01.2-CHAPTER I Looking-Glass House part2-kv

CHAPTERI 

Looking-Glass Housepart2

Then she beganlooking about, and noticed that what could be seen from the old room was quitecommon and uninteresting, but that all the rest was a different as possible.For instance, the pictures on the wall next the fire seemed to be all alive,and the very clock on the chimney-piece (you know you can only see the back ofit in the Looking-glass) had got the face of a little old man, and grinned ather. 

‘Theydon’t keep this room so tidy as the other,’Alice thought to herself, as she noticed several of the chessmendown in the hearth among the cinders: but in another moment, with a little ‘Oh!’of surprise, she was down on her handsand knees watching them. The chessmen were walking about, two and two! 

‘Hereare the Red King and the Red Queen,’Alice said (in awhisper, for fear of frightening them), ‘and there arethe White King and the White Queen sitting on the edge of the shovel — and here are two castles walking arm in arm — I don’t think they can hear me,’she went on, as she put her head closer down, ‘and I’m nearly sure they can’t see me. I feel somehow as if I were invisible — ‘

Here somethingbegan squeaking on the table behind Alice, and made her turn her head just intime to see one of the White Pawns roll over and begin kicking: she watched itwith great curiosity to see what would happen next. 

‘Itis the voice of my child!’the White Queen cried out asshe rushed past the King, so violently that she knocked him over among thecinders. ‘My precious Lily! My imperial kitten!’and she began scrambling wildly up the side of the fender. 

‘Imperialfiddlestick!’said the King, rubbing his nose, which hadbeen hurt by the fall. He had a right to be a little annoyed with the Queen,for he was covered with ashes from head to foot. 

Alice was veryanxious to be of use, and, as the poor little Lily was nearly screaming herselfinto a fit, she hastily picked up the Queen and set her on the table by theside of her noisy little daughter. 

The Queen gasped,and sat down: the rapid journey through the air had quite taken away her breathand for a minute or two she could do nothing but hug the little Lily insilence. As soon as she had recovered her breath a little, she called out tothe White King, who was sitting sulkily among the ashes, ‘Mind the volcano!’

‘Whatvolcano?’said the King, looking up anxiously into thefire, as if he thought that was the most likely place to find one. 

‘Blew — me — up,’panted the Queen, who was still a little out of breath. ‘Mind you come up — the regular way — don’t get blown up!’

Alice watched theWhite King as he slowly struggled up from bar to bar, till at last she said, ‘Why, you’ll be hours and hours getting to the table, at that rate. I’d far better help you, hadn’t I?’But the King took no notice of the question: it was quite clear thathe could neither hear her nor see her. 

So Alice picked himup very gently, and lifted him across more slowly than she had lifted theQueen, that she mightn’ttake his breath away: but, before she put him on the table, she thought shemight as well dust him a little, he was so covered with ashes. 

She said afterwardsthat she had never seen in all her life such a face as the King made, when hefound himself held in the air by an invisible hand, and being dusted: he wasfar too much astonished to cry out, but his eyes and his mouth went on gettinglarger and larger, and rounder and rounder, till her hand shook so withlaughing that she nearly let him drop upon the floor. 

‘Oh!Please don’t make such faces, my dear!’she cried out, quite forgetting that the King couldn’t hear her. ‘You make me laugh so that I canhardly hold you! And don’t keep your mouth so wideopen! All the ashes will get into it — there, now Ithink you’re tidy enough!’sheadded, as she smoothed his hair, and set him upon the table near theQueen. 

The Kingimmediately fell flat on his back, and lay perfectly still: and Alice was alittle alarmed at what she had done, and went round the room to see if shecould find any water to throw over him. However, she could find nothing but abottle of ink, and when she got back with it she found he had recovered, and heand the Queen were talking together in a frightened whisper — so low, that Alicecould hardly hear what they said. 

The King wassaying, ‘Iassure, you my dear, I turned cold to the very ends of my whiskers!’

To which the Queenreplied, ‘Youhaven’t got any whiskers.’

‘Thehorror of that moment,’the King went on, ‘I shall never, never forget!’

‘Youwill, though,’the Queen said, ‘ifyou don’t make a memorandum of it.’

Alice looked onwith great interest as the King took an enormous memorandum-book out of hispocket, and began writing. A sudden thought struck her, and she took hold ofthe end of the pencil, which came some way over his shoulder, and began writingfor him. 

The poor King lookpuzzled and unhappy, and struggled with the pencil for some time without sayinganything; but Alice was too strong for him, and at last he panted out, ‘My dear! I really mustget a thinner pencil. I can’t manage this one a bit; itwrites all manner of things that I don’t intend —’

‘Whatmanner of things?’said the Queen, looking over the book(in which Alice had put ‘the white knight is slidingdown the poker. he balances very badly’) ‘That’s not a memorandum of your feelings!’

There was a booklying near Alice on the table, and while she sat watching the White King (forshe was still a little anxious about him, and had the ink all ready to throwover him, in case he fainted again), she turned over the leaves, to find somepart that she could read, ‘— for it’s all in some language I don’t know,’she said to herself. 

It was like this:

She puzzled overthis for some time, but at last a bright thought struck her. ‘Why, it’s a Looking-glass book, of course! And if I hold it up to a glass,the words will all go the right way again.’ 

This was the poemthat Alice read:

                                                      JABBERWOCKY.

‘Twasbrillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimblein the wabe;

All mimsy were theborogoves,

And the mome rathsoutgrabe. 

‘Bewarethe Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite,the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjubbird, and shun

The frumiousBandersnatch!’

He took his vorpalsword in hand:

Long time the manxomefoe he sought —

So rested he by theTumtum tree,

And stood awhile inthought. 

And as in uffishthought he stood,

The Jabberwock,with eyes of flame,

Came whifflingthrough the tulgey wood,

And burbled as itcame! 

One, two! One, two!And through and through

The vorpal bladewent snicker-snack!

He left it dead,and with its head

He went galumphingback. 

‘Andhas thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, mybeamish boy!

O frabjous day!Callooh! Callay!

He chortled in hisjoy. 

‘Twasbrillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimblein the wabe;

All mimsy were theborogoves,

And the mome rathsoutgrabe. 

‘Itseems very pretty,’she said when she had finished it, ‘but it’s rather hard to understand!’(You see she didn’t like to confess, even toherself, that she couldn’t make it out at all.) ‘Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas — only I don’t exactly know what they are!However, somebody killed something: that’s clear, atany rate — ‘

‘Butoh!’thought Alice, suddenly jumping up, ‘if I don’t make haste I shall have to goback through the Looking-glass, before I’ve seen whatthe rest of the house is like! Let’s have a look at thegarden first!’She was out of the room in a moment, andran down stairs — or, at least, it wasn’t exactly running, but a new invention of hers for getting downstairs quickly and easily, as Alice said to herself. She just kept the tips ofher fingers on the hand-rail, and floated gently down without even touching thestairs with her feet; then she floated on through the hall, and would have gonestraight out at the door in the same way, if she hadn’tcaught hold of the door-post. She was getting a little giddy with so muchfloating in the air, and was rather glad to find herself walking again in thenatural way.