`Soles and eels, of course,' the Gryphon replied rather

impatiently:  `any shrimp could have told you that.'

  `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.  And the Gryphon added `Come, let's hear some of YOUR

adventures.'

  `I could tell you my adventures--beginning from this morning,'

said Alice a little timidly:  `but it's no use going back to

yesterday, because I was a different person then.'

  `Explain all that,' said the Mock Turtle.

  `No, no!  The adventures first,' said the Gryphon in an

impatient tone:  `explanations take such a dreadful time.'

  So Alice began telling them her adventures from the time when

she first saw the White Rabbit.  She was a little nervous about

it just at first, the two creatures got so close to her, one on

each side, and opened their eyes and mouths so VERY wide, but she

gained courage as she went on.  Her listeners were perfectly

quiet till she got to the part about her repeating `YOU ARE OLD,

FATHER WILLIAM,' to the Caterpillar, and the words all coming

different, and then the Mock Turtle drew a long breath, and said

`That's very curious.'

  `It's all about as curious as it can be,' said the Gryphon.

  `It all came different!' the Mock Turtle repeated

thoughtfully.  `I should like to hear her try and repeat

something now.  Tell her to begin.'  He looked at the Gryphon as

if he thought it had some kind of authority over Alice.

  `Stand up and repeat "'TIS THE VOICE OF THE SLUGGARD,"' said

the Gryphon.

  `How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat

lessons!' thought Alice; `I might as well be at school at once.'

However, she got up, and began to repeat it, but her head was so

full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what she was

saying, and the words came very queer indeed:--

    `'Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,

    "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."

    As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose

    Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.'

              [later editions continued as follows

    When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,

    And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark,

    But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,

    His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.]

  `That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,'

said the Gryphon.

  `Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; `but it

sounds uncommon nonsense.'

  Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her

hands, wondering if anything would EVER happen in a natural way

again.

  `I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle.

  `She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily.  `Go on with

the next verse.'

  `But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted.  `How COULD

he turn them out with his nose, you know?'

  `It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was

dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the

subject.

  `Go on with the next verse,' the Gryphon repeated impatiently:

`it begins "I passed by his garden."'

  Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would

all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:--

    `I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,

    How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie--'

        [later editions continued as follows

    The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,

    While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat.

    When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,

    Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:

    While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,

    And concluded the banquet--]

  `What IS the use of repeating all that stuff,' the Mock Turtle

interrupted, `if you don't explain it as you go on?  It's by far

the most confusing thing I ever heard!'

  `Yes, I think you'd better leave off,' said the Gryphon:  and

Alice was only too glad to do so.

  `Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?' the

Gryphon went on.  `Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing you

a song?'

  `Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,'

Alice replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather

offended tone, `Hm!  No accounting for tastes!  Sing her

"Turtle Soup," will you, old fellow?'

  The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice sometimes

choked with sobs, to sing this:--

    `Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,

    Waiting in a hot tureen!

    Who for such dainties would not stoop?

    Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

    Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

        Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!

        Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!

    Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,

        Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

    `Beautiful Soup!  Who cares for fish,

    Game, or any other dish?

    Who would not give all else for two p

    ennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

    Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

        Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!

        Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!

    Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,

        Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!'

  `Chorus again!' cried the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle had

just begun to repeat it, when a cry of `The trial's beginning!'

was heard in the distance.

  `Come on!' cried the Gryphon, and, taking Alice by the hand,

it hurried off, without waiting for the end of the song.

  `What trial is it?' Alice panted as she ran; but the Gryphon

only answered `Come on!' and ran the faster, while more and more

faintly came, carried on the breeze that followed them, the

melancholy words:--

    `Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,

        Beautiful, beautiful Soup!'

                           CHAPTER XI

                      Who Stole the Tarts?

  The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when

they arrived, with a great crowd assembled about them--all sorts

of little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards:

the Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on

each side to guard him; and near the King was the White Rabbit,

with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in the

other.  In the very middle of the court was a table, with a large

dish of tarts upon it:  they looked so good, that it made Alice

quite hungry to look at them--`I wish they'd get the trial done,'

she thought, `and hand round the refreshments!'  But there seemed

to be no chance of this, so she began looking at everything about

her, to pass away the time.

  Alice had never been in a court of justice before, but she had

read about them in books, and she was quite pleased to find that

she knew the name of nearly everything there.