Alice (Fictitious character from Carroll) -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Fantasy fiction; Imaginary places -- Juvenile fiction
She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the house of
the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house, because the
chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was thatched with fur. It
was so large a house, that she did not like to go nearer till she had
nibbled some more of the lefthand bit of mushroom, and raised herself
to about two feet high: even then she walked up towards it rather
timidly, saying to herself “Suppose it should be raving mad after all!
I almost wish I’d gone to see the Hatter instead!”
CHAPTER VII.
A Mad Tea-Party
There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the
March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting
between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a
cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. “Very
uncomfortable for the Dormouse,” thought Alice; “only, as it’s asleep,
I suppose it doesn’t mind.”
The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at
one corner of it: “No room! No room!” they cried out when they saw
Alice coming. “There’s _plenty_ of room!” said Alice indignantly, and
she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.
“Have some wine,” the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea.
“I don’t see any wine,” she remarked.
“There isn’t any,” said the March Hare.
“Then it wasn’t very civil of you to offer it,” said Alice angrily.
“It wasn’t very civil of you to sit down without being invited,” said
the March Hare.
“I didn’t know it was _your_ table,” said Alice; “it’s laid for a great
many more than three.”
“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. “You might just as well
say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing 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 thing as ‘I get what I like’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be
talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing
as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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