meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand
you,' she said, as politely as she could.
`The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot
tea upon its nose.
The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.'
`Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
`No, I give it up,' Alice replied: `what's the answer?'
`I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.
`Nor I,' said the March Hare.
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.'
`If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you wouldn't talk about
wasting IT. It's HIM.'
`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.
`Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. `I
dare say you never even spoke to Time!'
`Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to beat time
when I learn music.'
`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!'
(`I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a whisper.)
`That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully: `but then--I
shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.'
`Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: `but you could keep it to half-past
one as long as you liked.'
`Is that the way YOU manage?' Alice asked.
The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied. `We quarrelled
last March--just before HE 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
"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!"
You know the song, perhaps?'
`I've heard something like it,' said Alice.
`It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:--
"Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--"'
Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep `Twinkle,
twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch it to
make it stop.
銆乣Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter, `when the Qu
een jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the time! Off with his
head!"'
`How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice.
`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.'
A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many tea-things
are put out here?' she asked.
`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.'
`Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
`Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.'
`But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured
to ask.
`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.'
`I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at the proposal.
`Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. `Wake up, Dormouse!' And
they pinched it on both sides at once.
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.'
`Tell us a story!' said the March Hare.
`Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice.
`And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, `or you'll be asleep again before
it's done.'
`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--'
`What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in
questions of eating and drinking.
`They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two.
`They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked; `they'd
have been ill.'
`So they were,' said the Dormouse; `VERY ill.'
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?'
`Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
`I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can't take
more.'
`You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: `it's very easy to take
MORE than nothing.'
`Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice.
`Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked triumphantly.
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?'
The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then said,
`It was a treacle-well.'
`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.'
`No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; `I won't interrupt again. I dare
say there may be ONE.'
`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--'
`What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.
`Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this time.
`I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: `let's all move one place on.'
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.
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?'
`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?'
`But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to notice this last remark.
`Of course they were', said the Dormouse; `--well in.'
This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for
some time without interrupting it.
`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--'
`Why with an M?' said Alice.
`Why not?' said the March Hare.
Alice was silent.
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?'
`Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--'
`Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.
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.
`At any rate I'll never go THERE 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!'
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.
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 THEN--she found herself at last in the beautiful garden,
among the bright flower-beds and the cool fountains.
CHAPTER VIII The Queen's Croquet-Ground
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!'
`I couldn't help it,' said Five, in a sulky tone; `Seven jogged my elbow.'
On which Seven looked up and said, `That's right, Five! Always lay the
blame on others!'
`YOU'D better not talk!' said Five. `I heard the Queen say only yesterday
you deserved to be beheaded!'
`What for?' said the one who had spoken first.
`That's none of YOUR business, Two!' said Seven.
`Yes, it IS his business!' said Five, `and I'll tell him--it was for bringing the
cook tulip-roots instead of onions.'
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.
`Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, `why you are painting those
roses?'
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 RED 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.
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.
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.
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.
`Idiot!' said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently; and, turning to Alice,
she went on, `What's your name, child?'
`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!'
`And who are THESE?' 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.
`How should I know?' said Alice, surprised at her own courage. `It's no
business of MINE.'
The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a
moment like a wild beast, screamed `Off with her head! Off--'
`Nonsense!' said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was silent.
The King laid his hand upon her arm, and timidly said `Consider, my dear:
she is only a child!'
The Queen turned angrily away from him, and said to the Knave `Turn them over!'
The Knave did so, very carefully, with one foot.
`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.
`Leave off that!' screamed the Queen. `You make me giddy.' And then,
turning to the rose-tree, she went on, `What HAVE you been doing here?'
`May it please your Majesty,' said Two, in a very humble tone, going down
on one knee as he spoke, `we were trying--'
`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.
`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.
`Are their heads off?' shouted the Queen.
`Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty!' the soldiers shouted in
reply.
`That's right!' shouted the Queen. `Can you play croquet?'
The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question was evidently
meant for her.
`Yes!' shouted Alice.
`Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the procession,
wondering very much what would happen next.
`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.
`Very,' said Alice: `--where's the Duchess?'
`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.'
`What for?' said Alice.
`Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked.
`No, I didn't,' said Alice: `I don't think it's at all a pity. I said "What for?"'
`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--'
`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.
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 WOULD 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
