Complete Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll [137]
Well, and so the Baby kept grunting, and grunting. so that Alice had to say to it, quite seriously, “If you’re going to turn into a Pig, my dear, I’ll have nothing more to do with you. Mind now!”
And at last she looked down into its face, and what do you think had happened to it? Look at the picture, and see if you can guess.
“Why, that’s not the Baby that Alice was nursing, is it?”
Ah, I knew you wouldn’t know it again, though I told you to take a good look at it! Yes, it is the Baby. And it’s turned into a little Pig!
So Alice put it down, and let it trot away into the wood. And she said to herself “It was a very ugly Baby : but it makes rather a handsome Pig, I think.”
Don’t you think she was right?
Chapter IX.
The Cheshire-Cat
ALL alone, all alone! Poor Alice! No Baby, not even a Pig to keep her company!
So you may be sure she was very glad indeed, when she saw the Cheshire-Cat, perched up in a tree, over her head.
The Cat has a very nice smile, no doubt: but just look what a lot of teeth it’s got! Isn’t Alice just a little shy of it?
Well, yes, a little. But then, it couldn’t help having teeth, you know: and it could have helped smiling, supposing it had been cross. So, on the whole, she was glad.
Doesn’t Alice look very prim, holding her head so straight up, and with her hands behind her, just as if she were going to say her lessons to the Cat!
And that reminds me. There’s a little lesson I want to teach you, while we’re looking at this picture of Alice and the Cat. Now don’t be in a bad temper about it, my dear Child! It’s a very little lesson indeed!
Do you see that Fox-Glove growing close to the tree? And do you know why it’s called a Fox-Glove? Perhaps you think it’s got something to do with a Fox? No indeed! Foxes never wear Gloves!
The right word is “Folk’s-Gloves.” Did you ever hear that Fairies used to be called “the good Folk”?
Now we’ve finished the lesson, and we’ll wait a minute, till you’ve got your temper again.
Well? Do you feel quite good-natured again? No temper-ache? No crossness about the corners of the mouth? Then we’ll go on.
“Cheshire Puss!” said Alice. (Wasn’t that a pretty name for a Cat?) “Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?”
And so the Cheshire-Cat told her which way she ought to go, if she wanted to visit the Hatter, and which way to go, to visit the March Hare. “They’re both mad!” said the Cat.
And then the Cat vanished away, just like the flame of a candle when it goes out!
So Alice set off, to visit the March Hare. And as she went along, there was the Cat again! And she told it she didn’t like it coming and going so quickly.
So this time the Cat vanished quite slowly, beginning with the tail, and ending with the grin. Wasn’t that a curious thing, a Grin without any Cat? Would you like to see one?
If you turn up the corner of this leaf, you’ll have Alice looking at the Grin: and she doesn’t look a bit more frightened than when she was looking at the Cat, does she?
Chapter X.
The Mad Tea-Party
THIS is the Mad Tea-Party. You see Alice had left the Cheshire-Cat, and had gone off to see the March Hare and the Hatter, as the Cheshire-Cat had advised her: and she found them having tea under a great tree, with a Dormouse sitting between them.
There were only those three at the table, but there were quantities of tea-cups set all along it. You ca’n’t see all the table, you know, and even in the bit you can see there are nine cups, counting the one the March Hare has got in his hand.
That’s the March Hare, with the long ears, and straws mixed up with his hair. The straws showed he was mad—I don’t know why. Never twist up straws among your hair, for fear people should think you’re mad!
There was a nice green arm-chair at the end of the table, that looked as if it was just meant for Alice: so she went and sat down in it.
Then she had quite a long talk with the March Hare and the Hatter. The Dormouse didn’t say much. You see it was fast asleep generally, and it only just woke up for a moment, now and