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Chapter 12. Alice's Evidence.
Here, cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurryof the moment how large she had grown in the lastfew minutes,
and she jumped up in such a hurry that she tippedover the jury box with the edge of her skirt,
upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of thecrowd below, and there they lay sprawling about,
reminding her very much of a globe of goldfish shehad accidentally upset the week before.
Oh, I beg your pardon, she exclaimed in a tone ofgreat dismay, and began picking them up again
as quickly as she could, for the accident of thegoldfish kept running in her head,
and she had a vague sort of idea that they must becollected at once and put back into the jury
box, or they would die. The trial cannot proceed,said the king in a very grave voice, until all the
jurymen are back in their proper places, all, herepeated with great emphasis, looking hard at
Alice as he said so. Alice looked at the jury boxand saw that, in her haste, she had put the
lizard in head downwards, and the poor littlething was waving its tail about in a melancholyway,
being quite unable to move. She soon got it outagain, and put it right, not that it signifies
much, she said to herself, I should think it wouldbe quite as much use in the trial one way
up as the other. As soon as the jury had a littlerecovered from the shock of being upset,
and their slates and pencils had been found andhanded back to them, they set to work very
diligently to write out a history of the accident,all except the lizard, who seemed too
much overcome to do anything but sit with itsmouth open, gazing up into the roof of the court.
What do you know about this business? the kingsaid to Alice.
Nothing, said Alice.
Nothing whatever? persisted the king.
Nothing whatever, said Alice.
That's very important, the king said, turning tothe jury. They were just beginning to write
this down on their slates, when the white rabbitinterrupted, Unimportant, your majesty means,
of course, he said in a very respectful tone, butfrowning and making faces at him as he spoke.
Unimportant, of course, I meant, the king hastilysaid and went on to himself in an undertone.
Important, unimportant, unimportant, important, asif he were trying which word sounded best.
Some of the jury wrote it down important, and someunimportant. Alice could see this,
as she was near enough to look over their slates,but it doesn't matter a bit, she thought to
herself. At this moment the king, who had been forsome time busily writing in his notebook,
cackled out silence. And read out from his book,Rule 42. All persons more than a mile high to
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leave the court. Everybody looked at Alice. I'mnot a mile high, said Alice. You are,
said the king. Nearly two miles high, added thequeen. Well, I shan't go, at any rate,
said Alice, besides, that's not a regular rule,you invented it just now. It's the oldest rule in
the book, said the king. Then it ought to benumber one, said Alice. The king turned pale,
and shut his notebook hastily. Consider yourverdict, he said to the jury, in a low,
trembling voice. There's more evidence to comeyet, please your majesty, said the white rabbit,
jumping up in a great hurry, this paper has justbeen picked up.
What's in it? said the queen. I haven't opened ityet, said the white rabbit,
but it seems to be a letter, written by theprisoner too, to somebody. It must have been
that, said the king, unless it was written tonobody, which isn't usual, you know.
Who is it directed to? said one of the jurymen. Itisn't directed at all, said the white rabbit,
in fact, there's nothing written on the outside.He unfolded the paper as he spoke,
and added it isn't a letter, after all, it's a setof verses.
Are they in the prisoner's handwriting? askedanother of the jurymen.
No, they're not, said the white rabbit, and that'sthe queerest thing about it.
The jury all looked puzzled. He must have imitatedsomebody else's hand, said the king.
The jury all brightened up again. Please yourmajesty, said the knave, I didn't write it,
and they can't prove I did, there's no name signedat the end.
If you didn't sign it, said the king, that onlymakes the matter worse. You must have
meant some mischief, or else you'd have signedyour name like an honest man. There was a general
clapping of hands at this, it was the first reallyclever thing the king had said that day.
That proves his guilt, said the queen.
It proves nothing of the sort, said Alice. Why,you don't even know what they're about.
Read them, said the king. The white rabbit put onhis spectacles.
Where shall I begin, please your majesty? heasked.
Begin at the beginning, the king said gravely, andgo until you come to the end, then stop.
These were the verses the white rabbit read. Theytold me you had been to her.
And mentioned me to him. She gave me a goodcharacter. But said I could not swim.
He sent them word I had not gone. We know it to betrue. If she should push the matter on.
What would become of you? I gave her one, theygave him two. You gave us three or more.
They all returned from him to you. Though theywere mine before. If I or she should chance to be
involved in this affair. He trusts to you to setthem free. Exactly as we were.
My notion was that you had been. Before she hadthis fit an obstacle that came between
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him and ourselves, and it. Don't let him know sheliked them best. For this must ever be.
A secret, kept from all the rest. Between yourselfand me.
That's the most important piece of evidence we'veheard yet, said the king, rubbing his hands,
so now let the jury. If any one of them canexplain it, said Alice, she had grown so large
in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bitafraid of interrupting him, I'll give him sixpence.
I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.The jury all wrote down on their slates,
she doesn't believe there's an atom of meaning init, 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'tknow, he went on, spreading out the verses on his
knee, and looking at them with one eye, I seemedto 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 hecertainly did not, being made entirely of
cardboard. All right, so far, said the king, andhe 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 kingtriumphantly, pointing to the tarts on the
table. Nothing can be clearer than that. Thenagain, 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. Theunfortunate little bill had left off writing on
his slate with one finger, as he found it made nomark, but he now hastily began again, using the
ink, that was trickling down his face, as long asit lasted. Then the words don't fit you,
said the king, looking round the court with asmile. There was a dead silence. It's a pun.
The king added in an offended tone, and everybodylaughed, let the jury consider their verdict,
the king said, for about the twentieth time thatday. No, no, said the queen. Sentence first,
verdict afterwards. Stuff and nonsense, said Aliceloudly.
The idea of having the sentence first. Hold yourtongue, said the queen, turning purple.
I won't, said Alice. Off with her head! the queenshouted at the top of her voice.
Nobody moved. Who cares for you? said Alice, shehad grown to her full size by this time,
you're nothing but a pack of cards. At this thewhole pack rose up into the air,
and came flying down upon her, she gave a littlescream, half of fright and half of anger,
and tried to beat them off, and found herselflying on the bank, with her head in the lap of
her sister, who was gently brushing away some deadleaves that had fluttered down from the trees
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upon her face. Wake up, Alice dear, said hersister, why, what a long sleep you've had.
Oh, I've had such a curious dream, said Alice, andshe told her sister, as well as she could
remember them, all these strange adventures ofhers that you have just been reading about,
and when she had finished, her sister kissed herand said, it was a curious dream, dear,
certainly, but now run into your tea, it's gettinglate. So Alice got up and ran off,
thinking while she ran, as well she might, what awonderful dream it had been.
Dash. But her sister sat still just as she lefther, leaning her head on her hand,
watching the setting sun and thinking of littleAlice and all her wonderful adventures,
till she too began dreaming after a fashion, andthis was her dream. First, she dreamed of
little Alice herself, and once again the tinyhands were clasped upon her knee and the bright
eager eyes were looking up into hers, she couldhear the very tones of her voice and see that
queer little toss of her head to keep back thewandering hair that would always get into her
eyes, and still as she listened, or seemed tolisten, the whole place around her became alive
with the strange creatures of her little sister'sdream. The long grass rustled at her feet as the
white rabbit hurried by, the frightened mouse splashed his way through the neighboring pool,
she could hear the rattle of the teacups as themarch hare and his friends shared their
never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of thequeen ordering off her unfortunate guests to
execution, once more the pig baby was sneezing onthe duchess's knee, while plates and dishes
crashed around it, once more the shriek of the griffon, the squeaking of the lizard's slate
pencil, and the choking of the suppressed guineapigs, filled the air, mixed up with the distant
sobs of the miserable mock turtle. So she sat onwith closed eyes, and half believed herself in
wonderland, though she knew she had but to openthem again, and all would change to dull reality,
the grass would be only rustling in the wind, andthe pool rippling to the wading of the reeds,
the rattling teacups would change to tinklingsheep bells, and the queen's shrill cries to the
voice of the shepherd boy and the sneeze of thebaby, the shriek of the griffon, and all the
other queer noises, would change, she knew, to theconfused clamor of the busy farmyard, while the
lowing of the cattle in the distance would takethe place of the mock turtle's heavy sobs.
Lastly, she pictured to herself how this samelittle sister of hers would, in the after time,
be herself a grown woman, and how she would keep,through all her riper years, the simple and
loving heart of her childhood, and how she wouldgather about her other little children, and make
their eyes bright and eager with many a strangetale, perhaps even with the dream of wonderland of
long ago, and how she would feel with all theirsimple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their
simple joys, remembering her own child life, andthe happy summer days.
THE END
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