...but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
她不顧後果地跟著鑽進去，就開始了一段很長的下落旅程。 《駭客任務Ⅰ》引用了這段典故。
``Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and
stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure I shan't be able! I shall be
a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage
the best way you can--but I must be kind to them,'' thought Alice, ``or perhaps
they won't walk the way I want to go!''
... 她想著每年耶誕節該送一份禮物給自己的腳，
因為分離太遠得要外送，並思索著贈禮的卡片該寫...
ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.
HEARTHRUG,
NEAR THE FENDER,
(WITH ALICE'S LOVE).
Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'
這是 Carroll 首度稱自己的創作 ``nonsense''!
Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!
為什麼算不到 20？在數學中，只要適當地更改定義， 任何命題都可能是正確的。在某種定義下，愛麗絲「背誦」的乘法都是正確的。
後來是用一個雜亂無章的「賽跑」烘乾身體的。Dodo 鳥要頒獎給愛麗絲， 卻沒有東西可以頒，要愛麗絲自己拿一個東西出來（一只頂針）， 再鄭重地頒給她，並發表一句話的「演說」：
``We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble.''
（Alice 究竟有沒有打開小門進去皇宮花園啊？ 故事發展至此，愛麗絲開始了「漫遊」旅程，大家都忘了那回事； 她還是進了皇宮花園，在第八章。）
``Mine is a long and a sad tale!''
故事 (tale) 和尾巴 (tail) 同音，愛麗絲誤會了，接著說
``It is a long tail, certainly,'' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; ``but why do you call it sad?''
這裡 Carroll 玩弄了一個英文同音字的遊戲。 像這樣的文字，該怎麼翻譯呢？趙元任想了這個辦法：
「唉，我的歷史說來可真是又長又苦又委屈呀！」
愛麗絲聽了，瞧著那老鼠的尾巴說：「你這尾是很長很曲沒錯，
可是為什麼又叫它苦呢？」
翻譯之後，變成另一個中文的同音字遊戲：「委屈」和「尾」「曲」同音。
故事還沒說完，愛麗絲又講錯話提起了她心愛的貓， 這次除了老鼠以外，各種鳥類也趕忙找藉口回家了。 （貓也會補鳥吃。)
這時，那隻穿著背心的兔子又來串場了， 他氣呼呼地走來，原來是在到處找他剛才嚇掉了的扇子和手套 （這些是當時上流社會參加 party 的隨身飾品)。 兔子把愛麗絲誤認為自己的女僕 （這時愛麗絲縮得像老鼠，所以比兔子還要小)， 喝叱她回家拿另一副扇子和手套。
愛麗絲慌張地亂跑，看見一間門上寫著 W. RABBIT 的房子就跑進去。 她找到了扇子和手套，但是又看見一瓶飲料。 她希望再變大免得受兔子欺負，就不管三七二十一喝了那瓶飲料。
兔老爺火大了，決定拆房子。愛麗絲正擔心自己闖了禍， 卻發現房頂上掉下來的瓦片都變成小蛋糕， 她撿起來又往嘴裡放，果然一邊吃一邊縮小，縮得夠小就從門縫裡溜了出去。
愛麗絲和毛毛蟲展開一段有趣的對話， 聽起來好像很有哲理，但其實 nonsense。 Carroll 開始觸及哲學問題，例如「我是誰？」「什麼是我？」。 愛麗絲說她想要說一句話，說出來卻不是那句準備要講的話。 毛毛蟲要她被一首詩試試看，那是當時小孩子在課本裡學的一首詩： You are old, father William。作者是 Robert Southey (1774-1843)， 原詩充滿教訓意味：年輕人畢恭畢敬地請教威廉老爹一些人生的經驗， 老爹就說一些年輕人啊，不要這樣不要那樣的話。 Carroll 趁這個機會，用類似的音韻改寫了它， 但是內容改得既好笑又 nonsense， 是 Carroll 之 parody 創作的典範。
可能 Tenniel 也認為這首詩的改寫太經典了， 為它畫了四幅插圖。
`And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
`In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
`I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.'
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--
Pray, what is the reason of that?'
`In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his gray locks,
`I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box--
Allow me to sell you a couple?'
（是否聯想到周星馳點秋香裡的一段戲？)
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
Pray how did you manage to do it?'
`In my youth,' said his father, `I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.'
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
What made you so awfully clever?'
`I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
Said his father; `don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
愛麗絲背完一遍之後，自己也說「好像不太對」，毛毛蟲說「從頭到尾都不對」。
後來，毛毛蟲總算傳授愛麗絲一套任意變大變小的方法。當她練習時， 一度控制不好，脖子太長伸到了樹冠之上，又從上面繞回樹梢， 驚嚇了一隻鴿子和她孵蛋的巢， Carroll 創造了一段「名學」的對白。
`Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon.
`I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. `Let me alone!'
... (鴿子抱怨孵蛋很辛苦，還要躲避蛇，三星期沒睡好了；愛麗絲深表同情。）
`But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. `I'm a--I'm a--'
`Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. `I can see you're trying to invent something!'
`I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changes she had gone through that day.
`A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest contempt. `I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an egg!'
`I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful child; `but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know.'
`I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; `but if they do, why then they're a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.' ... `You're looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me whether you're a little girl or a serpent?'
只要小女孩吃蛋，對鴿子來說，小女孩跟蛇有什麼不同？ 小女孩就是一種蛇。類似地，如果一個謊言能夠欺瞞一輩子， 這個謊言跟事實有什麼不同？ 白居易：『周公恐懼流言日，王莽謙恭未篡時。 向使當時身便死，一生真偽復誰知？』 既然如此，死時就知道真偽嗎？
For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wodering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood--(she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a fish)--and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened by another footman in livery, with a round face and large eyes like a frog.
Carroll 用具象的青蛙描寫「眼睛長在頭頂上」的僕役。 原來魚是皇后的信差，青蛙是女伯爵的家僕，這是女伯爵的官邸。 皇后邀女伯爵參加槌球派對，而兔老爺一直嘟噥著怕遲到了的，就是這場派對。 Carroll 諷刺性地描寫了兩個男僕的做作行為和繁文縟節。
信差走了之後，青蛙坐在門外，愛麗絲上前敲門。
"There might be some sense in your knocking," the Footman went on, without attending to her, "if we had the door between us. For instance, if you were inside, you might knock, and I could let you out, you know." He was looking up into the sky all the time he was speaking, and this Alice thought decidely uncivil.
柴郡貓 (Cheshire cat) 在此出現，愛麗絲對它的印象是 grinning from ear to ear (笑得兩個嘴角都咧到耳朵邊了)。
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That dependes a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
..."and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy!"
"All right," said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice; "but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!"
"Your hair wants cutting," said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.
"You should learn not to make personal remarks," Alice said with some severity: "It's very rude."
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
"Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice. "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles--I believe I can guess that," she added aloud.
"Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said the March Hare.
"Exactly so," said Alice.
"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know."
"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that `I see what I eat' is the same things as 'I eat what I see'!"
"You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that `I like what I get' is the same things as `I get what I like'!"
"You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, "that `I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as `I sleep when I breathe'!"
"It is the same thing with you," said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped.
`What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.' （Carroll 指的是 1862 年的 7 月 4 日)
`Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
`It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.
`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'
...
Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. `What a funny watch!' she remarked. `It tells the day of the month, and doesn't tell what o'clock it is!'
`Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. `Does YOUR watch tell you what year it is?'
`Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: `but that's because it stays the same year for such a long time together.'
`Which is just the case with MINE,' said the Hatter.
愛麗絲徹底不懂這 nonsense 的對話了，她埋怨帽匠沒有珍惜時間而浪費了它 (wasting it)，帽匠說應該是「他」而不是「它」，然後說想必愛麗絲不認識時間。
`I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'
`Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.'
`Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. `He won't stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons: you'd only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!'
三個角色又胡鬧一番，有許多精彩的無厘頭對話，例如
`Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
`I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can't take more.'
`You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: `it's very easy to take MORE than nothing.'
愛麗絲生氣了，決定離開瘋茶會。 忽然她發現自己回到了當初落地的長廊盡頭， 現在她完全掌握了變大變小術，拿了桌上的鑰匙，變得適當地小，開門走進了花園。
國王是個老好先生，但是皇后很愛砍別人的頭，動不動就說 off with his head。 （兒童不宜吧？其實整個故事沒有人真的被砍） 園丁因為種錯了玫瑰的顏色而戰慄恐懼，互相責怪。 最後它們決定把白花漆成紅色，慌亂中皇后等一行人駕到， 原來他們要去槌球場，下午有一場皇宮槌球派對。 兔老爺和女伯爵都受邀了。 （此時出現了 K 和 Q 牌，J 牌稍後上場）
`My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,' said Alice very politely; but she added, to herself, `Why, they're only a pack of cards, after all. I needn't be afraid of them!'
`And who are THESE?' said the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who were lying round the rosetree; for, you see, as they were lying on their faces, and the pattern on their backs was the same as the rest of the pack, she could not tell whether they were gardeners, or soldiers, or courtiers, or three of her own children.
皇后順便叫這個陌生但是看來有趣的「東西」（愛麗絲）一起參加槌球遊戲。
Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life: it was all ridges and furrows: the croquet balls were live hedgehogs, and the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.
The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightended out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing; and, when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or a furrow in the way whereever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.
The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from; that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn't going to begin at his time of life.
The King's argument was, that anything that had a head could be beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense.
The Queen's argument was that, if something wasn't done about it in less than no time, she'd have everybody executed, all round.
愛麗絲說這貓是女伯爵的，不如問問她吧？於是女伯爵又上場了。
她應酬著說：「現在這槌球玩得稍微順手一點了。」
那公爵夫人答道：「是啊。由此可見--『世界上事情之所以能行，是愛情的功用啊，是愛情的功用啊！』」
愛麗絲低聲說：「有人說世界上事情能行是『各人自掃門前雪』的功用。」
那公爵夫人說：「啊，是啊！這是一樣的意思，」又把她那個尖下巴在愛麗絲的嫩肩膀上鑽一下說：「由此可見--說話總要『不以字達辭，不以辭達意。』」
愛麗絲自己想道：「這個人真愛引用『由此可見』『由此可見』。」
那公爵夫人停了一下又說：「我猜妳一定在那兒想我為什麼不拿胳臂抱著妳的腰，我是因為有點疑惑妳那紅鶴的脾氣。讓我來試驗一下，好吧？」
愛麗絲一點兒也不想作這個試驗，他小心地回答說：「牠也許會咬妳的。」
那公爵夫人說：「沒錯，紅鶴和芥末一樣，都會咬人的。由此可見--『近豬者黑，近麥者白』。」
愛麗絲說：「可是芥末不是個動物，怎麼同紅鶴比呢？」
那公爵夫人說：「又對啦，妳說話真說得好清楚！」
愛麗絲說：「我想它是一種礦物。」
那公爵夫人似乎任愛麗絲說什麼，她總以為然的，她說：「自然是個礦物。這附近就有一個芥末礦。由此可見--『所曠愈多，所學愈少』。」
愛麗絲沒聽見最後一句話，她嚷道：「喔，我知道啦！芥末是一種植物。它樣子是不像，但是它確實是植物。」
那公爵夫人說：「妳的意見不錯，由此可見--『畫兔畫鬚難畫耳，知人知面不知心』--或者簡單些說就是--『再不要以為你自己不是對於別人所見的，以為你從前的情形，或是你也許會有過的情形，相差的不是對於你所做過的對於他們似乎不同的樣子。』」
女伯爵想要以長者的身份，告訴愛麗絲一些「人生的經驗」 （Carroll 又在諷刺大人了)， 她說『Everthing's got a moral, if only you can find it.』 （每件事都有個教訓，只看妳能不能發現)。
`The game's going on rather better now,' she said, by way of keeping up the conversation a little.
`'Tis so,' said the Duchess: `and the moral of that is--"Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love, that makes the world go round!"'
`Somebody said,' Alice whispered, `that it's done by everybody minding their own business!' （愛麗絲說的「某人說」就是女伯爵先前在廚房裡說過的話)，
`Ah, well! It means much the same thing,' said the Duchess, digging her sharp little chin into Alice's shoulder as she added, `and the moral of THAT is--"Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves."' （這是 Carroll 發明的話，改編自勸人節約儲蓄的英國俚語 Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves。 後來它卻變成教人作詩的一句重要原則。)，
`How fond she is of finding morals in things!' Alice thought to herself.
`I dare say you're wondering why I don't put my arm round your waist,' the Duchess said after a pause: `the reason is, that I'm doubtful about the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the experiment?'
`HE might bite,' Alice cautiously replied, not feeling at all anxious to have the experiment tried.
`Very true,' said the Duchess: `flamingoes and mustard both bite. And the moral of that is--"Birds of a feather flock together."'
`Only mustard isn't a bird,' Alice remarked.
`Right, as usual,' said the Duchess: `what a clear way you have of putting things!'
`It's a mineral, I THINK,' said Alice.
`Of course it is,' said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything that Alice said; `there's a large mustard-mine near here. And the moral of that is--"The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours."'
`Oh, I know!' exclaimed Alice, who had not attended to this last remark, `it's a vegetable. It doesn't look like one, but it is.'
`I quite agree with you,' said the Duchess; `and the moral of that is--"Be what you would seem to be"--or if you'd like it put more simply--"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."'
Carroll 用骨勒鳳和稍後的虛假角色，影射大學裡過於多愁善感 （但那是虛假的感情）的文學生。在《鏡中奇緣》他以一個蛋頭角色， 直接影射文學教授。
愛麗絲問道：「他是個什麼王，你們會叫他老王呢？」
那素甲魚怒道：「我們管這老甲魚叫老王，因為他老忘記了教我們的功課。妳怎麼這麼笨？」
（能想像一點「鄉音」就更有趣了。)，
...
「『練浮』和『瀉滯』；此外就是各門的算術：『夾術』、『鉗術』、『沈術』和『醜術』。」
（趙元任的翻譯除了音似，更有趣的是全部跟海洋生活有關。)
...
「還有就是『裡濕』：『上骨裡濕』、『中骨裡濕』、『近骨裡濕』，這是同『海理』一塊兒學的；還有就是『塗化』，那個塗化先生是一個墨魚，每禮拜來一回；他教我們『尖鼻化』、『水茶化』和『油化』。」
素甲魚嗚咽地向愛麗絲回憶當年在（海底）學校的過去。 這一段對話，Carroll 大玩同音或擬音字的雙關語遊戲， 而趙元任也恣意揮灑地陪他玩。
`When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, `we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him Tortoise--'
`Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.
`We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle angrily: `really you are very dull!'
...海底學校的課程包括...
`Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,' the Mock Turtle replied; `and then the different branches of Arithmetic-- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'
...
`Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers, `--Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.'
"And how many hours a day did you do lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
"Ten hours the first day," said the Mock Turtle: "nine the next, and so on."
"What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.
"That's the reason they're called lessons." the Gryphon remarked. "because they lessen from day to day."
趙元任將最後的謎底翻譯作「所以我才說功課有『多少』啊！因為是先多後少的。」
竄改的歌裡，唱著一隻鼠海豚 (porpoise) 總是緊跟在鱈魚 (whiting) 後面...
`If I'd been the whiting,' said Alice, whose thoughts were still running on the song, `I'd have said to the porpoise, "Keep back, please: we don't want YOU with us!"'
`They were obliged to have him with them,' the Mock Turtle said: `no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.'
`Wouldn't it really?' said Alice in a tone of great surprise.
`Of course not,' said the Mock Turtle: `why, if a fish came to ME, and told me he was going a journey, I should say "With what porpoise?"'
`Don't you mean "purpose"?' said Alice.
`I mean what I say,' the Mock Turtle replied in an offended tone.
趙元任把 porpoise 譯成鯉魚，而上面那段對話的 purpose 譯做理由， 如此用中文轉呈了原文的文字遊戲。
這一場「戲」是全書情節中最多雙關語和竄改詩歌的部分， 隔著語文和時間的距離，使得它也是最難以閱讀的一場戲。
`And that's the jury-box,' thought Alice, `and those twelve creatures,' (she was obliged to say `creatures,' you see, because some of them were animals, and some were birds,) `I suppose they are the jurors.' She said this last word two or three times over to herself, being rather proud of it: for she thought, and rightly too, that very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all. However, `jury-men' would have done just as well.
The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. `What are they doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon. `They can't have anything to put down yet, before the trial's begun.'
`They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in reply, `for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial.'
`I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' the Hatter began, in a trembling voice, `--and I hadn't begun my tea--not above a week or so--and what with the bread-and-butter getting so thin--and the twinkling of the tea--'
`The twinkling of the what?' said the King.
`It began with the tea,' the Hatter replied.
`Of course twinkling begins with a T!' said the King sharply. `Do you take me for a dunce? Go on!'
`I'm a poor man,' the Hatter went on, `and most things twinkled after that--only the March Hare said--'
`I didn't!' said the March Hare.
Here one of the guinea-pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court. (As that is rather a hard word, I will just explain to you how it was done. They had a large canvas bag, which tied up at the mouth with strings: into this they slipped the guinea-pig, head first, and then sat upon it.)
`I'm glad I've seen that done,' thought Alice. `I've so often read in the newspapers, at the end of trials, "There was some attempts at applause, which was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court," and I never understood what it meant till now.'
`If that's all you know about it, you may stand down,' continued the King.
`I can't go no lower,' said the Hatter: `I'm on the floor, as it is.'
傳第三個證人，居然是愛麗絲。 此時愛麗絲已經長大了，她被這場荒唐的審判氣得翻桌， 法官將要以「新證據」定罪；那是剛撿到的一張紙，上面寫著沒有署名的一首詩。
|
They told me you had been to her, And mentioned me to him: She gave me a good character, But said I could not swim.
He sent them word I had not gone
I gave her one, they gave him two,
If I or she should chance to be
My notion was that you had been
Don't let him know she liked them best, |
`That's the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet,' said the King, rubbing his hands; `so now let the jury--'
`If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice, (she had grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting him,) `I'll give him sixpence. I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.'
`If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, `that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know,' he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at them with one eye; `I seem to see some meaning in them, after all. "--said I could not swim--" you can't swim, can you?' he added, turning to the Knave.
The Knave shook his head sadly. `Do I look like it?' he said. (Which he certainly did not, being made entirely of cardboard.)
`All right, so far,' said the King, and he went on muttering over the verses to himself: `"we know it to be true--" that's the jury, of course-- "I gave her one, they gave him two--" why, that must be what he did with the tarts, you know--'
`But, it goes on "they all returned from him to you,"' said Alice.
`Why, there they are!' said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts on the table. `Nothing can be clearer than THAT. Then again--"before she had this fit--" you never had fits, my dear, I think?' he said to the Queen.
`Never!' said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard as she spoke.
`Then the words don't fit you,' said the King, looking round the court with a smile. There was a dead silence.
`It's a pun!' the King added in an offended tone, and everybody laughed, `Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
