Complete Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll [108]
November 4, 1859 (3:30 PM?): Alice reads Jabberwocky and passes through the looking-glass. (The exact time is inconclusive, but from Tenniel’s illustration, the time may be 3:30 PM.)
November 4, 1859 (Mid-Afternoon): Alice explores the Looking-Glass House and enters the Garden of Live Flowers. She meets the Red Queen and becomes a White Pawn in the ongoing chess game.
November 4, 1859 (Mid-Afternoon): Alice boards the train and journeys further into Looking-Glass Land. She meets the Gnat and sees the Looking-Glass Insects.
November 4, 1859 (Mid- to Late Afternoon): Alice wanders through the nameless wood, and finds the Fawn.
November 4, 1859 (Late Afternoon): Alice meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
November 4, 1859 (Late Afternoon): The twin brothers have their battle. (We do not know how long it lasts, but Tweedledum says that they will fight until 6:00 PM, and then have dinner. They are of course interrupted by the monstrous crow.)
November 4, 1859 (Early Evening): Alice meets the White Queen (and the Sheep), and boats on the river of dreams.
November 4, 1859 (Early Evening): Alice meets Humpty Dumpty, the Anglo-Saxon Messengers, the White King, the Lion and the Unicorn.
November 4, 1859 (Early Evening): Alice meets the White Knight and enjoys his company. (Carroll tells us that the sun is setting at this time.)
November 4, 1859 (6:15 PM?): Alice castles, and dines with the Red and White Queens. (It may be a bit after 6:00 PM, since Tweedledum and Tweedledee were intending to fight until 6:00 PM and then have dinner.)
November 4, 1859 (Late Evening): Alice returns home to the Deanery, and scolds her kittens.
November 4, 1859 (Night): The royal ball is held in Looking-Glass Land, which Alice is not there to attend. Hopefully, the White Queen asserts herself in a more considerable fashion, now that the Red Queen has been defeated.
PART VI
ALICE’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND
Introduction
ALICE’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND is something of a “non-secret secret” amongst the more studious devotees of Alice’s adventures. Few readers of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are aware that the published edition is actually an expanded version of a unique narrative, which was originally written solely for an audience of one, Alice Pleasance Liddell.
Following the boating journeys from Folly Bridge up to Godstow, young Alice entreated Lewis Carroll to write his extemporized stories down for her, so that she could enjoy them again and again. After some continued insistence, Carroll relented and began to write a manuscript which he entitled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Far from being only a first draft, this fascinating work was created as a gift piece to be lovingly presented to Alice alone. It was handwritten, and filled with whimsical illustrations by the amateur draftsman Carroll himself. Needless to say, once it was finally done, it was one of Alice’s most cherished possessions. (Later in Alice’s life, this manuscript set records at a Sotheby’s auction and became a national treasure. See the chronology of the Alice works, later in this collection, for further details.)
From the detached perspective of modern readers (outside of these personal anecdotes between Alice and Carroll), Alice’s Adventures Under Ground is probably creatively inferior to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Many of the most-loved classic scenes—such as the Mad Tea-Party, the house of the Duchess and the extended trial of the tarts—are completely missing, due to being written after the Under Ground had been completed and given to Alice. But there are some additional Wonderland treasures in this manuscript which can be found nowhere else. Some unique jokes, names and sub-scenes were included only in this original manuscript, and were later excised from the published version. The story of the Under Ground is included here in full, so that the reader can enjoy the story (and these secrets!) as Alice