--"BEFORE SHE
3278
+ HAD THIS FIT--" you never had fits, my dear, I think?' he said to the
3279
+ Queen.
3280
+
3281
+ 'Never!' said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard
3282
+ as she spoke. (The unfortunate little Bill had left off writing on his
3283
+ slate with one finger, as he found it made no mark; but he now hastily
3284
+ began again, using the ink, that was trickling down his face, as long as
3285
+ it lasted.)
3286
+
3287
+ 'Then the words don't FIT you,' said the King, looking round the court
3288
+ with a smile. There was a dead silence.
3289
+
3290
+ 'It's a pun!' the King added in an offended tone, and everybody laughed,
3291
+ 'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the
3292
+ twentieth time that day.
3293
+
3294
+ 'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first--verdict afterwards.'
3295
+
3296
+ 'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the
3297
+ sentence first!'
3298
+
3299
+ 'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.
3300
+
3301
+ 'I won't!' said Alice.
3302
+
3303
+ 'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody
3304
+ moved.
3305
+
3306
+ 'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this
3307
+ time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!'
3308
+
3309
+ At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon
3310
+ her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and
3311
+ tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her
3312
+ head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead
3313
+ leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face.
3314
+
3315
+ 'Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; 'Why, what a long sleep you've
3316
+ had!'
3317
+
3318
+ 'Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her
3319
+ sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures
3320
+ of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had
3321
+ finished, her sister kissed her, and said, 'It WAS a curious dream,
3322
+ dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' So
3323
+ Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might,
3324
+ what a wonderful dream it had been.
3325
+
3326
+ But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her head on her
3327
+ hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and all her
3328
+ wonderful Adventures, till she too began dreaming after a fashion, and
3329
+ this was her dream:--
3330
+
3331
+ First, she dreamed of little Alice herself, and once again the tiny
3332
+ hands were clasped upon her knee, and the bright eager eyes were looking
3333
+ up into hers--she could hear the very tones of her voice, and see that
3334
+ queer little toss of her head to keep back the wandering hair that
3335
+ WOULD always get into her eyes--and still as she listened, or seemed to
3336
+ listen, the whole place around her became alive the strange creatures of
3337
+ her little sister's dream.
3338
+
3339
+ The long grass rustled at her feet as the White Rabbit hurried by--the
3340
+ frightened Mouse splashed his way through the neighbouring pool--she
3341
+ could hear the rattle of the teacups as the March Hare and his friends
3342
+ shared their never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen
3343
+ ordering off her unfortunate guests to execution--once more the pig-baby
3344
+ was sneezing on the Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed
3345
+ around it--once more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the
3346
+ Lizard's slate-pencil, and the choking of the suppressed guinea-pigs,
3347
+ filled the air, mixed up with the distant sobs of the miserable Mock
3348
+ Turtle.
3349
+
3350
+ So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in
3351
+ Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all
3352
+ would change to dull reality--the grass would be only rustling in the
3353
+ wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds--the rattling
3354
+ teacups would change to tinkling sheep-bells, and the Queen's shrill
3355
+ cries to the voice of the shepherd boy--and the sneeze of the baby, the
3356
+ shriek of the Gryphon, and all the other queer noises, would change (she
3357
+ knew) to the confused clamour of the busy farm-yard--while the lowing
3358
+ of the cattle in the distance would take the place of the Mock Turtle's
3359
+ heavy sobs.
3360
+
3361
+ Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers
3362
+ would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would
3363
+ keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her
3364
+ childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and
3365
+ make THEIR eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even
3366
+ with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with
3367
+ all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys,
3368
+ remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.
3369
+
3370
+ THE END
3371
+
3372
+
3373
+
3374
+
3375
+
3376
+ End of Project Gutenberg's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
3377
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3378
+ *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND ***
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