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12 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll · Adventure Books Collection

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  Alice's evidence here, cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment
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  how large she had grown in the last few minutes. And she jumped up
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  in such a hurry that she tipped over the jury box with the edge of
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  her skirt, upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below.
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  And there they lay sprawling about, reminding her very much of a globe
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  of goldfish she had accidentally upset the week before. Oh, I beg your
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  pardon, she exclaimed, in a tone of great dismay, and began picking
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  them up again as quickly as she could, for the accident of the goldfish
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  kept running in her head, and she had a vague sort of idea that
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  they must be collected at once and put back into the jury box, or
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  they would die. The trial cannot proceed, said the King in a very
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  grave voice until all of the jurymen are back in their proper places, all,
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  he repeated, with great emphasis, looking hard at Alice as he said
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  so. Alice looked at the box and saw that in her haste she had
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  put the lizard in head downwards, and the poor little thing was waving its
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  tail about in a melancholy way. Being quite unable to move, she soon
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  got it out again and put it right. Not that it signifies much,
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  she said to herself, I should think it be quite as much use in
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  the trial one way up as the other. As soon as the jury had
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  a little recovered from the shock of being upset, and their slates and pencils
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  had been found and handed back to them, they set to work very diligently
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  to write out a history of the accident, all except the lizard, who
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  seemed too much overcome to do anything but sit with its mouth open, gazing
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  up into the roof of the court. What do you know about this business,
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  the King said to Alice. Nothing, said Alice, Nothing whatever,
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  persisted the King. Nothing whatever, said Alice. That's very important, the
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  King said, turning to the jury. They were just beginning to write this
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  down on their slates when the white rabbit interrupted, unimportant, your majesty means,
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  of course, he said, in a very respectful tone, but frowning
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  and making faces at him as he spoke. Unimportant, of course, I
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  meant, the King hastily said, and went on to himself in an undertone.
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  Important, unimportant, unimportant, important, as if he was trying which
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  word sounded best. Some of the jury wrote it down important and some unimportant.
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  Alice could see this, as she was near enough to look over their
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  slates. But it doesn't matter a bit, she thought to herself. At
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  this moment, the King, who had been for some time busily writing in
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  his notebook, cackled out silence and read out from his book rule forty two.
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  All persons more than a mile high to leave the court. Everybody looked
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  at Alice. I'm not a mile high, said Alice. You are,
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  said the king. Nearly two miles high, added the queen. Well,
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  I shan't go at any rate, said Alice. Beside, that's not a
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  regular rule. You invented it just now. It's the oldest rule in the
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  book, said the King. Then it ought to be number one, said
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  Alice. The King turned pale and shut his notebook hastily. Consider your verdict,
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  he said to the jury in a low trembling voice. There's more evidence
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  to come yet, please, your majesty, said the white rabbit, jumping
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  up in a great hurry. This paper has just been picked up. What's
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  in it? Said the Queen. I haven't opened it yet, said the
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  white rabbit, but it seems to be a letter written by the prisoner to
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  to somebody. It must have been that, said the King, unless it
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  was written to nobody, which isn't usual. You know who is it directed
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  to, said one of the jurymen. It isn't directed at all, said
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  the white letter. In fact, there's nothing written on the outside. He
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  unfolded the paper as he spoke and added, it isn't a letter, after
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  all. It's a set of verses. Are they in the prisoner's handwriting,
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  asked another of the jurymen. No they're not, said the White Rabbit.
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  And that's the queerest thing about it. The jury all looked puzzled. He
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  must have imitated somebody else's hand, said the King. The jury all brightened
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  up again. Please, your majesty, said the knave. I didn't write
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  it, and they can't prove I did. There's no name signed at the
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  end. If you didn't sign it, said the King. That only makes
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  the matter worse. You must have meant some mischief, or else you'd have
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  signed your name like an honest man. There was a general clapping of hands
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  at this. It was the first really clever thing the King had said that
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  day that proves his guilt, said the queen. It proves nothing of the
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  sort, said Alice. Why you don't even know what they're about? Read
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  them, said the king. The white rabbit put on his Where shall I
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  begin? Please, your majesty, he asked, Begin at the beginning,
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  the King said, gravely, and go on till you come to the end.
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  Then stop. These were the verses the white rabbit read. They told
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  me you had been to her and mentioned me to him. She gave me
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  a good character, but said I could not swim. He sent them word
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  I had not gone. We know it to be true. If she would
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  push the matter on, what would become of you? I gave her one,
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  They gave him two. You gave us three or more. They all
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  returned from him to you, though they were mine before. If I or
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  she should chance to be involved in this affair, he trusts to you to
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  set them three exactly as we were. My notion was that you had been
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  before. She had this fit an obstacle that came between him and ourselves.
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  And it don't let him know she liked them best, For this must ever
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  be a secret kept from all the rest, between yourself and me. That's
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  the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet, said the King, rubbing
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  his hands. And now let the jury, if any one of them can
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  explain it, said Alice. She had grown so large in the last few
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  minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting him. I'll give him sixpence.
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  I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it. The jury all
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  wrote this down on their slates. She doesn't believe there's an atom of meaning
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  in it. But none of them attempted to explain the paper. If there's
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  no meaning in it, said the king. That saves a world of trouble,
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  you know, as we needn't try to find any And yet I don't
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  know. He went on spreading out the verses on his knee and looking at
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  them all with one eye. I seemed to see some meaning in them,
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  after all, said I could not swim. You can't swim, he added,
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  turning to the knave. The knave shook his head sadly, Do I
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  look like it, he said, which he certainly did not, being made
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  entirely of cardboard. All right, so far, said the king, and
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  he went on muttering over the verses to himself. We know it to be
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  true. That's the jury. Of course I gave her one. They gave
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  him two. Why that must be what he did with the tarts, you
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  know. But it goes on. They all returned from him to you,
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  said Alice. Why there they are, said the King triumphantly, pointing to
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  the tarts on the table. Nothing can be clearer than that. Then again,
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  before she had this fit, you never had fits, my dear,
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  I think, he said to the queen. Never, said the Queen,
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  furiously, throwing an inkstand at the lizard as she spoke. The unfortunate little
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  bill had left off writing on his slate with one finger, as he found
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  it made no mark, But he now hastily began again, using the ink
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  that was trickling down his face as long as it lasted. Then the words
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  don't fit you, said the King, looking round the court with a smile.
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  There was a dead silence. It's upon, the King added in an
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  offended tone, and everybody laughed. Let the jury consider their verdict, the
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  King said, for about the twentieth time that day. No, No,
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  said the queen. Sentence first verdict. Afterwards, stuff and nonsense, said
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  Alice loudly. The idea of having the sentence first hold your tongue, said
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  the queen, turning purple. I won't, said Alice. Off with her
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  head, the queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.
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  Who cares for you? Said Alice. She had grown to her full size
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  by this time. You're nothing but a pack of cards. At this the
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  whole pack rose up into the air and came flying down upon her. She
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  gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried
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  to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank with her head
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  in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves
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  that had fluttered down from the tree upon her face. Wake up, Alice,
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  dear, said her sister. Why what a long sleep you've had.
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  Oh I've had such a curious dream, said Alice, And she told her
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  sister as well as she could remember them, all these strange adventures of hers
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  that you've just been reading about. And when she had finished, her sister
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  kissed her and said, it was a curious dream, dear, certainly,
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  But now run into your tea. It's getting late. So Alice got up
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  and ran off, thinking while she ran as well, she might what a
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  wonderful dream it had been. But her sister sat still just as she left
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  her, leaning her head on her hand, watching the setting sun, and
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  thinking of little Alice and all her wonderful adventures, till she two began dreaming
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  after a fashion, and this was her dream. First, she dreamed of
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  little Alice herself. And once again the tiny hands were clasped upon her knee,
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  and the bright, eager eyes were looking up into hers, and she
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  could hear the very tones of her voice, and see that queer little toss
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  of her head to keep back the wandering hair that would always get into her
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  eyes. And still as she listened, or seemed to listen, the whole
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  place around her became alive the strange creatures of her little sister's dream. The
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  long grass rustled at her feet, as the white rabbit, hurried by the
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  frightened mouse, splashed his way through the neighboring pool. She could hear the
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  rattle of the teacups as the march hare and his friends shared their never ending
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  meal, and the shrill voice of the queen ordering off her unfortunate guests to
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  execution once more. The pig baby was sneezing on the Duchess's knee, while
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  plates and dishes crashed around it. Once more, the shriek of the griffin,
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  the squealing of the lizard's slate pencil, and the choking of the suppressed
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  guinea pigs filled the air, mixed up with the distant sobs of the miserable
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  mock turtle. So she sat on with closed eyes and half believed herself in
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  wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all
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  would change to dull reality. The grass would be only rustling in the wind,
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  and the pool ripplings of the waving of the reeds. The rattling teacups
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  would change to tinkling sheep bells, and the queen's shrill cries of the voice
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  of the shepherd boy, and the sneeze of the baby. The shriek of
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  the griffin, and all the other queer noises would change, she knew,
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  to the confused clamor of the busy farm yard, while the lowing of the
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  cattle in the distance would take the place of the mock turtle's heavy sobs.
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  Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would in
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  the after time be herself a grown woman, and how she would keep through
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  all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood. And
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  how she would gather about her other little children and make their eyes bright and
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  eager, with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland
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  of long ago, And how she would feel with all their simple sorrows and
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  find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child life and
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  the happy summer days. This is the end of Alice's adventures in Wonderland.