Войти в систему
Войти с помощью соц. сетей:
“Here!” cried Alice, quite forgetting how large she had grown in the last few minutes, and she jumped up in such a hurry that the edge of her skirt upset all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below.
“Oh, I BEG your pardon!” she exclaimed in great worry, and began picking them up as quickly as she could.
“The trial cannot continue,” said the King in a very serious voice, “until all the jury-men are back in their places – ALL,” he repeated.
As soon as the jury had a little recovered from the shock, they started writing down the history of the accident.
“What do you know about this?” the King said to Alice.
“Nothing,” said Alice.
“Nothing AT ALL?” persisted the King.
“Nothing at all,” said Alice.
“That’s very important,” the King said, turning to the jury. They were just beginning to write this down, when the White Rabbit interrupted: “UNimportant, your Majesty means, of course,” he said in a very respectful tone.
“UNimportant, of course, I meant,” the King hastily said.
Some of the jury wrote it down “important,” and some “unimportant.” Alice could see this, as she was near enough; “but it doesn’t matter,” she thought to herself.
At this moment the King cried out “Silence!” and read out from his book, “Rule Forty-two. ALL PERSONS MORE THAN A MILE HIGH MUST LEAVE THE COURT.”
Everybody looked at Alice.
“I’M not a mile high,” said Alice.
“You are,” said the King.
“Nearly two miles high,” added the Queen.
“Well, I won’t go, at any rate,” said Alice: “besides, that’s not a usual rule: you invented it just now.”
“It’s the oldest rule in the book,” said the King.
“Then it must be Number One,” said Alice.
The King turned pale, and closed his note-book hastily. “Read your verdict,” he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice.
“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first – verdict after it.”
“Nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The sentence can’t go first!”
“Hold your tongue!” said the Queen, turning dark red.
“I won’t!” said Alice.
“Off with her head!” the Queen shouted as loudly as she could. Nobody moved.
“Who is afraid of you?” said Alice, (she was her full size by this time.) “You’re just a pack of cards!”
At this moment the whole pack went up into the air, and came flying down on her: she screamed and woke up on the bank of the river. Her sister was sitting near her and gently brushing away some dry leaves that had fell down from the trees on Alice’s face.
“Wake up, Alice dear!” said her sister; “What a long sleep you’ve had!”
“Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream!” said Alice, and she told her sister all her strange Adventures as she could remember them. When she finished, her sister kissed her, and said,
“It WAS a curious dream, dear, certainly: but it’s getting late and it’s time for tea.” So they got up and went home. And all their way back Alice was thinking about her wonderful and unusual dream that she would never forget.
The old cat Dinah was washing the white kitten, called Snowdrop. Dinah was rubbing its face all over beginning at the nose and it was lying quite still and trying to purr. Snowdrop felt that it was all for its own good. The black kitten, called Kitty, was already washed and clean.
Alice was sitting in the great arm-chair, half talking to herself and half asleep. And Kitty was playing with a ball of worsted rolling it up and down on the floor. The whole room was in a mess.
‘Oh, you wicked little thing!’ cried Alice and caught up the kitten. She gave it a little kiss. ‘Where are your manners? Dinah has to teach you how to behave!’ she added and sat back into the arm-chair. She began winding up the ball again. Alice was talking all the time, sometimes to the kitten, and sometimes to herself. Kitty sat next to her and watched the process.
‘Oh, I was so angry, Kitty,’ Alice went on, ‘when I saw all the mischief you have done, I was nearly opening the window and putting you out into the snow! You deserve it, you little darling! What have you got to say for yourself? I’m going to tell you all your faults. Number one: you squeaked twice when Dinah was washing your face this morning. You can’t deny it, Kitty! Number two: you pulled Snowdrop away by the tail when I gave it some milk! Number three: you unwound the worsted while I wasn’t looking!’
‘Three faults, Kitty! I will punish you some day!’
‘Oh, Kitty, can you play chess? Don’t smile, my dear, I’m asking you seriously. Because, when we were playing just now, you watched as if you understood everything. I said “Check!” and you purred! Kitty, dear, let’s pretend…’
“Let’s pretend…” was Alice’s favourite phrase.
‘Let’s pretend that you’re the Red Queen! I think if you sit like this, you’ll look exactly like her. Try, dear!’ And Alice took the Red Queen and showed it to the kitten. But the kitten couldn’t sit properly. In order to punish it, Alice held it up to the Looking-glass ‘If you’re not good,’ she said, ‘I’ll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like that?’
‘Now, Kitty, I’ll tell you everything about Looking-glass House. First, you can see a room through the glass… it’s just the same as our living room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair… all except the bit behind the fireplace. Oh! I wish I could see that bit! I want to know if they have a fire in the winter. Well, the books are like our books, only the words go the wrong way.’
‘Would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they would give you milk there. Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn’t good. Oh, Kitty! How nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I’m sure there are such beautiful things in it! Let’s pretend we can find a way into it, Kitty. Look, it’s turning into a sort of mist! It will be easy to get through… ’.
In another moment Alice was through the glass, and jumped down into the Looking-glass room. First she looked if there was a fire in the fireplace. And she was pleased when she saw a real fire.
Then she began looking about – it was very interesting there! For example, the pictures on the wall were alive, and the clock on the chimney piece had got the face of a little old man, and he smiled at her.
She noticed some chessmen on the floor and thought that it wasn’t very tidy there. But in another moment, she understood that they were alive! The chessmen were walking about!
‘Here are the Red King and the Red Queen,’ Alice whispered, ‘and there are the White King and the White Queen… and here two castles are 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 sure they can’t see me. I feel as if I were invisible… ’
Something began squeaking on the table behind Alice, and she turned her head and saw that one of the White Pawns fell down.
‘It is the voice of my child!’ the White Queen cried out. ‘My dear Lily!’
Alice wanted to help the White Queen, and she picked up the Queen and set her on the table to her noisy little daughter.
The journey through the air frightened the White Queen and for a minute or two she could do nothing but hug the little Lily in silence. But then she cried, ‘Mind the volcano!’
‘What volcano?’ said the White King, he looked into the fire, as if he thought there was a volcano.
‘It blew me up,’ said the White Queen, who was still frightened. ‘Come up the regular way!’
Alice watched the White King – he began coming up very slowly. Alice said, ‘I will help you!’ But he couldn’t hear and see her. Alice picked him up very gently, and lifted him. But, before she put him on the table, she began cleaning him – he was very dirty because of ashes. Of course, he was frightened too – he was hanging in the air and something was cleaning him!
Alice set him on the table near the Queen. The White King fell on his back and lay perfectly still. Alice worried about him and started looking for some water for him. However, she found only a bottle of ink, and when she went back the White King had already recovered. He and the Queen were talking together in a frightened whisper… so low, that Alice could hardly hear what they were saying.
The King said: ‘I turned cold to the very ends of my whiskers!’
‘You haven’t got any whiskers,’ the Queen said.
‘This horrible moment,’ the King went on, ‘I will never, never forget!’
‘You will,’ the Queen said, ‘if you don’t make a note of it.’
The King took a big note-book out of his pocket, and began writing. A sudden thought came to Alice, and she took the end of his pencil and began writing for him.
The poor King look puzzled and unhappy, and at last he said: ‘My dear! I need another pencil. It writes what I don’t want to write!’
The Queen looked into the book – ‘The White Knight is sliding down the poker. He balances very badly.’ ‘But these aren’t your thoughts!’
There was a book near Alice on the table, and she opened it and read.
YKCOWREBBAJ
sevot yhtils eht dna,gillirb sawT‘
ebaw eht ni elbmig dna eryg diD
,sevogorob eht erew ysmim llA
.ebargtuo shtar emom eht dnA
At first she was puzzled vey much, but then she understood everything. ‘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 poem that Alice read.
JABBERWOCKY
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
‘It is very pretty,’ Alice said, ‘but it’s very hard to understand! It seems to fill my head with ideas… only I don’t exactly know what they are!’
‘Oh!’ thought Alice suddenly, ‘I want to see the rest of the house! Let’s start with the garden first!’ and ran downstairs.
Войти с помощью соц. сетей: