"The jury all wrote down on their slates, 'She doesn't believe there's an atom of meaning in it,' but none of them attempted to explain the paper. "'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--'_If she should push the matter on_'--that must be the Queen--'_What would become of you?_' What indeed!--'_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. (The unfortunate little Bill had left off writing on his slate with one finger, as he found it made no mark; but he now hastily began again, using the ink that was trickling down his face, as long as it lasted.) "'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 angry tone, and everybody laughed. "'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day. "'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first--verdict afterwards.' "'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!' "'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple...." T. "GEDANKENEXPERIMENTE." _T. L. G._, p. 61: "Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one _can't_ believe impossible things.' "'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the [White] Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'" _Printed in Great Britain by_ UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON End of Project Gutenberg's The philosophy of B*rtr*nd R*ss*ll, by Various *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILOSOPHY OF MR. B*RTR*ND R*SS*LL *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.