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'Then, you know,' the Mock Turtle went on, 'you throw the…'

'The lobsters!' shouted the Gryphon.

'…as far to sea as you can-'

'Swim after them!' screamed the Gryphon.

'Turn a somersault in the sea!' cried the Mock Turtle.

'Change lobsters again!' yelled the Gryphon at the top of its voice.

'Back to land again, and that's all the first figure,' said the Mock Turtle, suddenly became silent; and the two friends sat down again very sadly and quietly, and looked at Alice.

'It must be a very pretty dance,' said Alice timidly.

'Do you want to see it?' said the Mock Turtle.

'Very much indeed,' said Alice.

'Come, let's try the first figure!' said the Mock Turtle to the Gryphon. 'We can do without lobsters, you know. Who will sing?'

'Oh, you will sing,' said the Gryphon. 'I forgot the words.'

So they began to dance round and round Alice, while the Mock Turtle sang a song about a whiting and a snail very slowly and sadly.

'Thank you, it's a very interesting dance to watch,' said Alice.

'Oh, you saw the whiting,' said the Mock Turtle, 'of course?'

'Yes,' said Alice, 'at dinn…' she stopped hastily.

'I don't know where Dinn may be,' said the Mock Turtle, 'but if you see them so often, of course you know what they're like.'

'I can tell you more than that, if you like,' said the Gryphon. 'Do you know why it's called a whiting?'

'No,' said Alice. 'Why?'

'It does the boots and shoes,' the Gryphon replied very solemnly.

Alice was puzzled.

'Does the boots and shoes?' she repeated.

'Yes. Why are your shoes so shiny?' asked the Gryphon.

Alice looked down at her shoes.

'Boots and shoes under the sea,' the Gryphon went on in a deep voice, 'are white. Now you know.'

'So,' the Mock Turtle said, 'Let's hear about your adventures.'

Alice began to tell them her adventures from the time when she first saw the White Rabbit. She was a little nervous about it at first, the two creatures came close to her, one on each side, and opened their eyes and mouths very wide.

The Mock Turtle drew a long breath, and said 'That's very curious.'

'Maybe another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?' the Gryphon offered. 'Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing you a song?'

'Oh, a song, please!' Alice replied eagerly.

'Hm! Sing her “Turtle Soup,” will you, old fellow?' said the Gryphon.

The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, 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!

Beau-ootiful Soo-oop!

Beau-ootiful Soo-oop!

Soo-oop of the e-e-evening,

Beautiful, beautiful Soup!'

'Chorus again!' cried the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle began to repeat it, when they heard a cry: 'The trial's beginning!'

'Come on!' cried the Gryphon, and he took Alice by the hand, and hurried off.

'What trial is it?' Alice asked; but the Gryphon only answered 'Come on!' and ran faster and faster.

Chapter XI

Who Stole the Tarts?

The King and Queen of Hearts were sitting on their throne when they arrived, with a great crowd assembled around them-many different birds and beasts, and the whole pack of cards. The Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on each side to guard him. 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.

Alice was in a court for the first time. But she read about courts in books 'That's the judge,' she said to herself, 'because of his great wig.'

The judge was the King; and as he wore his crown over the wig, he did not look comfortable.

'And that's the jury-box,' thought Alice, 'and those twelve creatures,' (she said '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. She was very proud of it: very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all.

The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates.

'What are they doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon.

'They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in reply, 'they do not want to forget them before the end of the trial.'

'Fools!' Alice began in a loud, indignant voice, but she stopped hastily, because the White Rabbit cried out, 'Silence in the court!'

The King put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round.

One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. Alice went round the court and got behind him, and very soon found an opportunity to take it away. She did it so quickly that the poor little juror (it was Bill, the Lizard) did not understand anything.

So he began to write with his finger; but this was useless.

'Read the accusation!' said the King.

The White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and began to read:

'The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,

All on a summer day:

The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,

And took them quite away!'

'Consider your verdict,' the King said to the jury.