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								The Project Gutenberg Etext of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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								Alice's Adventures in Wonderland


								[Also known as "Alice in Wonderland"]


								by Lewis Carroll


								May, 1997  [Etext #928]

								[Date last updated: April 15, 2005]


								The Project Gutenberg Etext of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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								<hr>

								<h1 align="Center">ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND</h1>


								<h3 align="Center">Lewis Carroll</h3>


								<p align="Center"><i>THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0</i></p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER I</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">Down the Rabbit-Hole</h3>


								<p>Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister

								on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had

								peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no

								pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,'

								thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'</p>


								<p>So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could,

								for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether

								the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble

								of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White

								Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.</p>


								<p>There was nothing so <i>very</i> remarkable in that; nor did

								Alice think it so <i>very</i> much out of the way to hear the

								Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when

								she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought

								to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite

								natural); but when the Rabbit actually <i>took a watch out of its

								waistcoat-pocket,</i> and looked at it, and then hurried on,

								Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that

								she had never before seen a rabbit with either a

								waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with

								curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was

								just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the

								hedge.</p>


								<p>In another moment down went Alice after it, never once

								considering how in the world she was to get out again.</p>


								<p>The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way,

								and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a

								moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself

								falling down a very deep well.</p>


								<p>Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for

								she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to

								wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look

								down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to

								see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and

								noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves;

								here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took

								down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled

								'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty:

								she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so

								managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past

								it.</p>


								<p>'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this,

								I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll

								all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even

								if I fell off the top of the house!' (Which was very likely

								true.)</p>


								<p>Down, down, down. Would the fall <i>never</i> come to an end!

								'I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said

								aloud. 'I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth.

								Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think--'

								(for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in

								her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a <i>very</i>

								good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no

								one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over)

								'--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what

								Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what

								Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice

								grand words to say.)</p>


								<p>Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right

								<i>through</i> the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among

								the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies,

								I think--' (she was rather glad there <i>was</i> no one listening, this

								time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) '--but I shall

								have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know.

								Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried

								to curtsey as she spoke--fancy <i>curtseying</i> as you're

								falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) 'And

								what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No,

								it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up

								somewhere.'</p>


								<p>Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon

								began talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I

								should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her

								saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down

								here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you

								might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do

								cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather

								sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way,

								'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do bats eat

								cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it

								didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was

								dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand

								in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now,

								Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly,

								thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves,

								and the fall was over.</p>


								<p>Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in

								a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her

								was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in

								sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away

								went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as

								it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's

								getting!' She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but

								the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long,

								low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the

								roof.</p>


								<p>There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked;

								and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the

								other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle,

								wondering how she was ever to get out again.</p>


								<p>Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made

								of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key,

								and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the

								doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or

								the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of

								them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low

								curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little

								door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key

								in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!</p>


								<p>Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small

								passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and

								looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw.

								How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about

								among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but

								she could not even get her head though the doorway; 'and even if

								my head <i>would</i> go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it would

								be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I

								could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know

								how to begin.' For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had

								happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few

								things indeed were really impossible.</p>


								<p>There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so

								she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another

								key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up

								like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it,

								('which certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round

								the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words 'DRINK

								ME' beautifully printed on it in large letters.</p>


								<p>It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little

								Alice was not going to do <i>that</i> in a hurry. 'No, I'll look

								first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked "<i>poison</i>" or

								not'; for she had read several nice little histories about

								children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other

								unpleasant things, all because they <i>would</i> not remember the

								simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a

								red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if

								you cut your finger <i>very</i> deeply with a knife, it usually

								bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from

								a bottle marked '<i>poison</i>,' it is almost certain to disagree

								with you, sooner or later.</p>


								<p>However, this bottle was <i>not</i> marked 'poison,' so Alice

								ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact,

								a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple,

								roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon

								finished it off.</p>


								<p class="asterisks">

								<br>

								*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*

								<br>

								*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*

								<br>

								*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*

								<br>

								</p>


								<p>'What a curious feeling!' said Alice; 'I must be shutting up

								like a telescope.'</p>


								<p>And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and

								her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right

								size for going through the little door into that lovely garden.

								First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was

								going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about

								this; 'for it might end, you know,' said Alice to herself, 'in my

								going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be

								like then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is

								like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember

								ever having seen such a thing.</p>


								<p>After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided

								on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when

								she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little

								golden key, and when she went back to the table for it, she found

								she could not possibly reach it: she could see it quite plainly

								through the glass, and she tried her best to climb up one of the

								legs of the table, but it was too slippery; and when she had

								tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and

								cried.</p>


								<p>'Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to

								herself, rather sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!'

								She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very

								seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so

								severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered

								trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game

								of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious

								child was very fond of pretending to be two people. 'But it's no

								use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to pretend to be two people! Why,

								there's hardly enough of me left to make <i>one</i> respectable

								person!'</p>


								<p>Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under

								the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on

								which the words 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants.

								'Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, 'and if it makes me grow larger,

								I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep

								under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I

								don't care which happens!'</p>


								<p>She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 'Which

								way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel

								which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find

								that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally

								happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the

								way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen,

								that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the

								common way.</p>


								<p>So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.</p>


								<p class="asterisks">

								<br>

								*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*

								<br>

								*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*

								<br>

								*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;*

								<br>

								</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER II</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">The Pool of Tears</h3>


								<p>'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much

								surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good

								English); 'now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that

								ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her feet,

								they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far

								off). 'Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your

								shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure <i>I</i> shan't

								be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself

								about you: you must manage the best way you can; --but I must be

								kind to them,' thought Alice, 'or perhaps they won't walk the way

								I want to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots

								every Christmas.'</p>


								<p>And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it.

								'They must go by the carrier,' she thought; 'and how funny it'll

								seem, sending presents to one's own feet! And how odd the

								directions will look!</p>


								<blockquote><i>ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.</i>

								<p><i>HEARTHRUG,</i></p>


								<p><i>NEAR THE FENDER,</i></p>


								<p><i>(WITH ALICE'S LOVE).</i></p>

								</blockquote>


								<p>Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'</p>


								<p>Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in

								fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took

								up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.</p>


								<p>Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one

								side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get

								through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to

								cry again.</p>


								<p>'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, 'a great

								girl like you,' (she might well say this), 'to go on crying in

								this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the

								same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all

								round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the

								hall.</p>


								<p>After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the

								distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming.

								It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a

								pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the

								other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to

								himself as he came, 'Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh!

								<i>won't</i> she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt

								so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when

								the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, 'If

								you please, sir--' The Rabbit started violently, dropped the

								white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness

								as hard as he could go.</p>


								<p>Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very

								hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking:

								'Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things

								went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the

								night? Let me think: <i>was</i> I the same when I got up this

								morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little

								different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in

								the world am I? Ah, <i>that's</i> the great puzzle!' And she

								began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the

								same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for

								any of them.</p>


								<p>'I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, 'for her hair goes in such

								long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm

								sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she,

								oh! she knows such a very little! Besides, <i>she's</i> she, and

								<i>I'm</i> I, and--oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I

								know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five

								is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven

								is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However,

								the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography.

								London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome,

								and Rome--no, <i>that's</i> all wrong, I'm certain! I must have

								been changed for Mabel! I'll try and say "<i>How doth the

								little--</i>"' and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she

								were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice

								sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same

								as they used to do:--</p>


								<blockquote><i>'How doth the little crocodile</i>

								<p><i>Improve his shining tail,</i></p>


								<p><i>And pour the waters of the Nile</i></p>


								<p><i>On every golden scale!</i></p>


								<p><i><br>

								'How cheerfully he seems to grin,</i></p>


								<p><i>How neatly spread his claws,</i></p>


								<p><i>And welcome little fishes in</i></p>


								<p><i>With gently smiling jaws!</i>'</p>

								</blockquote>


								<p>'I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and

								her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, 'I must be Mabel

								after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little

								house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so

								many lessons to learn! No, I've made up my mind about it; if I'm

								Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no use their putting their

								heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I shall only look up

								and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like

								being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here till

								I'm somebody else"--but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden

								burst of tears, 'I do wish they <i>would</i> put their heads

								down! I am so <i>very</i> tired of being all alone here!'</p>


								<p>As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was

								surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little

								white kid gloves while she was talking. 'How <i>can</i> I have

								done that?' she thought. 'I must be growing small again.' She got

								up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found

								that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet

								high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that

								the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it

								hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.</p>


								<p>'That <i>was</i> a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal

								frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself

								still in existence; 'and now for the garden!' and she ran with

								all speed back to the little door: but, alas! the little door was

								shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass

								table as before, 'and things are worse than ever,' thought the

								poor child, 'for I never was so small as this before, never! And

								I declare it's too bad, that it is!'</p>


								<p>As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another

								moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first

								idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, 'and in that

								case I can go back by railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had

								been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general

								conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find

								a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in

								the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and

								behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that

								she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine

								feet high.</p>


								<p>'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam

								about, trying to find her way out. 'I shall be punished for it

								now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That

								<i>will</i> be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is

								queer to-day.'</p>


								<p>Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a

								little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at

								first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then

								she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that

								it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself.</p>


								<p>'Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, 'to speak to

								this mouse? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I

								should think very likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no

								harm in trying.' So she began: 'O Mouse, do you know the way out

								of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!'

								(Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse:

								she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having

								seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse--of a mouse--to a

								mouse--a mouse--O mouse!') The Mouse looked at her rather

								inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little

								eyes, but it said nothing.</p>


								<p>'Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; 'I

								daresay it's a French mouse, come over with William the

								Conqueror.' (For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no

								very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.) So she

								began again: 'Ou est ma chatte?' which was the first sentence in

								her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the

								water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. 'Oh, I beg your

								pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor

								animal's feelings. 'I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'</p>


								<p>'Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate

								voice. 'Would <i>you</i> like cats if you were me?'</p>


								<p>'Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: 'don't be

								angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I

								think you'd take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She

								is such a dear quiet thing,' Alice went on, half to herself, as

								she swam lazily about in the pool, 'and she sits purring so

								nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face--and

								she is such a nice soft thing to nurse--and she's such a capital

								one for catching mice--oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice again,

								for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt

								certain it must be really offended. 'We won't talk about her any

								more if you'd rather not.'</p>


								<p>'We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the

								end of his tail. 'As if I would talk on such a subject! Our

								family always <i>hated</i> cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't

								let me hear the name again!'</p>


								<p>'I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the

								subject of conversation. 'Are you--are you fond--of--of dogs?'

								The Mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly: 'There is

								such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you!

								A little bright-eyed terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly

								brown hair! And it'll fetch things when you throw them, and it'll

								sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things--I can't

								remember half of them--and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and

								he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He says it

								kills all the rats and--oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful

								tone, 'I'm afraid I've offended it again!' For the Mouse was

								swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a

								commotion in the pool as it went.</p>


								<p>So she called softly after it, 'Mouse dear! Do come back

								again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't

								like them!' When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam

								slowly back to her: its face was quite pale (with passion, Alice

								thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, 'Let us get to

								the shore, and then I'll tell you my history, and you'll

								understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.'</p>


								<p>It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded

								with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a

								Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious

								creatures. Alice led the way, and the whole party swam to the

								shore.</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER III</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale</h3>


								<p>They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the

								bank--the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their

								fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and

								uncomfortable.</p>


								<p>The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they

								had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed

								quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with

								them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had

								quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky,

								and would only say, 'I am older than you, and must know better';

								and this Alice would not allow without knowing how old it was,

								and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no

								more to be said.</p>


								<p>At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority

								among them, called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me!

								<i>I'll</i> soon make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once,

								in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her

								eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a

								bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.</p>


								<p>'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all

								ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you

								please! "William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the

								pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders,

								and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest.

								Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria--"'</p>


								<p>'Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver.</p>


								<p>'I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very

								politely: 'Did you speak?'</p>


								<p>'Not I!' said the Lory hastily.</p>


								<p>'I thought you did,' said the Mouse. '--I proceed. "Edwin and

								Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him:

								and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found

								it advisable--"'</p>


								<p>'Found <i>what</i>?' said the Duck.</p>


								<p>'Found <i>it</i>,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of

								course you know what "it" means.'</p>


								<p>'I know what "it" means well enough, when <i>I</i> find a

								thing,' said the Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The

								question is, what did the archbishop find?'</p>


								<p>The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on,

								'"--found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William

								and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was moderate.

								But the insolence of his Normans--" How are you getting on now,

								my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.</p>


								<p>'As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: 'it doesn't

								seem to dry me at all.'</p>


								<p>'In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, 'I

								move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more

								energetic remedies--'</p>


								<p>'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of

								half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do

								either!' And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some

								of the other birds tittered audibly.</p>


								<p>'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone,

								'was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a

								Caucus-race.'</p>


								<p>'What <i>is</i> a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she

								wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought

								that <i>somebody</i> ought to speak, and no one else seemed

								inclined to say anything.</p>


								<p>'Why,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do

								it.' (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some

								winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)</p>


								<p>First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ('the

								exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party

								were placed along the course, here and there. There was no 'One,

								two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked,

								and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know

								when the race was over. However, when they had been running half

								an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called

								out 'The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting,

								and asking, 'But who has won?'</p>


								<p>This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal

								of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed

								upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see

								Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in

								silence. At last the Dodo said, '<i>everybody</i> has won, and

								<i>all</i> must have prizes.'</p>


								<p>'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices

								asked.</p>


								<p>'Why, <i>she</i>, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice

								with one finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her,

								calling out in a confused way, 'Prizes! Prizes!'</p>


								<p>Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand

								in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt

								water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes.

								There was exactly one a-piece all round.</p>


								<p>'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the

								Mouse.</p>


								<p>'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have

								you got in your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice.</p>


								<p>'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.</p>


								<p>'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.</p>


								<p>Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo

								solemnly presented the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of

								this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short

								speech, they all cheered.</p>


								<p>Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked

								so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not

								think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble,

								looking as solemn as she could.</p>


								<p>The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise

								and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not

								taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on

								the back. However, it was over at last, and they sat down again

								in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them something more.</p>


								<p>'You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice,

								'and why it is you hate--C and D,' she added in a whisper, half

								afraid that it would be offended again.</p>


								<p>'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to

								Alice, and sighing.</p>


								<p>'It <i>is</i> a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with

								wonder at the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?' And she

								kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that

								her idea of the tale was something like this:--</p>


								<p>'Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, "Let us both

								go to law: I will prosecute <i>you</i>. --Come, I'll take no

								denial; We must have a trial: For really this morning I've

								nothing to do." Said the mouse to the cur, "Such a trial, dear

								Sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath." "I'll be

								judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury: "I'll try the whole

								cause, and condemn you to death."'</p>


								<p>'You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely.

								'What are you thinking of?'</p>


								<p>'I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: 'you had got to

								the fifth bend, I think?'</p>


								<p>'I had <i>not</i>!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very

								angrily.</p>


								<p>'A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and

								looking anxiously about her. 'Oh, do let me help to undo it!'</p>


								<p>'I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up

								and walking away. 'You insult me by talking such nonsense!'</p>


								<p>'I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. 'But you're so easily

								offended, you know!'</p>


								<p>The Mouse only growled in reply.</p>


								<p>'Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after

								it; and the others all joined in chorus, 'Yes, please do!' but

								the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little

								quicker.</p>


								<p>'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it

								was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of

								saying to her daughter 'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you

								never to lose <i>your</i> temper!' 'Hold your tongue, Ma!' said

								the young Crab, a little snappishly. 'You're enough to try the

								patience of an oyster!'</p>


								<p>'I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud,

								addressing nobody in particular. 'She'd soon fetch it back!'</p>


								<p>'And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?'

								said the Lory.</p>


								<p>Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about

								her pet: 'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for

								catching mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her

								after the birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at

								it!'</p>


								<p>This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party.

								Some of the birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began

								wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, 'I really must be

								getting home; the night-air doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary

								called out in a trembling voice to its children, 'Come away, my

								dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' On various pretexts

								they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.</p>


								<p>'I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a

								melancholy tone. 'Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm

								sure she's the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder

								if I shall ever see you any more!' And here poor Alice began to

								cry again, for she felt very lonely and low-spirited. In a little

								while, however, she again heard a little pattering of footsteps

								in the distance, and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the

								Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming back to finish his

								story.</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER IV</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill</h3>


								<p>It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and

								looking anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something;

								and she heard it muttering to itself 'The Duchess! The Duchess!

								Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed,

								as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where <i>can</i> I have dropped

								them, I wonder?' Alice guessed in a moment that it was looking

								for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, and she very

								good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were

								nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her

								swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and

								the little door, had vanished completely.</p>


								<p>Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about,

								and called out to her in an angry tone, 'Why, Mary Ann, what

								<i>are</i> you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me

								a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!' And Alice was so much

								frightened that she ran off at once in the direction it pointed

								to, without trying to explain the mistake it had made.</p>


								<p>'He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she

								ran. 'How surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd

								better take him his fan and gloves--that is, if I can find them.'

								As she said this, she came upon a neat little house, on the door

								of which was a bright brass plate with the name 'W. RABBIT'

								engraved upon it. She went in without knocking, and hurried

								upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann,

								and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and

								gloves.</p>


								<p>'How queer it seems,' Alice said to herself, 'to be going

								messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on

								messages next!' And she began fancying the sort of thing that

								would happen: '"Miss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready for

								your walk!" "Coming in a minute, nurse! But I've got to see that

								the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't think,' Alice went on,

								'that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it began ordering

								people about like that!'</p>


								<p>By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room

								with a table in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan

								and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the

								fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the

								room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the

								looking- glass. There was no label this time with the words

								'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her

								lips. 'I know <i>something</i> interesting is sure to happen,'

								she said to herself, 'whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll

								just see what this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow

								large again, for really I'm quite tired of being such a tiny

								little thing!'</p>


								<p>It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected:

								before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing

								against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being

								broken. She hastily put down the bottle, saying to herself

								'That's quite enough--I hope I shan't grow any more--As it is, I

								can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't drunk quite so

								much!'</p>


								<p>Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and

								growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another

								minute there was not even room for this, and she tried the effect

								of lying down with one elbow against the door, and the other arm

								curled round her head. Still she went on growing, and, as a last

								resource, she put one arm out of the window, and one foot up the

								chimney, and said to herself 'Now I can do no more, whatever

								happens. What <i>will</i> become of me?'</p>


								<p>Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its

								full effect, and she grew no larger: still it was very

								uncomfortable, and, as there seemed to be no sort of chance of

								her ever getting out of the room again, no wonder she felt

								unhappy.</p>


								<p>'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when

								one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered

								about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that

								rabbit-hole--and yet--and yet--it's rather curious, you know,

								this sort of life! I do wonder what <i>can</i> have happened to

								me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing

								never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There

								ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I

								grow up, I'll write one--but I'm grown up now,' she added in a

								sorrowful tone; 'at least there's no room to grow up any more

								<i>here</i>.'</p>


								<p>'But then,' thought Alice, 'shall I <i>never</i> get any older

								than I am now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old

								woman-- but then--always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I

								shouldn't like <i>that</i>!'</p>


								<p>'Oh, you foolish Alice!' she answered herself. 'How can you

								learn lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for you, and no

								room at all for any lesson-books!'</p>


								<p>And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other,

								and making quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few

								minutes she heard a voice outside, and stopped to listen.</p>


								<p>'Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice. 'Fetch me my gloves this

								moment!' Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs.

								Alice knew it was the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she

								trembled till she shook the house, quite forgetting that she was

								now about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit, and had no

								reason to be afraid of it.</p>


								<p>Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open

								it; but, as the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was

								pressed hard against it, that attempt proved a failure. Alice

								heard it say to itself 'Then I'll go round and get in at the

								window.'</p>


								<p>'<i>That</i> you won't' thought Alice, and, after waiting till

								she fancied she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she

								suddenly spread out her hand, and made a snatch in the air. She

								did not get hold of anything, but she heard a little shriek and a

								fall, and a crash of broken glass, from which she concluded that

								it was just possible it had fallen into a cucumber-frame, or

								something of the sort.</p>


								<p>Next came an angry voice--the Rabbit's--'Pat! Pat! Where are

								you?' And then a voice she had never heard before, 'Sure then I'm

								here! Digging for apples, yer honour!'</p>


								<p>'Digging for apples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily. 'Here!

								Come and help me out of <i>this</i>!' (Sounds of more broken

								glass.)</p>


								<p>'Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?'</p>


								<p>'Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He pronounced it

								'arrum.')</p>


								<p>'An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills

								the whole window!'</p>


								<p>'Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.'</p>


								<p>'Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it

								away!'</p>


								<p>There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear

								whispers now and then; such as, 'Sure, I don't like it, yer

								honour, at all, at all!' 'Do as I tell you, you coward!' and at

								last she spread out her hand again, and made another snatch in

								the air. This time there were <i>two</i> little shrieks, and more

								sounds of broken glass. 'What a number of cucumber-frames there

								must be!' thought Alice. 'I wonder what they'll do next! As for

								pulling me out of the window, I only wish they <i>could</i>! I'm

								sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!'</p>


								<p>She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at

								last came a rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a

								good many voices all talking together: she made out the words:

								'Where's the other ladder?--Why, I hadn't to bring but one;

								Bill's got the other--Bill! fetch it here, lad!--Here, put 'em up

								at this corner--No, tie 'em together first--they don't reach half

								high enough yet--Oh! they'll do well enough; don't be

								particular-- Here, Bill! catch hold of this rope--Will the roof

								bear?--Mind that loose slate--Oh, it's coming down! Heads below!'

								(a loud crash)--'Now, who did that?--It was Bill, I fancy--Who's

								to go down the chimney?--Nay, I shan't! <i>you</i> do it!--That I

								won't, then!--Bill's to go down--Here, Bill! the master says

								you're to go down the chimney!'</p>


								<p>'Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?' said

								Alice to herself. 'Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I

								wouldn't be in Bill's place for a good deal: this fireplace is

								narrow, to be sure; but I <i>think</i> I can kick a little!'</p>


								<p>She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and

								waited till she heard a little animal (she couldn't guess of what

								sort it was) scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close

								above her: then, saying to herself 'This is Bill,' she gave one

								sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen next.</p>


								<p>The first thing she heard was a general chorus of 'There goes

								Bill!' then the Rabbit's voice along--'Catch him, you by the

								hedge!' then silence, and then another confusion of voices--'Hold

								up his head--Brandy now--Don't choke him--How was it, old fellow?

								What happened to you? Tell us all about it!'</p>


								<p>Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, ('That's Bill,'

								thought Alice,) 'Well, I hardly know--No more, thank ye; I'm

								better now--but I'm a deal too flustered to tell you--all I know

								is, something comes at me like a Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes

								like a sky-rocket!'</p>


								<p>'So you did, old fellow!' said the others.</p>


								<p>'We must burn the house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and

								Alice called out as loud as she could, 'If you do. I'll set Dinah

								at you!'</p>


								<p>There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to

								herself, 'I wonder what they <i>will</i> do next! If they had any

								sense, they'd take the roof off.' After a minute or two, they

								began moving about again, and Alice heard the Rabbit say, 'A

								barrowful will do, to begin with.'</p>


								<p>'A barrowful of <i>what</i>?' thought Alice; but she had not

								long to doubt, for the next moment a shower of little pebbles

								came rattling in at the window, and some of them hit her in the

								face. 'I'll put a stop to this,' she said to herself, and shouted

								out, 'You'd better not do that again!' which produced another

								dead silence.</p>


								<p>Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all

								turning into little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright

								idea came into her head. 'If I eat one of these cakes,' she

								thought, 'it's sure to make <i>some</i> change in my size; and as

								it can't possibly make me larger, it must make me smaller, I

								suppose.'</p>


								<p>So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find

								that she began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small

								enough to get through the door, she ran out of the house, and

								found quite a crowd of little animals and birds waiting outside.

								The poor little Lizard, Bill, was in the middle, being held up by

								two guinea-pigs, who were giving it something out of a bottle.

								They all made a rush at Alice the moment she appeared; but she

								ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself safe in a

								thick wood.</p>


								<p>'The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as

								she wandered about in the wood, 'is to grow to my right size

								again; and the second thing is to find my way into that lovely

								garden. I think that will be the best plan.'</p>


								<p>It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and

								simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the

								smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering

								about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over

								her head made her look up in a great hurry.</p>


								<p>An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round

								eyes, and feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her.

								'Poor little thing!' said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried

								hard to whistle to it; but she was terribly frightened all the

								time at the thought that it might be hungry, in which case it

								would be very likely to eat her up in spite of all her

								coaxing.</p>


								<p>Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of

								stick, and held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped

								into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight,

								and rushed at the stick, and made believe to worry it; then Alice

								dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from being run

								over; and the moment she appeared on the other side, the puppy

								made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in

								its hurry to get hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was very

								like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every

								moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle

								again; then the puppy began a series of short charges at the

								stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long

								way back, and barking hoarsely all the while, till at last it sat

								down a good way off, panting, with its tongue hanging out of its

								mouth, and its great eyes half shut.</p>


								<p>This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape;

								so she set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out

								of breath, and till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the

								distance.</p>


								<p>'And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she

								leant against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself

								with one of the leaves: 'I should have liked teaching it tricks

								very much, if--if I'd only been the right size to do it! Oh dear!

								I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again! Let me

								see--how <i>is</i> it to be managed? I suppose I ought to eat or drink

								something or other; but the great question is, what?'</p>


								<p>The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round

								her at the flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see

								anything that looked like the right thing to eat or drink under

								the circumstances. There was a large mushroom growing near her,

								about the same height as herself; and when she had looked under

								it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to her

								that she might as well look and see what was on the top of

								it.</p>


								<p>She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge

								of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large

								caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded,

								quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice

								of her or of anything else.</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER V</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">Advice from a Caterpillar</h3>


								<p>The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time

								in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its

								mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.</p>


								<p>'Who are <i>you</i>?' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice

								replied, rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--

								at least I know who I <i>was</i> when I got up this morning, but I think

								I must have been changed several times since then.'</p>


								<p>'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly.

								'Explain yourself!'</p>


								<p>'I can't explain <i>myself</i>, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice,

								'because I'm not myself, you see.'</p>


								<p>'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very

								politely, 'for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and

								being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.'</p>


								<p>'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; 'but

								when you have to turn into a chrysalis--you will some day, you

								know--and then after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll

								feel it a little queer, won't you?'</p>


								<p>'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice;

								'all I know is, it would feel very queer to <i>me</i>.'</p>


								<p>'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. 'Who are

								<i>you</i>?'</p>


								<p>Which brought them back again to the beginning of the

								conversation. Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's

								making such <i>very</i> short remarks, and she drew herself up

								and said, very gravely, 'I think, you ought to tell me who

								<i>you</i> are, first.'</p>


								<p>'Why?' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not

								think of any good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in

								a <i>very</i> unpleasant state of mind, she turned away.</p>


								<p>'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something

								important to say!'</p>


								<p>This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back

								again.</p>


								<p>'Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well

								as she could.</p>


								<p>'No,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else

								to do, and perhaps after all it might tell her something worth

								hearing. For some minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at

								last it unfolded its arms, took the hookah out of its mouth

								again, and said, 'So you think you're changed, do you?'</p>


								<p>'I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; 'I can't remember things

								as I used--and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes

								together!'</p>


								<p>'Can't remember <i>what</i> things?' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'Well, I've tried to say "<i>How doth the little busy

								bee,</i>" but it all came different!' Alice replied in a very

								melancholy voice.</p>


								<p>'Repeat, "<i>you are old, Father William,</i>"' said the

								Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>Alice folded her hands, and began:--</p>


								<p><i>'You are old, Father William,' the young man said, 'And

								your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on

								your head-- Do you think, at your age, it is right?'</i></p>


								<p><i>'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son, 'I feared

								it might injure the brain; But, now that I'm perfectly sure I

								have none, Why, I do it again and again.'</i></p>


								<p><i>'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before, And

								have grown most uncommonly fat; Yet you turned a back-somersault

								in at the door-- Pray, what is the reason of that?'</i></p>


								<p><i>'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,

								'I kept all my limbs very supple By the use of this ointment--one

								shilling the box-- Allow me to sell you a couple?'</i></p>


								<p><i>'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak

								For anything tougher than suet; Yet you finished the goose, with

								the bones and the beak-- Pray how did you manage to do

								it?'</i></p>


								<p><i>'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law, And

								argued each case with my wife; And the muscular strength, which

								it gave to my jaw, Has lasted the rest of my life.'</i></p>


								<p><i>'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose

								That your eye was as steady as ever; Yet you balanced an eel on

								the end of your nose-- What made you so awfully clever?'</i></p>


								<p><i>'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,' Said

								his father; 'don't give yourself airs! Do you think I can listen

								all day to such stuff? Be off, or I'll kick you down

								stairs!'</i></p>


								<p>'That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'Not <i>quite</i> right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly;

								'some of the words have got altered.'</p>


								<p>'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar

								decidedly, and there was silence for some minutes.</p>


								<p>The Caterpillar was the first to speak.</p>


								<p>'What size do you want to be?' it asked.</p>


								<p>'Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied;

								'only one doesn't like changing so often, you know.'</p>


								<p>'I <i>don't</i> know,' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in

								her life before, and she felt that she was losing her temper.</p>


								<p>'Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar.</p>


								<p>'Well, I should like to be a <i>little</i> larger, sir, if you

								wouldn't mind,' said Alice: 'three inches is such a wretched

								height to be.'</p>


								<p>'It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar

								angrily, rearing itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three

								inches high).</p>


								<p>'But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous

								tone. And she thought of herself, 'I wish the creatures wouldn't

								be so easily offended!'</p>


								<p>'You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it

								put the hookah into its mouth and began smoking again.</p>


								<p>This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak

								again. In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of

								its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got

								down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely

								remarking as it went, 'One side will make you grow taller, and

								the other side will make you grow shorter.'</p>


								<p>'One side of <i>what</i>? The other side of <i>what</i>?'

								thought Alice to herself.</p>


								<p>'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had

								asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.</p>


								<p>Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a

								minute, trying to make out which were the two sides of it; and as

								it was perfectly round, she found this a very difficult question.

								However, at last she stretched her arms round it as far as they

								would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand.</p>


								<p>'And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a

								little of the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment

								she felt a violent blow underneath her chin: it had struck her

								foot!</p>


								<p>She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but

								she felt that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking

								rapidly; so she set to work at once to eat some of the other bit.

								Her chin was pressed so closely against her foot, that there was

								hardly room to open her mouth; but she did it at last, and

								managed to swallow a morsel of the lefthand bit.</p>


								<p align="Center">* * * * *</p>


								<p>'Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of

								delight, which changed into alarm in another moment, when she

								found that her shoulders were nowhere to be found: all she could

								see, when she looked down, was an immense length of neck, which

								seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leaves that lay

								far below her.</p>


								<p>'What <i>can</i> all that green stuff be?' said Alice. 'And

								where <i>have</i> my shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how

								is it I can't see you?' She was moving them about as she spoke,

								but no result seemed to follow, except a little shaking among the

								distant green leaves.</p>


								<p>As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her

								head, she tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted

								to find that her neck would bend about easily in any direction,

								like a serpent. She had just succeeded in curving it down into a

								graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which

								she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she

								had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a

								hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating

								her violently with its wings.</p>


								<p>'Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon.</p>


								<p>'I'm <i>not</i> a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. 'Let me

								alone!'</p>


								<p>'Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more

								subdued tone, and added with a kind of sob, 'I've tried every

								way, and nothing seems to suit them!'</p>


								<p>'I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said

								Alice.</p>


								<p>'I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've

								tried hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; 'but

								those serpents! There's no pleasing them!'</p>


								<p>Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no

								use in saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.</p>


								<p>'As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the

								Pigeon; 'but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and

								day! Why, I haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!'</p>


								<p>'I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was

								beginning to see its meaning.</p>


								<p>'And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,'

								continued the Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, 'and just as

								I was thinking I should be free of them at last, they must needs

								come wriggling down from the sky! Ugh, Serpent!'</p>


								<p>'But I'm <i>not</i> a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. 'I'm

								a--I'm a--'</p>


								<p>'Well! <i>what</i> are you?' said the Pigeon. 'I can see

								you're trying to invent something!'</p>


								<p>'I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she

								remembered the number of changes she had gone through that

								day.</p>


								<p>'A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the

								deepest contempt. 'I've seen a good many little girls in my time,

								but never <i>one</i> with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a

								serpent; and there's no use denying it. I suppose you'll be

								telling me next that you never tasted an egg!'</p>


								<p>'I <i>have</i> tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a

								very truthful child; 'but little girls eat eggs quite as much as

								serpents do, you know.'</p>


								<p>'I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; 'but if they do, why

								then they're a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'</p>


								<p>This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent

								for a minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of

								adding, 'You're looking for eggs, I know <i>that</i> well enough;

								and what does it matter to me whether you're a little girl or a

								serpent?'</p>


								<p>'It matters a good deal to <i>me</i>,' said Alice hastily;

								'but I'm not looking for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I

								shouldn't want <i>yours</i>: I don't like them raw.'</p>


								<p>'Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it

								settled down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the

								trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled

								among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and

								untwist it. After a while she remembered that she still held the

								pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very

								carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and

								growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had

								succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.</p>


								<p>It was so long since she had been anything near the right

								size, that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it

								in a few minutes, and began talking to herself, as usual. 'Come,

								there's half my plan done now! How puzzling all these changes

								are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to

								another! However, I've got back to my right size: the next thing

								is, to get into that beautiful garden--how <i>is</i> that to be

								done, I wonder?' As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open

								place, with a little house in it about four feet high. 'Whoever

								lives there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never do to come upon them

								<i>this</i> size: why, I should frighten them out of their wits!'

								So she began nibbling at the righthand bit again, and did not

								venture to go near the house till she had brought herself down to

								nine inches high.</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER VI</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">Pig and Pepper</h3>


								<p>For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and

								wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came

								running out of the wood--(she considered him to be a footman

								because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only,

								she would have called him a fish)--and rapped loudly at the door

								with his knuckles. It was opened by another footman in livery,

								with a round face, and large eyes like a frog; and both footmen,

								Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all over their

								heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about, and

								crept a little way out of the wood to listen.</p>


								<p>The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great

								letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to

								the other, saying, in a solemn tone, 'For the Duchess. An

								invitation from the Queen to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman

								repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the

								words a little, 'From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to

								play croquet.'</p>


								<p>Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled

								together.</p>


								<p>Alice laughed so much at this, that she had to run back into

								the wood for fear of their hearing her; and when she next peeped

								out the Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was sitting on the

								ground near the door, staring stupidly up into the sky.</p>


								<p>Alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked.</p>


								<p>'There's no sort of use in knocking,' said the Footman, 'and

								that for two reasons. First, because I'm on the same side of the

								door as you are; secondly, because they're making such a noise

								inside, no one could possibly hear you.' And certainly there was

								a most extraordinary noise going on within--a constant howling

								and sneezing, and every now and then a great crash, as if a dish

								or kettle had been broken to pieces.</p>


								<p>'Please, then,' said Alice, 'how am I to get in?'</p>


								<p>'There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went

								on without attending to her, 'if we had the door between us. For

								instance, if you were <i>inside</i>, you might knock, and I could

								let you out, you know.' He was looking up into the sky all the

								time he was speaking, and this Alice thought decidedly uncivil.

								'But perhaps he can't help it,' she said to herself; 'his eyes

								are so <i>very</i> nearly at the top of his head. But at any rate

								he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she repeated,

								aloud.</p>


								<p>'I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, 'till

								tomorrow--'</p>


								<p>At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate

								came skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just grazed

								his nose, and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind

								him.</p>


								<p>'--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same

								tone, exactly as if nothing had happened.</p>


								<p>'How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone.</p>


								<p>'<i>Are</i> you to get in at all?' said the Footman. 'That's

								the first question, you know.'</p>


								<p>It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so. 'It's

								really dreadful,' she muttered to herself, 'the way all the

								creatures argue. It's enough to drive one crazy!'</p>


								<p>The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for

								repeating his remark, with variations. 'I shall sit here,' he

								said, 'on and off, for days and days.'</p>


								<p>'But what am I to do?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began

								whistling.</p>


								<p>'Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice

								desperately: 'he's perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door

								and went in.</p>


								<p>The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of

								smoke from one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a

								three-legged stool in the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was

								leaning over the fire, stirring a large cauldron which seemed to

								be full of soup.</p>


								<p>'There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said

								to herself, as well as she could for sneezing.</p>


								<p>There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the

								Duchess sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was

								sneezing and howling alternately without a moment's pause. The

								only things in the kitchen that did not sneeze, were the cook,

								and a large cat which was sitting on the hearth and grinning from

								ear to ear.</p>


								<p>'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for

								she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to

								speak first, 'why your cat grins like that?'</p>


								<p>'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why.

								Pig!'</p>


								<p>She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice

								quite jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed

								to the baby, and not to her, so she took courage, and went on

								again:--</p>


								<p>'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I

								didn't know that cats <i>could</i> grin.'</p>


								<p>'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'</p>


								<p>'I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely,

								feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation.</p>


								<p>'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a

								fact.'</p>


								<p>Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought

								it would be as well to introduce some other subject of

								conversation. While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took

								the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work

								throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby

								--the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans,

								plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of them even when

								they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already, that it

								was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not.</p>


								<p>'Oh, <i>please</i> mind what you're doing!' cried Alice,

								jumping up and down in an agony of terror. 'Oh, there goes his

								<i>precious</i> nose'; as an unusually large saucepan flew close

								by it, and very nearly carried it off.</p>


								<p>'If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in

								a hoarse growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it

								does.'</p>


								<p>'Which would <i>not</i> be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt

								very glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her

								knowledge. 'Just think of what work it would make with the day

								and night! You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn

								round on its axis--'</p>


								<p>'Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, 'chop off her head!'</p>


								<p>Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she

								meant to take the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the

								soup, and seemed not to be listening, so she went on again:

								'Twenty-four hours, I <i>think</i>; or is it twelve? I--'</p>


								<p>'Oh, don't bother <i>me</i>,' said the Duchess; 'I never could abide

								figures!' And with that she began nursing her child again,

								singing a sort of lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a

								violent shake at the end of every line:</p>


								<p align="Center"><i>'Speak roughly to your little boy,</i></p>


								<p align="Center"><i>And beat him when he sneezes:</i></p>


								<p align="Center"><i>He only does it to annoy,</i></p>


								<p align="Center"><i>Because he knows it teases.'</i></p>


								<p align="Center">CHORUS</p>


								<p>(In which the cook and the baby joined):--</p>


								<p align="Center">'Wow! wow! wow!'</p>


								<p>While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept

								tossing the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing

								howled so, that Alice could hardly hear the words:--</p>


								<p align="Center"><i>'I speak severely to my boy,</i></p>


								<p align="Center"><i>I beat him when he sneezes;</i></p>


								<p align="Center"><i>For he can thoroughly enjoy</i></p>


								<p align="Center"><i>The pepper when he pleases!'</i></p>


								<p align="Center">CHORUS</p>


								<p align="Center">'Wow! wow! wow!'</p>


								<p>'Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said

								to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke. 'I must go and

								get ready to play croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of

								the room. The cook threw a frying-pan after her as she went out,

								but it just missed her.</p>


								<p>Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer-

								shaped little creature, and held out its arms and legs in all

								directions, 'just like a star-fish,' thought Alice. The poor

								little thing was snorting like a steam-engine when she caught it,

								and kept doubling itself up and straightening itself out again,

								so that altogether, for the first minute or two, it was as much

								as she could do to hold it.</p>


								<p>As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it,

								(which was to twist it up into a sort of knot, and then keep

								tight hold of its right ear and left foot, so as to prevent its

								undoing itself,) she carried it out into the open air. '<i>If</i>

								I don't take this child away with me,' thought Alice, 'they're

								sure to kill it in a day or two: wouldn't it be murder to leave

								it behind?' She said the last words out loud, and the little

								thing grunted in reply (it had left off sneezing by this time).

								'Don't grunt,' said Alice; 'that's not at all a proper way of

								expressing yourself.'</p>


								<p>The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into

								its face to see what was the matter with it. There could be no

								doubt that it had a <i>very</i> turn-up nose, much more like a

								snout than a real nose; also its eyes were getting extremely

								small for a baby: altogether Alice did not like the look of the

								thing at all. 'But perhaps it was only sobbing,' she thought, and

								looked into its eyes again, to see if there were any tears.</p>


								<p>No, there were no tears. 'If you're going to turn into a pig,

								my dear,' said Alice, seriously, 'I'll have nothing more to do

								with you. Mind now!' The poor little thing sobbed again (or

								grunted, it was impossible to say which), and they went on for

								some while in silence.</p>


								<p>Alice was just beginning to think to herself, 'Now, what am I

								to do with this creature when I get it home?' when it grunted

								again, so violently, that she looked down into its face in some

								alarm. This time there could be <i>no</i> mistake about it: it

								was neither more nor less than a pig, and she felt that it would

								be quite absurd for her to carry it further.</p>


								<p>So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved

								to see it trot away quietly into the wood. 'If it had grown up,'

								she said to herself, 'it would have made a dreadfully ugly child:

								but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think.' And she began

								thinking over other children she knew, who might do very well as

								pigs, and was just saying to herself, 'if one only knew the right

								way to change them--' when she was a little startled by seeing

								the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards

								off.</p>


								<p>The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-

								natured, she thought: still it had <i>very</i> long claws and a

								great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with

								respect.</p>


								<p>'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at

								all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned

								a little wider. 'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and

								she went on. 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go

								from here?'</p>


								<p>'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said

								the Cat.</p>


								<p>'I don't much care where--' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.</p>


								<p>'--so long as I get <i>somewhere</i>,' Alice added as an

								explanation.</p>


								<p>'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk

								long enough.'</p>


								<p>Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another

								question. 'What sort of people live about here?'</p>


								<p>'In <i>that</i> direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw

								round, 'lives a Hatter: and in <i>that</i> direction,' waving the

								other paw, 'lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're

								both mad.'</p>


								<p>'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.</p>


								<p>'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here.

								I'm mad. You're mad.'</p>


								<p>'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come

								here.'</p>


								<p>Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on

								'And how do you know that you're mad?'</p>


								<p>'To begin with,' said the Cat, 'a dog's not mad. You grant

								that?'</p>


								<p>'I suppose so,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when

								it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when

								I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm

								mad.'</p>


								<p>'I call it purring, not growling,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Call it what you like,' said the Cat. 'Do you play croquet

								with the Queen to-day?'</p>


								<p>'I should like it very much,' said Alice, 'but I haven't been

								invited yet.'</p>


								<p>'You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished.</p>


								<p>Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used

								to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place

								where it had been, it suddenly appeared again.</p>


								<p>'By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. 'I'd

								nearly forgotten to ask.'</p>


								<p>'It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had

								come back in a natural way.</p>


								<p>'I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again.</p>


								<p>Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it

								did not appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the

								direction in which the March Hare was said to live. 'I've seen

								hatters before,' she said to herself; 'the March Hare will be

								much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be

								raving mad--at least not so mad as it was in March.' As she said

								this, she looked up, and there was the Cat again, sitting on a

								branch of a tree.</p>


								<p>'Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat.</p>


								<p>'I said pig,' replied Alice; 'and I wish you wouldn't keep

								appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite

								giddy.'</p>


								<p>'All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite

								slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the

								grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.</p>


								<p>'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice;

								'but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw

								in my life!'</p>


								<p>She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the

								house of the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house,

								because the chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was

								thatched with fur. It was so large a house, that she did not like

								to go nearer till she had nibbled some more of the lefthand bit

								of mushroom, and raised herself to about two feet high: even then

								she walked up towards it rather timidly, saying to herself

								'Suppose it should be raving mad after all! I almost wish I'd

								gone to see the Hatter instead!'</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER VII</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">A Mad Tea-Party</h3>


								<p>There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house,

								and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a

								Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two

								were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and

								talking over its head. 'Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,'

								thought Alice; 'only, as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't

								mind.'</p>


								<p>The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded

								together at one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried out

								when they saw Alice coming. 'There's <i>plenty</i> of room!' said

								Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one

								end of the table.</p>


								<p>'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging

								tone.</p>


								<p>Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it

								but tea. 'I don't see any wine,' she remarked.</p>


								<p>'There isn't any,' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>'Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice

								angrily.</p>


								<p>'It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being

								invited,' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>'I didn't know it was <i>your</i> table,' said Alice; 'it's

								laid for a great many more than three.'</p>


								<p>'Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been

								looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was

								his first speech.</p>


								<p>'You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said

								with some severity; 'it's very rude.'</p>


								<p>The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all

								he <i>said</i> was, 'Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'</p>


								<p>'Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad

								they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she

								added aloud.</p>


								<p>'Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to

								it?' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>'Exactly so,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went

								on.</p>


								<p>'I do,' Alice hastily replied; 'at least--at least I mean what

								I say--that's the same thing, you know.'</p>


								<p>'Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. 'You might just

								as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat

								what I see"!'</p>


								<p>'You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, 'that "I

								like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'</p>


								<p>'You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed

								to be talking in his sleep, 'that "I breathe when I sleep" is the

								same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'</p>


								<p>'It <i>is</i> the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and

								here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a

								minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about

								ravens and writing-desks, which wasn't much.</p>


								<p>The Hatter was the first to break the silence. 'What day of

								the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his

								watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking

								it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.</p>


								<p>Alice considered a little, and then said 'The fourth.'</p>


								<p>'Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. 'I told you butter

								wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March

								Hare.</p>


								<p>'It was the <i>best</i> butter,' the March Hare meekly

								replied.</p>


								<p>'Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter

								grumbled: 'you shouldn't have put it in with the

								bread-knife.'</p>


								<p>The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then

								he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he

								could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, 'It

								was the <i>best</i> butter, you know.'</p>


								<p>Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity.

								'What a funny watch!' she remarked. 'It tells the day of the

								month, and doesn't tell what o'clock it is!'</p>


								<p>'Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. 'Does <i>your</i> watch

								tell you what year it is?'</p>


								<p>'Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: 'but that's

								because it stays the same year for such a long time

								together.'</p>


								<p>'Which is just the case with <i>mine</i>,' said the

								Hatter.</p>


								<p>Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to

								have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English.

								'I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she

								could.</p>


								<p>'The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured

								a little hot tea upon its nose.</p>


								<p>The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without

								opening its eyes, 'Of course, of course; just what I was going to

								remark myself.'</p>


								<p>'Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to

								Alice again.</p>


								<p>'No, I give it up,' Alice replied: 'what's the answer?'</p>


								<p>'I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.</p>


								<p>'Nor I,' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>Alice sighed wearily. 'I think you might do something better

								with the time,' she said, 'than waste it in asking riddles that

								have no answers.'</p>


								<p>'If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, 'you

								wouldn't talk about wasting <i>it</i>. It's <i>him</i>.'</p>


								<p>'I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head

								contemptuously. 'I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'</p>


								<p>'Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: 'but I know I have to

								beat time when I learn music.'</p>


								<p>'Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. 'He won't stand

								beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do

								almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose

								it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons:

								you'd only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the

								clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!'</p>


								<p>('I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a

								whisper.)</p>


								<p>'That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully:

								'but then--I shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.'</p>


								<p>'Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: 'but you could keep

								it to half-past one as long as you liked.'</p>


								<p>'Is that the way <i>you</i> manage?' Alice asked.</p>


								<p>The Hatter shook his head mournfully. 'Not I!' he replied. 'We

								quarrelled last March--just before <i>he</i> went mad, you

								know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) '--it

								was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had

								to sing</p>


								<p><i>"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!</i></p>


								<p><i>How I wonder what you're at!"</i></p>


								<p>You know the song, perhaps?'</p>


								<p>'I've heard something like it,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, 'in this

								way:--</p>


								<p><i>"Up above the world you fly,</i></p>


								<p><i>Like a tea-tray in the sky.</i></p>


								<p><i>Twinkle, twinkle--"'</i></p>


								<p>Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep

								'<i>Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--</i>' and went on so long

								that they had to pinch it to make it stop.</p>


								<p>'Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter,

								'when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the

								time! Off with his head!"'</p>


								<p>'How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice.</p>


								<p>'And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone,

								'he won't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.'</p>


								<p>A bright idea came into Alice's head. 'Is that the reason so

								many tea-things are put out here?' she asked.</p>


								<p>'Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: 'it's always

								tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between

								whiles.'</p>


								<p>'Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Exactly so,' said the Hatter: 'as the things get used

								up.'</p>


								<p>'But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice

								ventured to ask.</p>


								<p>'Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted,

								yawning. 'I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells

								us a story.'</p>


								<p>'I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at

								the proposal.</p>


								<p>'Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. 'Wake up,

								Dormouse!' And they pinched it on both sides at once.</p>


								<p>The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes. 'I wasn't asleep,' he

								said in a hoarse, feeble voice: 'I heard every word you fellows

								were saying.'</p>


								<p>'Tell us a story!' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>'Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice.</p>


								<p>'And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, 'or you'll be

								asleep again before it's done.'</p>


								<p>'Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the

								Dormouse began in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie,

								Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--'</p>


								<p>'What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great

								interest in questions of eating and drinking.</p>


								<p>'They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a

								minute or two.</p>


								<p>'They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently

								remarked; 'they'd have been ill.'</p>


								<p>'So they were,' said the Dormouse; '<i>very</i> ill.'</p>


								<p>Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary

								ways of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she

								went on: 'But why did they live at the bottom of a well?'</p>


								<p>'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very

								earnestly.</p>


								<p>'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so

								I can't take more.'</p>


								<p>'You mean you can't take <i>less</i>,' said the Hatter: 'it's

								very easy to take <i>more</i> than nothing.'</p>


								<p>'Nobody asked <i>your</i> opinion,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked

								triumphantly.</p>


								<p>Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped

								herself to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the

								Dormouse, and repeated her question. 'Why did they live at the

								bottom of a well?'</p>


								<p>The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and

								then said, 'It was a treacle-well.'</p>


								<p>'There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but

								the Hatter and the March Hare went 'Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse

								sulkily remarked, 'If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the

								story for yourself.'</p>


								<p>'No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; 'I won't interrupt

								again. I dare say there may be <i>one</i>.'</p>


								<p>'One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he

								consented to go on. 'And so these three little sisters--they were

								learning to draw, you know--'</p>


								<p>'What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her

								promise.</p>


								<p>'Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this

								time.</p>


								<p>'I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: 'let's all move

								one place on.'</p>


								<p>He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the

								March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather

								unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the

								only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice was a

								good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset

								the milk-jug into his plate.</p>


								<p>Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began

								very cautiously: 'But I don't understand. Where did they draw the

								treacle from?'</p>


								<p>'You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; 'so

								I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh,

								stupid?'</p>


								<p>'But they were <i>in</i> the well,' Alice said to the

								Dormouse, not choosing to notice this last remark.</p>


								<p>'Of course they were', said the Dormouse; '--well in.'</p>


								<p>This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse

								go on for some time without interrupting it.</p>


								<p>'They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning

								and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; 'and they

								drew all manner of things--everything that begins with an

								M--'</p>


								<p>'Why with an M?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Why not?' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>Alice was silent.</p>


								<p>The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going

								off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up

								again with a little shriek, and went on: '--that begins with an

								M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness--

								you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever

								see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?'</p>


								<p>'Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, 'I

								don't think--'</p>


								<p>'Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.</p>


								<p>This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got

								up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep

								instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her

								going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that

								they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were

								trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.</p>


								<p>'At any rate I'll never go <i>there</i> again!' said Alice as

								she picked her way through the wood. 'It's the stupidest

								tea-party I ever was at in all my life!'</p>


								<p>Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a

								door leading right into it. 'That's very curious!' she thought.

								'But everything's curious today. I think I may as well go in at

								once.' And in she went.</p>


								<p>Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the

								little glass table. 'Now, I'll manage better this time,' she said

								to herself, and began by taking the little golden key, and

								unlocking the door that led into the garden. Then she went to

								work nibbling at the mushroom (she had kept a piece of it in her

								pocket) till she was about a foot high: then she walked down the

								little passage: and <i>then</i>--she found herself at last in the

								beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool

								fountains.</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER VIII</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">The Queen's Croquet-Ground</h3>


								<p>A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the

								roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at

								it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious

								thing, and she went nearer to watch them, and just as she came up

								to them she heard one of them say, 'Look out now, Five! Don't go

								splashing paint over me like that!'</p>


								<p>'I couldn't help it,' said Five, in a sulky tone; 'Seven

								jogged my elbow.'</p>


								<p>On which Seven looked up and said, 'That's right, Five! Always

								lay the blame on others!'</p>


								<p><i>You'd</i> better not talk!' said Five. 'I heard the Queen

								say only yesterday you deserved to be beheaded!'</p>


								<p>'What for?' said the one who had spoken first.</p>


								<p>'That's none of <i>your</i> business, Two!' said Seven.</p>


								<p>'Yes, it <i>is</i> his business!' said Five, 'and I'll tell

								him--it was for bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of

								onions.'</p>


								<p>Seven flung down his brush, and had just begun 'Well, of all

								the unjust things--' when his eye chanced to fall upon Alice, as

								she stood watching them, and he checked himself suddenly: the

								others looked round also, and all of them bowed low.</p>


								<p>'Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, 'why you

								are painting those roses?'</p>


								<p>Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a

								low voice, 'Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to

								have been a <i>red</i> rose-tree, and we put a white one in by

								mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have

								our heads cut off, you know. So you see, Miss, we're doing our

								best, afore she comes, to--' At this moment Five, who had been

								anxiously looking across the garden, called out 'The Queen! The

								Queen!' and the three gardeners instantly threw themselves flat

								upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps, and Alice

								looked round, eager to see the Queen.</p>


								<p>First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped

								like the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and

								feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were

								ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the

								soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten

								of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in

								hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came

								the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice

								recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous

								manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without

								noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the

								King's crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this

								grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS.</p>


								<p>Alice was rather doubtful whether she ought not to lie down on

								her face like the three gardeners, but she could not remember

								ever having heard of such a rule at processions; 'and besides,

								what would be the use of a procession,' thought she, 'if people

								had all to lie down upon their faces, so that they couldn't see

								it?' So she stood still where she was, and waited.</p>


								<p>When the procession came opposite to Alice, they all stopped

								and looked at her, and the Queen said severely 'Who is this?' She

								said it to the Knave of Hearts, who only bowed and smiled in

								reply.</p>


								<p>'Idiot!' said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently; and,

								turning to Alice, she went on, 'What's your name, child?'</p>


								<p>'My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,' said Alice very

								politely; but she added, to herself, 'Why, they're only a pack of

								cards, after all. I needn't be afraid of them!'</p>


								<p>'And who are <i>these</i>?' said the Queen, pointing to the

								three gardeners who were lying round the rosetree; for, you see,

								as they were lying on their faces, and the pattern on their backs

								was the same as the rest of the pack, she could not tell whether

								they were gardeners, or soldiers, or courtiers, or three of her

								own children.</p>


								<p>'How should I know?' said Alice, surprised at her own courage.

								'It's no business of <i>mine</i>.'</p>


								<p>The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her

								for a moment like a wild beast, screamed 'Off with her head!

								Off--'</p>


								<p>'Nonsense!' said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the

								Queen was silent.</p>


								<p>The King laid his hand upon her arm, and timidly said

								'Consider, my dear: she is only a child!'</p>


								<p>The Queen turned angrily away from him, and said to the Knave

								'Turn them over!'</p>


								<p>The Knave did so, very carefully, with one foot.</p>


								<p>'Get up!' said the Queen, in a shrill, loud voice, and the

								three gardeners instantly jumped up, and began bowing to the

								King, the Queen, the royal children, and everybody else.</p>


								<p>'Leave off that!' screamed the Queen. 'You make me giddy.' And

								then, turning to the rose-tree, she went on, 'What <i>have</i>

								you been doing here?'</p>


								<p>'May it please your Majesty,' said Two, in a very humble tone,

								going down on one knee as he spoke, 'we were trying--'</p>


								<p>'I see!' said the Queen, who had meanwhile been examining the

								roses. 'Off with their heads!' and the procession moved on, three

								of the soldiers remaining behind to execute the unfortunate

								gardeners, who ran to Alice for protection.</p>


								<p>'You shan't be beheaded!' said Alice, and she put them into a

								large flower-pot that stood near. The three soldiers wandered

								about for a minute or two, looking for them, and then quietly

								marched off after the others.</p>


								<p>'Are their heads off?' shouted the Queen.</p>


								<p>'Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty!' the

								soldiers shouted in reply.</p>


								<p>'That's right!' shouted the Queen. 'Can you play croquet?'</p>


								<p>The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question

								was evidently meant for her.</p>


								<p>'Yes!' shouted Alice.</p>


								<p>'Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the

								procession, wondering very much what would happen next.</p>


								<p>'It's--it's a very fine day!' said a timid voice at her side.

								She was walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously

								into her face.</p>


								<p>'Very,' said Alice: '--where's the Duchess?'</p>


								<p>'Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He

								looked anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised

								himself upon tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and

								whispered 'She's under sentence of execution.'</p>


								<p>'What for?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked.</p>


								<p>'No, I didn't,' said Alice: 'I don't think it's at all a pity.

								I said "What for?"'</p>


								<p>'She boxed the Queen's ears--' the Rabbit began. Alice gave a

								little scream of laughter. 'Oh, hush!' the Rabbit whispered in a

								frightened tone. 'The Queen will hear you! You see, she came

								rather late, and the Queen said--'</p>


								<p>'Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder,

								and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up

								against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or

								two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a

								curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and

								furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live

								flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to

								stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.</p>


								<p>The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her

								flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away,

								comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down,

								but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened

								out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it

								<i>would</i> twist itself round and look up in her face, with

								such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out

								laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to

								begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had

								unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all

								this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever

								she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up

								soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of

								the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very

								difficult game indeed.</p>


								<p>The players all played at once without waiting for turns,

								quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in

								a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went

								stamping about, and shouting 'Off with his head!' or 'Off with

								her head!' about once in a minute.</p>


								<p>Alice began to feel very uneasy: to be sure, she had not as

								yet had any dispute with the Queen, but she knew that it might

								happen any minute, 'and then,' thought she, 'what would become of

								me? They're dreadfully fond of beheading people here; the great

								wonder is, that there's any one left alive!'</p>


								<p>She was looking about for some way of escape, and wondering

								whether she could get away without being seen, when she noticed a

								curious appearance in the air: it puzzled her very much at first,

								but, after watching it a minute or two, she made it out to be a

								grin, and she said to herself 'It's the Cheshire Cat: now I shall

								have somebody to talk to.'</p>


								<p>'How are you getting on?' said the Cat, as soon as there was

								mouth enough for it to speak with.</p>


								<p>Alice waited till the eyes appeared, and then nodded. 'It's no

								use speaking to it,' she thought, 'till its ears have come, or at

								least one of them.' In another minute the whole head appeared,

								and then Alice put down her flamingo, and began an account of the

								game, feeling very glad she had someone to listen to her. The Cat

								seemed to think that there was enough of it now in sight, and no

								more of it appeared.</p>


								<p>'I don't think they play at all fairly,' Alice began, in

								rather a complaining tone, 'and they all quarrel so dreadfully

								one can't hear oneself speak--and they don't seem to have any

								rules in particular; at least, if there are, nobody attends to

								them--and you've no idea how confusing it is all the things being

								alive; for instance, there's the arch I've got to go through next

								walking about at the other end of the ground--and I should have

								croqueted the Queen's hedgehog just now, only it ran away when it

								saw mine coming!'</p>


								<p>'How do you like the Queen?' said the Cat in a low voice.</p>


								<p>'Not at all,' said Alice: 'she's so extremely--' Just then she

								noticed that the Queen was close behind her, listening: so she

								went on, '--likely to win, that it's hardly worth while finishing

								the game.'</p>


								<p>The Queen smiled and passed on.</p>


								<p>'Who <i>are</i> you talking to?' said the King, going up to

								Alice, and looking at the Cat's head with great curiosity.</p>


								<p>'It's a friend of mine--a Cheshire Cat,' said Alice: 'allow me

								to introduce it.'</p>


								<p>'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however,

								it may kiss my hand if it likes.'</p>


								<p>'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.</p>


								<p>'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me

								like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.</p>


								<p>'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice. 'I've read that in

								some book, but I don't remember where.'</p>


								<p>'Well, it must be removed,' said the King very decidedly, and

								he called the Queen, who was passing at the moment, 'My dear! I

								wish you would have this cat removed!'</p>


								<p>The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great

								or small. 'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking

								round.</p>


								<p>'I'll fetch the executioner myself,' said the King eagerly,

								and he hurried off.</p>


								<p>Alice thought she might as well go back, and see how the game

								was going on, as she heard the Queen's voice in the distance,

								screaming with passion. She had already heard her sentence three

								of the players to be executed for having missed their turns, and

								she did not like the look of things at all, as the game was in

								such confusion that she never knew whether it was her turn or

								not. So she went in search of her hedgehog.</p>


								<p>The hedgehog was engaged in a fight with another hedgehog,

								which seemed to Alice an excellent opportunity for croqueting one

								of them with the other: the only difficulty was, that her

								flamingo was gone across to the other side of the garden, where

								Alice could see it trying in a helpless sort of way to fly up

								into a tree.</p>


								<p>By the time she had caught the flamingo and brought it back,

								the fight was over, and both the hedgehogs were out of sight:

								'but it doesn't matter much,' thought Alice, 'as all the arches

								are gone from this side of the ground.' So she tucked it away

								under her arm, that it might not escape again, and went back for

								a little more conversation with her friend.</p>


								<p>When she got back to the Cheshire Cat, she was surprised to

								find quite a large crowd collected round it: there was a dispute

								going on between the executioner, the King, and the Queen, who

								were all talking at once, while all the rest were quite silent,

								and looked very uncomfortable.</p>


								<p>The moment Alice appeared, she was appealed to by all three to

								settle the question, and they repeated their arguments to her,

								though, as they all spoke at once, she found it very hard indeed

								to make out exactly what they said.</p>


								<p>The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a

								head unless there was a body to cut it off from: that he had

								never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn't going to begin

								at <i>his</i> time of life.</p>


								<p>The King's argument was, that anything that had a head could

								be beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense.</p>


								<p>The Queen's argument was, that if something wasn't done about

								it in less than no time she'd have everybody executed, all round.

								(It was this last remark that had made the whole party look so

								grave and anxious.)</p>


								<p>Alice could think of nothing else to say but 'It belongs to

								the Duchess: you'd better ask <i>her</i> about it.'</p>


								<p>'She's in prison,' the Queen said to the executioner: 'fetch

								her here.' And the executioner went off like an arrow.</p>


								<p>The Cat's head began fading away the moment he was gone, and,

								by the time he had come back with the Duchess, it had entirely

								disappeared; so the King and the executioner ran wildly up and

								down looking for it, while the rest of the party went back to the

								game.</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER IX</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">The Mock Turtle's Story</h3>


								<p>'You can't think how glad I am to see you again, you dear old

								thing!' said the Duchess, as she tucked her arm affectionately

								into Alice's, and they walked off together.</p>


								<p>Alice was very glad to find her in such a pleasant temper, and

								thought to herself that perhaps it was only the pepper that had

								made her so savage when they met in the kitchen.</p>


								<p>'When <i>I'm</i> a Duchess,' she said to herself, (not in a

								very hopeful tone though), 'I won't have any pepper in my kitchen

								<i>at all</i>. Soup does very well without--Maybe it's always

								pepper that makes people hot-tempered,' she went on, very much

								pleased at having found out a new kind of rule, 'and vinegar that

								makes them sour--and camomile that makes them bitter--and--and

								barley-sugar and such things that make children sweet-tempered. I

								only wish people knew that: then they wouldn't be so stingy about

								it, you know--'</p>


								<p>She had quite forgotten the Duchess by this time, and was a

								little startled when she heard her voice close to her ear.

								'You're thinking about something, my dear, and that makes you

								forget to talk. I can't tell you just now what the moral of that

								is, but I shall remember it in a bit.'</p>


								<p>'Perhaps it hasn't one,' Alice ventured to remark.</p>


								<p>'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a

								moral, if only you can find it.' And she squeezed herself up

								closer to Alice's side as she spoke.</p>


								<p>Alice did not much like keeping so close to her: first,

								because the Duchess was <i>very</i> ugly; and secondly, because she was

								exactly the right height to rest her chin upon Alice's shoulder,

								and it was an uncomfortably sharp chin. However, she did not like

								to be rude, so she bore it as well as she could.</p>


								<p>'The game's going on rather better now,' she said, by way of

								keeping up the conversation a little.</p>


								<p>''Tis so,' said the Duchess: 'and the moral of that is--"Oh,

								'tis love, 'tis love, that makes the world go round!"'</p>


								<p>'Somebody said,' Alice whispered, 'that it's done by everybody

								minding their own business!'</p>


								<p>'Ah, well! It means much the same thing,' said the Duchess,

								digging her sharp little chin into Alice's shoulder as she added,

								'and the moral of <i>that</i> is--"Take care of the sense, and

								the sounds will take care of themselves."'</p>


								<p>'How fond she is of finding morals in things!' Alice thought

								to herself.</p>


								<p>'I dare say you're wondering why I don't put my arm round your

								waist,' the Duchess said after a pause: 'the reason is, that I'm

								doubtful about the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the

								experiment?'</p>


								<p>'<i>He</i> might bite,' Alice cautiously replied, not feeling

								at all anxious to have the experiment tried.</p>


								<p>'Very true,' said the Duchess: 'flamingoes and mustard both

								bite. And the moral of that is--"Birds of a feather flock

								together."'</p>


								<p>'Only mustard isn't a bird,' Alice remarked.</p>


								<p>'Right, as usual,' said the Duchess: 'what a clear way you

								have of putting things!'</p>


								<p>'It's a mineral, I <i>think</i>,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Of course it is,' said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree

								to everything that Alice said; 'there's a large mustard-mine near

								here. And the moral of that is--"The more there is of mine, the

								less there is of yours."'</p>


								<p>'Oh, I know!' exclaimed Alice, who had not attended to this

								last remark, 'it's a vegetable. It doesn't look like one, but it

								is.'</p>


								<p>'I quite agree with you,' said the Duchess; 'and the moral of

								that is--"Be what you would seem to be"--or if you'd like it put

								more simply--"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than

								what it might appear to others that what you were or might have

								been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared

								to them to be otherwise."'</p>


								<p>'I think I should understand that better,' Alice said very

								politely, 'if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it

								as you say it.'</p>


								<p>'That's nothing to what I could say if I chose,' the Duchess

								replied, in a pleased tone.</p>


								<p>'Pray don't trouble yourself to say it any longer than that,'

								said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Oh, don't talk about trouble!' said the Duchess. 'I make you

								a present of everything I've said as yet.'</p>


								<p>'A cheap sort of present!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they don't

								give birthday presents like that!' But she did not venture to say

								it out loud.</p>


								<p>'Thinking again?' the Duchess asked, with another dig of her

								sharp little chin.</p>


								<p>'I've a right to think,' said Alice sharply, for she was

								beginning to feel a little worried.</p>


								<p>'Just about as much right,' said the Duchess, 'as pigs have to

								fly; and the m--'</p>


								<p>But here, to Alice's great surprise, the Duchess's voice died

								away, even in the middle of her favourite word 'moral,' and the

								arm that was linked into hers began to tremble. Alice looked up,

								and there stood the Queen in front of them, with her arms folded,

								frowning like a thunderstorm.</p>


								<p>'A fine day, your Majesty!' the Duchess began in a low, weak

								voice.</p>


								<p>'Now, I give you fair warning,' shouted the Queen, stamping on

								the ground as she spoke; 'either you or your head must be off,

								and that in about half no time! Take your choice!'</p>


								<p>The Duchess took her choice, and was gone in a moment.</p>


								<p>'Let's go on with the game,' the Queen said to Alice; and

								Alice was too much frightened to say a word, but slowly followed

								her back to the croquet-ground.</p>


								<p>The other guests had taken advantage of the Queen's absence,

								and were resting in the shade: however, the moment they saw her,

								they hurried back to the game, the Queen merely remarking that a

								moment's delay would cost them their lives.</p>


								<p>All the time they were playing the Queen never left off

								quarrelling with the other players, and shouting 'Off with his

								head!' or 'Off with her head!' Those whom she sentenced were

								taken into custody by the soldiers, who of course had to leave

								off being arches to do this, so that by the end of half an hour

								or so there were no arches left, and all the players, except the

								King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and under sentence of

								execution.</p>


								<p>Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to

								Alice, 'Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?'</p>


								<p>'No,' said Alice. 'I don't even know what a Mock Turtle

								is.'</p>


								<p>'It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,' said the

								Queen.</p>


								<p>'I never saw one, or heard of one,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Come on, then,' said the Queen, 'and he shall tell you his

								history,'</p>


								<p>As they walked off together, Alice heard the King say in a low

								voice, to the company generally, 'You are all pardoned.' 'Come,

								<i>that's</i> a good thing!' she said to herself, for she had

								felt quite unhappy at the number of executions the Queen had

								ordered.</p>


								<p>They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the

								sun. (<i>If</i> you don't know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture.)

								'Up, lazy thing!' said the Queen, 'and take this young lady to

								see the Mock Turtle, and to hear his history. I must go back and

								see after some executions I have ordered'; and she walked off,

								leaving Alice alone with the Gryphon. Alice did not quite like

								the look of the creature, but on the whole she thought it would

								be quite as safe to stay with it as to go after that savage

								Queen: so she waited.</p>


								<p>The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the

								Queen till she was out of sight: then it chuckled. 'What fun!'

								said the Gryphon, half to itself, half to Alice.</p>


								<p>'What <i>is</i> the fun?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Why, <i>she</i>,' said the Gryphon. 'It's all her fancy,

								that: they never executes nobody, you know. Come on!'</p>


								<p>'Everybody says "come on!" here,' thought Alice, as she went

								slowly after it: 'I never was so ordered about in all my life,

								never!'</p>


								<p>They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the

								distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and,

								as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart

								would break. She pitied him deeply. 'What is his sorrow?' she

								asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, very nearly in the

								same words as before, 'It's all his fancy, that: he hasn't got no

								sorrow, you know. Come on!'</p>


								<p>So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with

								large eyes full of tears, but said nothing.</p>


								<p>'This here young lady,' said the Gryphon, 'she wants for to

								know your history, she do.'</p>


								<p>'I'll tell it her,' said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow

								tone: 'sit down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've

								finished.'</p>


								<p>So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice

								thought to herself, 'I don't see how he can <i>even</i> finish,

								if he doesn't begin.' But she waited patiently.</p>


								<p>'Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, 'I was

								a real Turtle.'</p>


								<p>These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only

								by an occasional exclamation of 'Hjckrrh!' from the Gryphon, and

								the constant heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was very

								nearly getting up and saying, 'Thank you, sir, for your

								interesting story,' but she could not help thinking there

								<i>must</i> be more to come, so she sat still and said

								nothing.</p>


								<p>'When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more

								calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, 'we went to

								school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call

								him Tortoise--'</p>


								<p>'Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice

								asked.</p>


								<p>'We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock

								Turtle angrily: 'really you are very dull!'</p>


								<p>'You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple

								question,' added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and

								looked at poor Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. At

								last the Gryphon said to the Mock Turtle, 'Drive on, old fellow!

								Don't be all day about it!' and he went on in these words:</p>


								<p>'Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe

								it--'</p>


								<p>'I never said I didn't!' interrupted Alice.</p>


								<p>'You did,' said the Mock Turtle.</p>


								<p>'Hold your tongue!' added the Gryphon, before Alice could

								speak again. The Mock Turtle went on.</p>


								<p>'We had the best of educations--in fact, we went to school

								every day--'</p>


								<p>'<i>I've</i> been to a day-school, too,' said Alice; 'you

								needn't be so proud as all that.'</p>


								<p>'With extras?' asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously.</p>


								<p>'Yes,' said Alice, 'we learned French and music.'</p>


								<p>'And washing?' said the Mock Turtle.</p>


								<p>'Certainly not!' said Alice indignantly.</p>


								<p>'Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock

								Turtle in a tone of great relief. 'Now at <i>ours</i> they had at

								the end of the bill, "French, music, <i>and

								washing</i>--extra."'</p>


								<p>'You couldn't have wanted it much,' said Alice; 'living at the

								bottom of the sea.'</p>


								<p>'I couldn't afford to learn it.' said the Mock Turtle with a

								sigh. 'I only took the regular course.'</p>


								<p>'What was that?' inquired Alice.</p>


								<p>'Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,' the Mock

								Turtle replied; 'and then the different branches of Arithmetic--

								Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'</p>


								<p>'I never heard of "Uglification,"' Alice ventured to say.

								'What is it?'</p>


								<p>The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. 'What! Never

								heard of uglifying!' it exclaimed. 'You know what to beautify is,

								I suppose?'</p>


								<p>'Yes,' said Alice doubtfully: 'it

								means--to--make--anything--prettier.'</p>


								<p>'Well, then,' the Gryphon went on, 'if you don't know what to

								uglify is, you <i>are</i> a simpleton.'</p>


								<p>Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about

								it, so she turned to the Mock Turtle, and said 'What else had you

								to learn?'</p>


								<p>'Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting

								off the subjects on his flappers, '--Mystery, ancient and modern,

								with Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old

								conger-eel, that used to come once a week: <i>He</i> taught us

								Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.'</p>


								<p>'What was <i>that</i> like?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Well, I can't show it you myself,' the Mock Turtle said: 'I'm

								too stiff. And the Gryphon never learnt it.'</p>


								<p>'Hadn't time,' said the Gryphon: 'I went to the Classics

								master, though. He was an old crab, <i>he</i> was.'</p>


								<p>'I never went to him,' the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: 'he

								taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.'</p>


								<p>'So he did, so he did,' said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn;

								and both creatures hid their faces in their paws.</p>


								<p>'And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' said Alice, in

								a hurry to change the subject.</p>


								<p>'Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: 'nine the

								next, and so on.'</p>


								<p>'What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.</p>


								<p>'That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon

								remarked: 'because they lessen from day to day.'</p>


								<p>This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought it over a

								little before she made her next remark. 'Then the eleventh day

								must have been a holiday?'</p>


								<p>'Of course it was,' said the Mock Turtle.</p>


								<p>'And how did you manage on the twelfth?' Alice went on

								eagerly.</p>


								<p>'That's enough about lessons,' the Gryphon interrupted in a

								very decided tone: 'tell her something about the games now.'</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER X</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">The Lobster Quadrille</h3>


								<p>The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and drew the back of one

								flapper across his eyes. He looked at Alice, and tried to speak,

								but for a minute or two sobs choked his voice. 'Same as if he had

								a bone in his throat,' said the Gryphon: and it set to work

								shaking him and punching him in the back. At last the Mock Turtle

								recovered his voice, and, with tears running down his cheeks, he

								went on again:--</p>


								<p>'You may not have lived much under the sea--' ('I haven't,'

								said Alice)-- 'and perhaps you were never even introduced to a

								lobster--' (Alice began to say 'I once tasted--' but checked

								herself hastily, and said 'No, never') '--so you can have no idea

								what a delightful thing a Lobster Quadrille is!'</p>


								<p>'No, indeed,' said Alice. 'What sort of a dance is it?'</p>


								<p>'Why,' said the Gryphon, 'you first form into a line along the

								sea-shore--'</p>


								<p>'Two lines!' cried the Mock Turtle. 'Seals, turtles, salmon,

								and so on; then, when you've cleared all the jelly-fish out of

								the way--'</p>


								<p>'<i>That</i> generally takes some time,' interrupted the

								Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'--you advance twice--'</p>


								<p>'Each with a lobster as a partner!' cried the Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'Of course,' the Mock Turtle said: 'advance twice, set to

								partners--'</p>


								<p>'--change lobsters, and retire in same order,' continued the

								Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'Then, you know,' the Mock Turtle went on, 'you throw

								the--'</p>


								<p>'The lobsters!' shouted the Gryphon, with a bound into the

								air.</p>


								<p>'--as far out to sea as you can--'</p>


								<p>'Swim after them!' screamed the Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'Turn a somersault in the sea!' cried the Mock Turtle,

								capering wildly about.</p>


								<p>'Change lobster's again!' yelled the Gryphon at the top of its

								voice.</p>


								<p>'Back to land again, and that's all the first figure,' said

								the Mock Turtle, suddenly dropping his voice; and the two

								creatures, who had been jumping about like mad things all this

								time, sat down again very sadly and quietly, and looked at

								Alice.</p>


								<p>'It must be a very pretty dance,' said Alice timidly.</p>


								<p>'Would you like to see a little of it?' said the Mock

								Turtle.</p>


								<p>'Very much indeed,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Come, let's try the first figure!' said the Mock Turtle to

								the Gryphon. 'We can do without lobsters, you know. Which shall

								sing?'</p>


								<p>'Oh, <i>you</i> sing,' said the Gryphon. 'I've forgotten the

								words.'</p>


								<p>So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every

								now and then treading on her toes when they passed too close, and

								waving their forepaws to mark the time, while the Mock Turtle

								sang this, very slowly and sadly:--</p>


								<p><i>'"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a

								snail. "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on

								my tail. See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all

								advance! They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join

								the dance?</i></p>


								<p><i>Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the

								dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join

								the dance?</i></p>


								<p><i>"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be

								When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to

								sea!" But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look

								askance-- Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not

								join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not, would

								not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not,

								could not join the dance.</i></p>


								<p><i>'"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.

								"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side. The

								further off from England the nearer is to France-- Then turn not

								pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.</i></p>


								<p><i>Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the

								dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join

								the dance?"'</i></p>


								<p>'Thank you, it's a very interesting dance to watch,' said

								Alice, feeling very glad that it was over at last: 'and I do so

								like that curious song about the whiting!'</p>


								<p>'Oh, as to the whiting,' said the Mock Turtle, 'they--you've

								seen them, of course?'</p>


								<p>'Yes,' said Alice, 'I've often seen them at dinn--' she

								checked herself hastily.</p>


								<p>'I don't know where Dinn may be,' said the Mock Turtle, 'but

								if you've seen them so often, of course you know what they're

								like.'</p>


								<p>'I believe so,' Alice replied thoughtfully. 'They have their

								tails in their mouths--and they're all over crumbs.'</p>


								<p>'You're wrong about the crumbs,' said the Mock Turtle: 'crumbs

								would all wash off in the sea. But they <i>have</i> their tails

								in their mouths; and the reason is--' here the Mock Turtle yawned

								and shut his eyes.--'Tell her about the reason and all that,' he

								said to the Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'The reason is,' said the Gryphon, 'that they <i>would</i> go

								with the lobsters to the dance. So they got thrown out to sea. So

								they had to fall a long way. So they got their tails fast in

								their mouths. So they couldn't get them out again. That's

								all.'</p>


								<p>'Thank you,' said Alice, 'it's very interesting. I never knew

								so much about a whiting before.'</p>


								<p>'I can tell you more than that, if you like,' said the

								Gryphon. 'Do you know why it's called a whiting?'</p>


								<p>'I never thought about it,' said Alice. 'Why?'</p>


								<p><i>'It does the boots and shoes.'</i> the Gryphon replied very

								solemnly.</p>


								<p>Alice was thoroughly puzzled. 'Does the boots and shoes!' she

								repeated in a wondering tone.</p>


								<p>'Why, what are <i>your</i> shoes done with?' said the Gryphon.

								'I mean, what makes them so shiny?'</p>


								<p>Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before she

								gave her answer. 'They're done with blacking, I believe.'</p>


								<p>'Boots and shoes under the sea,' the Gryphon went on in a deep

								voice, 'are done with a whiting. Now you know.'</p>


								<p>'And what are they made of?' Alice asked in a tone of great

								curiosity.</p>


								<p>'Soles and eels, of course,' the Gryphon replied rather

								impatiently: 'any shrimp could have told you that.'</p>


								<p>'If I'd been the whiting,' said Alice, whose thoughts were

								still running on the song, 'I'd have said to the porpoise, "Keep

								back, please: we don't want <i>you</i> with us!"'</p>


								<p>'They were obliged to have him with them,' the Mock Turtle

								said: 'no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.'</p>


								<p>'Wouldn't it really?' said Alice in a tone of great

								surprise.</p>


								<p>'Of course not,' said the Mock Turtle: 'why, if a fish came to

								<i>me</i>, and told me he was going a journey, I should say "With

								what porpoise?"'</p>


								<p>'Don't you mean "purpose"?' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'I mean what I say,' the Mock Turtle replied in an offended

								tone. And the Gryphon added 'Come, let's hear some of <i>your</i>

								adventures.'</p>


								<p>'I could tell you my adventures--beginning from this morning,'

								said Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to

								yesterday, because I was a different person then.'</p>


								<p>'Explain all that,' said the Mock Turtle.</p>


								<p>'No, no! The adventures first,' said the Gryphon in an

								impatient tone: 'explanations take such a dreadful time.'</p>


								<p>So Alice began telling them her adventures from the time when

								she first saw the White Rabbit. She was a little nervous about it

								just at first, the two creatures got so close to her, one on each

								side, and opened their eyes and mouths so <i>very</i> wide, but

								she gained courage as she went on. Her listeners were perfectly

								quiet till she got to the part about her repeating <i>'You are

								old, Father William,'</i> to the Caterpillar, and the words all

								coming different, and then the Mock Turtle drew a long breath,

								and said 'That's very curious.'</p>


								<p>'It's all about as curious as it can be,' said the

								Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'It all came different!' the Mock Turtle repeated

								thoughtfully. 'I should like to hear her try and repeat something

								now. Tell her to begin.' He looked at the Gryphon as if he

								thought it had some kind of authority over Alice.</p>


								<p>'Stand up and repeat <i>"'Tis the voice of the sluggard,"'</i>

								said the Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat

								lessons!' thought Alice; 'I might as well be at school at once.'

								However, she got up, and began to repeat it, but her head was so

								full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what she was

								saying, and the words came very queer indeed:--</p>


								<p>''Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare, "You have

								baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair." As a duck with its

								eyelids, so he with his nose Trims his belt and his buttons, and

								turns out his toes.'</p>


								<p>[later editions continued as follows When the sands are all

								dry, he is gay as a lark, And will talk in contemptuous tones of

								the Shark, But, when the tide rises and sharks are around, His

								voice has a timid and tremulous sound.]</p>


								<p>'That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,'

								said the Gryphon.</p>


								<p>'Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; 'but it

								sounds uncommon nonsense.'</p>


								<p>Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her

								hands, wondering if anything would <i>ever</i> happen in a

								natural way again.</p>


								<p>'I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock

								Turtle.</p>


								<p>'She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. 'Go on with

								the next verse.'</p>


								<p>'But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. 'How

								<i>could</i> he turn them out with his nose, you know?'</p>


								<p>'It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was

								dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the

								subject.</p>


								<p>'Go on with the next verse,' the Gryphon repeated impatiently:

								'it begins "I passed by his garden."'</p>


								<p>Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would

								all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:--</p>


								<p><i>'I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye, How the

								Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie--'</i></p>


								<p>[<tt>later editions continued as follows:</tt> <i>The Panther

								took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat, While the Owl had the dish

								as its share of the treat. When the pie was all finished, the

								Owl, as a boon, Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon: While

								the Panther received knife and fork with a growl, And concluded

								the banquet--</i>]</p>


								<p>'What <i>is</i> the use of repeating all that stuff,' the Mock Turtle

								interrupted, 'if you don't explain it as you go on? It's by far

								the most confusing thing I ever heard!'</p>


								<p>'Yes, I think you'd better leave off,' said the Gryphon: and

								Alice was only too glad to do so.</p>


								<p>'Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?' the

								Gryphon went on. 'Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing you a

								song?'</p>


								<p>'Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,'

								Alice replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather

								offended tone, 'Hm! No accounting for tastes! Sing her "Turtle

								Soup," will you, old fellow?'</p>


								<p>The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice sometimes

								choked with sobs, to sing this:--</p>


								<p><i>'Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot

								tureen! Who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the

								evening, beautiful Soup! Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

								Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! Soo--oop of the

								e--e--evening, Beautiful, beautiful Soup!</i></p>


								<p><i>'Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, Game, or any other

								dish? Who would not give all else for two pennyworth only of

								beautiful Soup? Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup? Beau--ootiful

								Soo--oop! Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,

								Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!'</i></p>


								<p>'Chorus again!' cried the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle had

								just begun to repeat it, when a cry of 'The trial's beginning!'

								was heard in the distance.</p>


								<p>'Come on!' cried the Gryphon, and, taking Alice by the hand,

								it hurried off, without waiting for the end of the song.</p>


								<p>'What trial is it?' Alice panted as she ran; but the Gryphon

								only answered 'Come on!' and ran the faster, while more and more

								faintly came, carried on the breeze that followed them, the

								melancholy words:--</p>


								<p><i>'Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, Beautiful, beautiful

								Soup!'</i></p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER XI</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">Who Stole the Tarts?</h3>


								<p>The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when

								they arrived, with a great crowd assembled about them--all sorts

								of little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards:

								the Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on

								each side to guard him; and near the King was the White Rabbit,

								with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in the

								other. In the very middle of the court was a table, with a large

								dish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, that it made Alice

								quite hungry to look at them--'I wish they'd get the trial done,'

								she thought, 'and hand round the refreshments!' But there seemed

								to be no chance of this, so she began looking at everything about

								her, to pass away the time.</p>


								<p>Alice had never been in a court of justice before, but she had

								read about them in books, and she was quite pleased to find that

								she knew the name of nearly everything there. 'That's the judge,'

								she said to herself, 'because of his great wig.'</p>


								<p>The judge, by the way, was the King; and as he wore his crown

								over the wig, (look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he

								did it,) he did not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly

								not becoming.</p>


								<p>'And that's the jury-box,' thought Alice, 'and those twelve

								creatures,' (she was obliged to say 'creatures,' you see, because

								some of them were animals, and some were birds,) 'I suppose they

								are the jurors.' She said this last word two or three times over

								to herself, being rather proud of it: for she thought, and

								rightly too, that very few little girls of her age knew the

								meaning of it at all. However, 'jury-men' would have done just as

								well.</p>


								<p>The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates.

								'What are they doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon. 'They

								can't have anything to put down yet, before the trial's

								begun.'</p>


								<p>'They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in

								reply, 'for fear they should forget them before the end of the

								trial.'</p>


								<p>'Stupid things!' Alice began in a loud, indignant voice, but

								she stopped hastily, for the White Rabbit cried out, 'Silence in

								the court!' and the King put on his spectacles and looked

								anxiously round, to make out who was talking.</p>


								<p>Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their

								shoulders, that all the jurors were writing down 'stupid things!'

								on their slates, and she could even make out that one of them

								didn't know how to spell 'stupid,' and that he had to ask his

								neighbour to tell him. 'A nice muddle their slates'll be in

								before the trial's over!' thought Alice.</p>


								<p>One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course,

								Alice could <i>not</i> stand, and she went round the court and

								got behind him, and very soon found an opportunity of taking it

								away. She did it so quickly that the poor little juror (it was

								Bill, the Lizard) could not make out at all what had become of

								it; so, after hunting all about for it, he was obliged to write

								with one finger for the rest of the day; and this was of very

								little use, as it left no mark on the slate.</p>


								<p>'Herald, read the accusation!' said the King.</p>


								<p>On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and

								then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:--</p>


								<p><i>'The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer

								day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them

								quite away!'</i></p>


								<p>'Consider your verdict,' the King said to the jury.</p>


								<p>'Not yet, not yet!' the Rabbit hastily interrupted. 'There's a

								great deal to come before that!'</p>


								<p>'Call the first witness,' said the King; and the White Rabbit

								blew three blasts on the trumpet, and called out, 'First

								witness!'</p>


								<p>The first witness was the Hatter. He came in with a teacup in

								one hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other. 'I beg

								pardon, your Majesty,' he began, 'for bringing these in: but I

								hadn't quite finished my tea when I was sent for.'</p>


								<p>'You ought to have finished,' said the King. 'When did you

								begin?'</p>


								<p>The Hatter looked at the March Hare, who had followed him into

								the court, arm-in-arm with the Dormouse. 'Fourteenth of March, I

								<i>think</i> it was,' he said.</p>


								<p>'Fifteenth,' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>'Sixteenth,' added the Dormouse.</p>


								<p>'Write that down,' the King said to the jury, and the jury

								eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then

								added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence.</p>


								<p>'Take off your hat,' the King said to the Hatter.</p>


								<p>'It isn't mine,' said the Hatter.</p>


								<p>'<i>Stolen!</i>' the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who

								instantly made a memorandum of the fact.</p>


								<p>'I keep them to sell,' the Hatter added as an explanation;

								'I've none of my own. I'm a hatter.'</p>


								<p>Here the Queen put on her spectacles, and began staring at the

								Hatter, who turned pale and fidgeted.</p>


								<p>'Give your evidence,' said the King; 'and don't be nervous, or

								I'll have you executed on the spot.'</p>


								<p>This did not seem to encourage the witness at all: he kept

								shifting from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at the

								Queen, and in his confusion he bit a large piece out of his

								teacup instead of the bread-and-butter.</p>


								<p>Just at this moment Alice felt a very curious sensation, which

								puzzled her a good deal until she made out what it was: she was

								beginning to grow larger again, and she thought at first she

								would get up and leave the court; but on second thoughts she

								decided to remain where she was as long as there was room for

								her.</p>


								<p>'I wish you wouldn't squeeze so.' said the Dormouse, who was

								sitting next to her. 'I can hardly breathe.'</p>


								<p>'I can't help it,' said Alice very meekly: 'I'm growing.'</p>


								<p>'You've no right to grow <i>here</i>,' said the Dormouse.</p>


								<p>'Don't talk nonsense,' said Alice more boldly: 'you know

								you're growing too.'</p>


								<p>'Yes, but <i>I</i> grow at a reasonable pace,' said the

								Dormouse: 'not in that ridiculous fashion.' And he got up very

								sulkily and crossed over to the other side of the court.</p>


								<p>All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the

								Hatter, and, just as the Dormouse crossed the court, she said to

								one of the officers of the court, 'Bring me the list of the

								singers in the last concert!' on which the wretched Hatter

								trembled so, that he shook both his shoes off.</p>


								<p>'Give your evidence,' the King repeated angrily, 'or I'll have

								you executed, whether you're nervous or not.'</p>


								<p>'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' the Hatter began, in a

								trembling voice, '--and I hadn't begun my tea--not above a week

								or so--and what with the bread-and-butter getting so thin--and

								the twinkling of the tea--'</p>


								<p>'The twinkling of the <i>what</i>?' said the King.</p>


								<p>'It <i>began</i> with the tea,' the Hatter replied.</p>


								<p>'Of course twinkling <i>begins</i> with a T!' said the King

								sharply. 'Do you take me for a dunce? Go on!'</p>


								<p>'I'm a poor man,' the Hatter went on, 'and most things

								twinkled after that--only the March Hare said--'</p>


								<p>'I didn't!' the March Hare interrupted in a great hurry.</p>


								<p>'You did!' said the Hatter.</p>


								<p>'I deny it!' said the March Hare.</p>


								<p>'He denies it,' said the King: 'leave out that part.'</p>


								<p>'Well, at any rate, the Dormouse said--' the Hatter went on,

								looking anxiously round to see if he would deny it too: but the

								Dormouse denied nothing, being fast asleep.</p>


								<p>'After that,' continued the Hatter, 'I cut some more bread-

								and-butter--'</p>


								<p>'But what did the Dormouse say?' one of the jury asked.</p>


								<p>'That I can't remember,' said the Hatter.</p>


								<p>'You <i>must</i> remember,' remarked the King, 'or I'll have

								you executed.'</p>


								<p>The miserable Hatter dropped his teacup and bread-and-butter,

								and went down on one knee. 'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' he

								began.</p>


								<p>'You're a very poor <i>speaker</i>,' said the King.</p>


								<p>Here one of the guinea-pigs cheered, and was immediately

								suppressed by the officers of the court. (As that is rather a

								hard word, I will just explain to you how it was done. They had a

								large canvas bag, which tied up at the mouth with strings: into

								this they slipped the guinea-pig, head first, and then sat upon

								it.)</p>


								<p>'I'm glad I've seen that done,' thought Alice. 'I've so often

								read in the newspapers, at the end of trials, "There was some

								attempts at applause, which was immediately suppressed by the

								officers of the court," and I never understood what it meant till

								now.'</p>


								<p>'If that's all you know about it, you may stand down,'

								continued the King.</p>


								<p>'I can't go no lower,' said the Hatter: 'I'm on the floor, as

								it is.'</p>


								<p>'Then you may <i>sit</i> down,' the King replied.</p>


								<p>Here the other guinea-pig cheered, and was suppressed.</p>


								<p>'Come, that finished the guinea-pigs!' thought Alice. 'Now we

								shall get on better.'</p>


								<p>'I'd rather finish my tea,' said the Hatter, with an anxious

								look at the Queen, who was reading the list of singers.</p>


								<p>'You may go,' said the King, and the Hatter hurriedly left the

								court, without even waiting to put his shoes on.</p>


								<p>'--and just take his head off outside,' the Queen added to one

								of the officers: but the Hatter was out of sight before the

								officer could get to the door.</p>


								<p>'Call the next witness!' said the King.</p>


								<p>The next witness was the Duchess's cook. She carried the

								pepper-box in her hand, and Alice guessed who it was, even before

								she got into the court, by the way the people near the door began

								sneezing all at once.</p>


								<p>'Give your evidence,' said the King.</p>


								<p>'Shan't,' said the cook.</p>


								<p>The King looked anxiously at the White Rabbit, who said in a

								low voice, 'Your Majesty must cross-examine <i>this</i> witness.'</p>


								<p>'Well, if I must, I must,' the King said, with a melancholy

								air, and, after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till

								his eyes were nearly out of sight, he said in a deep voice, 'What

								are tarts made of?'</p>


								<p>'Pepper, mostly,' said the cook.</p>


								<p>'Treacle,' said a sleepy voice behind her.</p>


								<p>'Collar that Dormouse,' the Queen shrieked out. 'Behead that

								Dormouse! Turn that Dormouse out of court! Suppress him! Pinch

								him! Off with his whiskers!'</p>


								<p>For some minutes the whole court was in confusion, getting the

								Dormouse turned out, and, by the time they had settled down

								again, the cook had disappeared.</p>


								<p>'Never mind!' said the King, with an air of great relief.

								'Call the next witness.' And he added in an undertone to the

								Queen, 'Really, my dear, <i>you</i> must cross-examine the next

								witness. It quite makes my forehead ache!'</p>


								<p>Alice watched the White Rabbit as he fumbled over the list,

								feeling very curious to see what the next witness would be like,

								'--for they haven't got much evidence <i>yet</i>,' she said to

								herself. Imagine her surprise, when the White Rabbit read out, at

								the top of his shrill little voice, the name 'Alice!'</p>


								<hr>

								<h3 align="Center">CHAPTER XII</h3>


								<h3 align="Center">Alice's Evidence</h3>


								<p>'Here!' cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the

								moment how large she had grown in the last few minutes, and she

								jumped up in such a hurry that she tipped over the jury-box with

								the edge of her skirt, upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads

								of the crowd below, and there they lay sprawling about, reminding

								her very much of a globe of goldfish she had accidentally upset

								the week before.</p>


								<p>'Oh, I <i>beg</i> your pardon!' she exclaimed in a tone of

								great dismay, and began picking them up again as quickly as she

								could, for the accident of the goldfish kept running in her head,

								and she had a vague sort of idea that they must be collected at

								once and put back into the jury-box, or they would die.</p>


								<p>'The trial cannot proceed,' said the King in a very grave

								voice, 'until all the jurymen are back in their proper places--

								<i>all</i>,' he repeated with great emphasis, looking hard at

								Alice as he said do.</p>


								<p>Alice looked at the jury-box, and saw that, in her haste, she

								had put the Lizard in head downwards, and the poor little thing

								was waving its tail about in a melancholy way, being quite unable

								to move. She soon got it out again, and put it right; 'not that

								it signifies much,' she said to herself; 'I should think it would

								be <i>quite</i> as much use in the trial one way up as the

								other.'</p>


								<p>As soon as the jury had a little recovered from the shock of

								being upset, and their slates and pencils had been found and

								handed back to them, they set to work very diligently to write

								out a history of the accident, all except the Lizard, who seemed

								too much overcome to do anything but sit with its mouth open,

								gazing up into the roof of the court.</p>


								<p>'What do you know about this business?' the King said to

								Alice.</p>


								<p>'Nothing,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Nothing <i>whatever?</i>' persisted the King.</p>


								<p>'Nothing <i>whatever,</i>' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'That's very important,' the King said, turning to the jury.

								They were just beginning to write this down on their slates, when

								the White Rabbit interrupted: '<i>Un</i>important, your Majesty

								means, of course,' he said in a very respectful tone, but

								frowning and making faces at him as he spoke.</p>


								<p>'<i>Un</i>important, of course, I meant,' the King hastily

								said, and went on to himself in an undertone,

								'important--unimportant-- unimportant--important--' as if he were

								trying which word sounded best.</p>


								<p>Some of the jury wrote it down 'important,' and some

								'unimportant.' Alice could see this, as she was near enough to

								look over their slates; 'but it doesn't matter a bit,' she

								thought to herself.</p>


								<p>At this moment the King, who had been for some time busily

								writing in his note-book, cackled out 'Silence!' and read out

								from his book, 'Rule Forty-two. <i>All persons more than a mile

								hight to leave the court</i>.'</p>


								<p>Everybody looked at Alice.</p>


								<p>'<i>I'm</i> not a mile high,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'You are,' said the King.</p>


								<p>'Nearly two miles high,' added the Queen.</p>


								<p>'Well, I shan't go, at any rate,' said Alice: 'besides, that's

								not a regular rule: you invented it just now.'</p>


								<p>'It's the oldest rule in the book,' said the King.</p>


								<p>'Then it ought to be Number One,' said Alice.</p>


								<p>The King turned pale, and shut his note-book hastily.

								'Consider your verdict,' he said to the jury, in a low, trembling

								voice.</p>


								<p>'There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty,' said

								the White Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; 'this paper has

								just been picked up.'</p>


								<p>'What's in it?' said the Queen.</p>


								<p>'I haven't opened it yet,' said the White Rabbit, 'but it

								seems to be a letter, written by the prisoner to--to

								somebody.'</p>


								<p>'It must have been that,' said the King, 'unless it was

								written to nobody, which isn't usual, you know.'</p>


								<p>'Who is it directed to?' said one of the jurymen.</p>


								<p>'It isn't directed at all,' said the White Rabbit; 'in fact,

								there's nothing written on the <i>outside</i>.' He unfolded the

								paper as he spoke, and added 'It isn't a letter, after all: it's

								a set of verses.'</p>


								<p>'Are they in the prisoner's handwriting?' asked another of

								they jurymen.</p>


								<p>'No, they're not,' said the White Rabbit, 'and that's the

								queerest thing about it.' (The jury all looked puzzled.)</p>


								<p>'He must have imitated somebody else's hand,' said the King.

								(The jury all brightened up again.)</p>


								<p>'Please your Majesty,' said the Knave, 'I didn't write it, and

								they can't prove I did: there's no name signed at the end.'</p>


								<p>'If you didn't sign it,' said the King, 'that only makes the

								matter worse. You <i>must</i> have meant some mischief, or else

								you'd have signed your name like an honest man.'</p>


								<p>There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the

								first really clever thing the King had said that day.</p>


								<p>'That <i>proves</i> his guilt,' said the Queen.</p>


								<p>'It proves nothing of the sort!' said Alice. 'Why, you don't

								even know what they're about!'</p>


								<p>'Read them,' said the King.</p>


								<p>The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. 'Where shall I begin,

								please your Majesty?' he asked.</p>


								<p>'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on

								till you come to the end: then stop.'</p>


								<p>These were the verses the White Rabbit read:--</p>


								<p><i>'They told me you had been to her, And mentioned me to him:

								She gave me a good character, But said I could not swim.</i></p>


								<p><i>He sent them word I had not gone (We know it to be true):

								If she should push the matter on, What would become of

								you?</i></p>


								<p><i>I gave her one, they gave him two, You gave us three or

								more; They all returned from him to you, Though they were mine

								before.</i></p>


								<p><i>If I or she should chance to be Involved in this affair, He

								trusts to you to set them free, Exactly as we were.</i></p>


								<p><i>My notion was that you had been (Before she had this fit)

								An obstacle that came between Him, and ourselves, and it.</i></p>


								<p><i>Don't let him know she liked them best, For this must ever

								be A secret, kept from all the rest, Between yourself and

								me.'</i></p>


								<p>'That's the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet,'

								said the King, rubbing his hands; 'so now let the jury--'</p>


								<p>'If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice, (she had

								grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit

								afraid of interrupting him,) 'I'll give him sixpence. _I_ don't

								believe there's an atom of meaning in it.'</p>


								<p>The jury all wrote down on their slates, '<i>She</i> doesn't

								believe there's an atom of meaning in it,' but none of them

								attempted to explain the paper.</p>


								<p>'If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, 'that saves a

								world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And

								yet I don't know,' he went on, spreading out the verses on his

								knee, and looking at them with one eye; 'I seem to see some

								meaning in them, after all. "<i>-said I could not swim--</i>" you

								can't swim, can you?' he added, turning to the Knave.</p>


								<p>The Knave shook his head sadly. 'Do I look like it?' he said.

								(Which he certainly did <i>not</i>, being made entirely of

								cardboard.)</p>


								<p>'All right, so far,' said the King, and he went on muttering

								over the verses to himself: '"<i>We know it to be true--</i>"

								that's the jury, of course-- "<i>I gave her one, they gave him

								two--</i>" why, that must be what he did with the tarts, you

								know--'</p>


								<p>'But, it goes on "<i>they all returned from him to you,</i>"'

								said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Why, there they are!' said the King triumphantly, pointing to

								the tarts on the table. 'Nothing can be clearer than <i>that</i>.

								Then again--"<i>before she had this fit-</i>-" you never had

								<i>fits</i>, my dear, I think?' he said to the Queen.</p>


								<p>'Never!' said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the

								Lizard as she spoke. (The unfortunate little Bill had left off

								writing on his slate with one finger, as he found it made no

								mark; but he now hastily began again, using the ink, that was

								trickling down his face, as long as it lasted.)</p>


								<p>'Then the words don't <i>fit</i> you,' said the King, looking

								round the court with a smile. There was a dead silence.</p>


								<p>'It's a pun!' the King added in an offended tone, and

								everybody laughed, 'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the

								King said, for about the twentieth time that day.</p>


								<p>'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first--verdict

								afterwards.'</p>


								<p>'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having

								the sentence first!'</p>


								<p>'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.</p>


								<p>'I won't!' said Alice.</p>


								<p>'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her

								voice. Nobody moved.</p>


								<p>'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full

								size by this time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!'</p>


								<p>At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying

								down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half

								of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on

								the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently

								brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the

								trees upon her face.</p>


								<p>'Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; 'Why, what a long

								sleep you've had!'</p>


								<p>'Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told

								her sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange

								Adventures of hers that you have just been reading about; and

								when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said, 'It

								<i>was</i> a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to

								your tea; it's getting late.' So Alice got up and ran off,

								thinking while she ran, as well she might, what a wonderful dream

								it had been.</p>


								<p>But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her

								head on her hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of

								little Alice and all her wonderful Adventures, till she too began

								dreaming after a fashion, and this was her dream:--</p>


								<p>First, she dreamed of little Alice herself, and once again the

								tiny hands were clasped upon her knee, and the bright eager eyes

								were looking up into hers--she could hear the very tones of her

								voice, and see that queer little toss of her head to keep back

								the wandering hair that <i>would</i> always get into her

								eyes--and still as she listened, or seemed to listen, the whole

								place around her became alive the strange creatures of her little

								sister's dream.</p>


								<p>The long grass rustled at her feet as the White Rabbit hurried

								by--the frightened Mouse splashed his way through the

								neighbouring pool--she could hear the rattle of the teacups as

								the March Hare and his friends shared their never-ending meal,

								and the shrill voice of the Queen ordering off her unfortunate

								guests to execution--once more the pig-baby was sneezing on the

								Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed around it--once

								more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the Lizard's

								slate-pencil, and the choking of the suppressed guinea-pigs,

								filled the air, mixed up with the distant sobs of the miserable

								Mock Turtle.</p>


								<p>So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in

								Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and

								all would change to dull reality--the grass would be only

								rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the

								reeds--the rattling teacups would change to tinkling sheep-bells,

								and the Queen's shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd

								boy--and the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and

								all the other queer noises, would change (she knew) to the

								confused clamour of the busy farm-yard--while the lowing of the

								cattle in the distance would take the place of the Mock Turtle's

								heavy sobs.</p>


								<p>Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of

								hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how

								she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and

								loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her

								other little children, and make <i>their</i> eyes bright and eager with

								many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of

								long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows,

								and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own

								child-life, and the happy summer days.</p>


								<p>End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Alice's Adventures in

								Wonderland</p>


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