Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass Page 8

  "Please, then," said Alice, "how am I to get in?"

  "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 inside, 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 ca'n't help it," she said to herself; "his eyes are so very nearly at the top of his head. But at any rate he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?" she repeated, aloud.

  "I shall sit here," the Footman remarked, "till to-morrow----"

  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.

  "----or next day, maybe," the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly as if nothing had happened.

  "How am I to get in?" asked Alice again, in a louder tone.

  "Are you to get in at all?" said the Footman. "That's the first question, you know."

  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!"

  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."

  "But what am I to do?" said Alice.

  "Anything you like," said the Footman, and began whistling.

  "Oh, there's no use in talking to him," said Alice desperately: "he's perfectly idiotic!" And she opened the door and went in.

  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.

  "There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!" Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing.

  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 two creatures in the kitchen, that did not sneeze, were the cook, and a large cat, which was lying on the hearth and grinning from ear to ear.

  "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?"

  "It's a Cheshire-Cat," said the Duchess, "and that's why. Pig!"

  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:--

  "I didn't know that Cheshire-Cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know that cats could grin."

  "They all can," said the Duchess; "and most of 'em do."

  "I don't know of any that do," Alice said very politely, feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation.

  "You don't know much," said the Duchess; "and that's a fact."

  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.

  "Oh, please mind what you're doing!" cried Alice, jumping up and down in an agony of terror. "Oh, there goes his precious nose!", as an unusually large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off.

  "If everybody minded their own business," the Duchess said, in a hoarse growl, "the world would go round a deal faster than it does."

  "Which would not be an advantage," said Alice, who felt very glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. "Just think what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis----"

  "Talking of axes," said the Duchess, "chop off her head!"

  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 think; or is it twelve? I----"

  "Oh, don't bother me! " 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:--

  "Speak roughly to your little boy,

  And beat him when he sneezes:

  He only does it to annoy,

  Because he knows it teases."

  CHORUS.

  (in which the cook and the baby joined):--

  "Wow! Wow! Wow!"

  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:--

  "I speak severely to my boy,

  I beat him when he sneezes;

  For he can thoroughly enjoy

  The pepper when he pleases!"

  CHORUS.

  "Wow! Wow! Wow!"

  "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, but it just missed her.

  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.

  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. "If 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."

  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 very 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.

  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.

  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 no 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 any further.

  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 hem----" when she was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire-Cat
sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off.

  The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

  "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?"

  "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

  "I don't much care where----" said Alice.

  "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

  "----so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

  "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

  Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?"

  "In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."

  "But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

  "Oh, you ca'n't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

  "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

  "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

  Alice didn't think that proved it at all: however, she went on: "And how do you know that you're mad?"

  "To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?"

  "I suppose so," Alice.

  "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."

  "I call it purring, not growling," said Alice.

  "Call it what you like," said the Cat. "Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?"

  "I should like it very much," said Alice, "but I haven't been invited yet."

  "You'll see me there," said the Cat, and vanished.

  Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so well used to queer things happening. While she was still looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again.

  "By-the-bye, what became of the baby?" said the Cat. "I'd nearly forgotten to ask."

  "It turned into a pig," Alice answered very quietly, just as if the Cat had come back in a natural way.

  "I thought it would," said the Cat, and vanished again.

  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 wo'n'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.

  "Did you say 'pig', or 'fig'?" said the Cat.

  "I said 'pig'," replied Alice; "and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy!"

  "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.

  "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 all my life!"

  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 left-hand 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!"

  VII

  A Mad Tea Party

  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."

  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 plenty of room!" said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.

  "Have some wine," the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.

  Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. "I don't see any wine," she remarked.

  "There isn't any," said the March Hare.

  "Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it," said Alice angrily.

  "It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited," said the March Hare.

  "I didn't know it was your table," said Alice: "it's laid for a great many more than three."

  "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.

  "You should learn not to make personal remarks," Alice said with some severity: "it's very rude."

  The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"4

  "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.

  "Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said the March Hare.

  "Exactly so," said Alice.

  "Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.

  "I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know."

  "Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"

  "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'!"

  "You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, "that 'I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as 'I sleep when I breathe'!"

  "It is 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.

  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.

  Alice considered a little, and then said "The fourth."f

  "Two days wrong!" sighed the Hatter. "I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!" he added, looking angrily at the March Hare.

  "It was the best butter," the March Hare meekly replied.

  "Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well," the Hatter grumbled: "you shouldn't have put it in with the breadknife."

  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 best butter, you know."

  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!"

  "Why should it?" muttered the Hatter. "Does your watch tell you what year it is?"

  "Of course not," Alice replied very readily: "but that's because it stays the same year for such a long time together."

  "Which is just the case with mine," said the Hatter.

  Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed t
o her 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.

  "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 wasting 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 wo'n'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 quarreled last March----just before he went mad, you know----" (pointing with his teaspoon at the March Hare,) "----it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing You know the song, perhaps?"

  'Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!

  How I wonder what you're at!'

  "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