âI should see the garden far better,â said Alice to herself, âif I could get to the top of that hill: and hereâs a path that leads straight to itâat least, no, it doesnât do thatââ (after going a few yards along the path, and turning several sharp corners), âbut I suppose it will at last. But how curiously it twists! Itâs more like a corkscrew than a path! Well, this turn goes to the hill, I supposeâno, it doesnât! This goes straight back to the house! Well then, Iâll try it the other way.â
And so she did: wandering up and down, and trying turn after turn, but always coming back to the house, do what she would. Indeed, once, when she turned a corner rather more quickly than usual, she ran against it before she could stop herself.
âItâs no use talking about it,â Alice said, looking up at the house and pretending it was arguing with her. âIâm not going in again yet. I know I should have to get through the Looking-glass againâback into the old roomâand thereâd be an end of all my adventures!â
So, resolutely turning her back upon the house, she set out once more down the path, determined to keep straight on till she got to the hill. For a few minutes all went on well, and she was just saying, âI really shall do it this timeââ when the path gave a sudden twist and shook itself (as she described it afterwards), and the next moment she found herself actually walking in at the door.
âOh, itâs too bad!â she cried. âI never saw such a house for getting in the way! Never!â
However, there was the hill full in sight, so there was nothing to be done but start again. This time she came upon a large flower-bed, with a border of daisies, and a willow-tree growing in the middle.
âO Tiger-lily,â said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, âI wish you could talk!â
âWe can talk,â said the Tiger-lily: âwhen thereâs anybody worth talking to.â
Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voiceâalmost in a whisper. âAnd can all the flowers talk?â
âAs well as you can,â said the Tiger-lily. âAnd a great deal louder.â
âIt isnât manners for us to begin, you know,â said the Rose, âand I really was wondering when youâd speak! Said I to myself, âHer face has got some sense in it, though itâs not a clever one!â Still, youâre the right colour, and that goes a long way.â
âI donât care about the colour,â the Tiger-lily remarked. âIf only her petals curled up a little more, sheâd be all right.â
Alice didnât like being criticised, so she began asking questions. âArenât you sometimes frightened at being planted out here, with nobody to take care of you?â
âThereâs the tree in the middle,â said the Rose: âwhat else is it good for?â
âBut what could it do, if any danger came?â Alice asked.
âIt says âBough-wough!ââ cried a Daisy: âthatâs why its branches are called boughs!â
âDidnât you know that?â cried another Daisy, and here they all began shouting together, till the air seemed quite full of little shrill voices. âSilence, every one of you!â cried the Tiger-lily, waving itself passionately from side to side, and trembling with excitement. âThey know I canât get at them!â it panted, bending its quivering head towards Alice, âor they wouldnât dare to do it!â
âNever mind!â Alice said in a soothing tone, and stooping down to the daisies, who were just beginning again, she whispered, âIf you donât hold your tongues, Iâll pick you!â
There was silence in a moment, and several of the pink daisies turned white.
âThatâs right!â said the Tiger-lily. âThe daisies are worst of all. When one speaks, they all begin together, and itâs enough to make one wither to hear the way they go on!â
âHow is it you can all talk so nicely?â Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. âIâve been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.â
âPut your hand down, and feel the ground,â said the Tiger-lily. âThen youâll know why.â
Alice did so. âItâs very hard,â she said, âbut I donât see what that has to do with it.â
âIn most gardens,â the Tiger-lily said, âthey make the beds too softâso that the flowers are always asleep.â
This sounded a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it. âI never thought of that before!â she said.
âItâs my opinion that you never think at all,â the Rose said in a rather severe tone.
âI never saw anybody that looked stupider,â a Violet said, so suddenly, that Alice quite jumped; for it hadnât spoken before.
âHold your tongue!â cried the Tiger-lily. âAs if you ever saw anybody! You keep your head under the leaves, and snore away there, till you know no more whatâs going on in the world, than if you were a bud!â
âAre there any more people in the garden besides me?â Alice said, not choosing to notice the Roseâs last remark.
âThereâs one other flower in the garden that can move about like you,â said the Rose. âI wonder how you do itââ (âYouâre always wondering,â said the Tiger-lily), âbut sheâs more bushy than you are.â
âIs she like me?â Alice asked eagerly, for the thought crossed her mind, âThereâs another little girl in the garden, somewhere!â
âWell, she has the same awkward shape as you,â the Rose said, âbut sheâs redderâand her petals are shorter, I think.â
âHer petals are done up close, almost like a dahlia,â the Tiger-lily interrupted: ânot tumbled about anyhow, like yours.â
âBut thatâs not your fault,â the Rose added kindly: âyouâre beginning to fade, you knowâand then one canât help oneâs petals getting a little untidy.â
Alice didnât like this idea at all: so, to change the subject, she asked âDoes she ever come out here?â
âI daresay youâll see her soon,â said the Rose. âSheâs one of the thorny kind.â
âWhere does she wear the thorns?â Alice asked with some curiosity.
âWhy all round her head, of course,â the Rose replied. âI was wondering you hadnât got some too. I thought it was the regular rule.â
âSheâs coming!â cried the Larkspur. âI hear her footstep, thump, thump, thump, along the gravel-walk!â
Alice looked round eagerly, and found that it was the Red Queen. âSheâs grown a good deal!â was her first remark. She had indeed: when Alice first found her in the ashes, she had been only three inches highâand here she was, half a head taller than Alice herself!
âItâs the fresh air that does it,â said the Rose: âwonderfully fine air it is, out here.â
âI think Iâll go and meet her,â said Alice, for, though the flowers were interesting enough, she felt that it would be far grander to have a talk with a real Queen.
âYou canât possibly do that,â said the Rose: âI should advise you to walk the other way.â
This sounded nonsense to Alice, so she said nothing, but set off at once towards the Red Queen. To her surprise, she lost sight of her in a moment, and found herself walking in at the front-door again.
A little provoked, she drew back, and after looking everywhere for the queen (whom she spied out at last, a long way off), she thought she would try the plan, this time, of walking in the opposite direction.
It succeeded beautifully. She had not been walking a minute before she found herself face to face with the Red Queen, and full in sight of the hill she had been so long aiming at.
âWhere do you come from?â said the Red Queen. âAnd where are you going? Look up, speak nicely, and donât twiddle your fingers all the time.â
Alice attended to all these directions, and explained, as well as she could, that she had lost her way.
âI donât know what you mean by your way,â said the Queen: âall the ways about here belong to meâbut why did you come out here at all?â she added in a kinder tone. âCurtsey while youâre thinking what to say, it saves time.â
Alice wondered a little at this, but she was too much in awe of the Queen to disbelieve it. âIâll try it when I go home,â she thought to herself, âthe next time Iâm a little late for dinner.â
âItâs time for you to answer now,â the Queen said, looking at her watch: âopen your mouth a little wider when you speak, and always say âyour Majesty.ââ
âI only wanted to see what the garden was like, your Majestyââ
âThatâs right,â said the Queen, patting her on the head, which Alice didnât like at all, âthough, when you say âgarden,ââIâve seen gardens, compared with which this would be a wilderness.â
Alice didnât dare to argue the point, but went on: ââand I thought Iâd try and find my way to the top of that hillââ
âWhen you say âhill,ââ the Queen interrupted, âI could show you hills, in comparison with which youâd call that a valley.â
âNo, I shouldnât,â said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: âa hill canât be a valley, you know. That would be nonsenseââ
The Red Queen shook her head, âYou may call it ânonsenseâ if you like,â she said, âbut Iâve heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!â
Alice curtseyed again, as she was afraid from the Queenâs tone that she was a little offended: and they walked on in silence till they got to the top of the little hill.
For some minutes Alice stood without speaking, looking out in all directions over the countryâand a most curious country it was. There were a number of tiny little brooks running straight across it from side to side, and the ground between was divided up into squares by a number of little green hedges, that reached from brook to brook.
âI declare itâs marked out just like a large chessboard!â Alice said at last. âThere ought to be some men moving about somewhereâand so there are!â She added in a tone of delight, and her heart began to beat quick with excitement as she went on. âItâs a great huge game of chess thatâs being playedâall over the worldâif this is the world at all, you know. Oh, what fun it is! How I wish I was one of them! I wouldnât mind being a Pawn, if only I might joinâthough of course I should like to be a Queen, best.â
She glanced rather shyly at the real Queen as she said this, but her companion only smiled pleasantly, and said, âThatâs easily managed. You can be the White Queenâs Pawn, if you like, as Lilyâs too young to play; and youâre in the Second Square to begin with: when you get to the Eighth Square youâll be a Queenââ Just at this moment, somehow or other, they began to run.
Alice never could quite make out, in thinking it over afterwards, how it was that they began: all she remembers is, that they were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying âFaster! Faster!â but Alice felt she could not go faster, though she had not breath left to say so.
The most curious part of the thing was, that the trees and the other things round them never changed their places at all: however fast they went, they never seemed to pass anything. âI wonder if all the things move along with us?â thought poor puzzled Alice. And the Queen seemed to guess her thoughts, for she cried, âFaster! Donât try to talk!â
Not that Alice had any idea of doing that. She felt as if she would never be able to talk again, she was getting so much out of breath: and still the Queen cried âFaster! Faster!â and dragged her along. âAre we nearly there?â Alice managed to pant out at last.
âNearly there!â the Queen repeated. âWhy, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!â And they ran on for a time in silence, with the wind whistling in Aliceâs ears, and almost blowing her hair off her head, she fancied.
âNow! Now!â cried the Queen. âFaster! Faster!â And they went so fast that at last they seemed to skim through the air, hardly touching the ground with their feet, till suddenly, just as Alice was getting quite exhausted, they stopped, and she found herself sitting on the ground, breathless and giddy.
The Queen propped her up against a tree, and said kindly, âYou may rest a little now.â
Alice looked round her in great surprise. âWhy, I do believe weâve been under this tree the whole time! Everythingâs just as it was!â
âOf course it is,â said the Queen, âwhat would you have it?â
âWell, in our country,â said Alice, still panting a little, âyouâd generally get to somewhere elseâif you ran very fast for a long time, as weâve been doing.â
âA slow sort of country!â said the Queen. âNow, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!â
âIâd rather not try, please!â said Alice. âIâm quite content to stay hereâonly I am so hot and thirsty!â
âI know what youâd like!â the Queen said good-naturedly, taking a little box out of her pocket. âHave a biscuit?â
Alice thought it would not be civil to say âNo,â though it wasnât at all what she wanted. So she took it, and ate it as well as she could: and it was very dry; and she thought she had never been so nearly choked in all her life.
âWhile youâre refreshing yourself,â said the Queen, âIâll just take the measurements.â And she took a ribbon out of her pocket, marked in inches, and began measuring the ground, and sticking little pegs in here and there.
âAt the end of two yards,â she said, putting in a peg to mark the distance, âI shall give you your directionsâhave another biscuit?â
âNo, thank you,â said Alice: âoneâs quite enough!â
âThirst quenched, I hope?â said the Queen.
Alice did not know what to say to this, but luckily the Queen did not wait for an answer, but went on. âAt the end of three yards I shall repeat themâfor fear of your forgetting them. At the end of four, I shall say good-bye. And at the end of five, I shall go!â
She had got all the pegs put in by this time, and Alice looked on with great interest as she returned to the tree, and then began slowly walking down the row.
At the two-yard peg she faced round, and said, âA pawn goes two squares in its first move, you know. So youâll go very quickly through the Third Squareâby railway, I should thinkâand youâll find yourself in the Fourth Square in no time. Well, that square belongs to Tweedledum and Tweedledeeâthe Fifth is mostly waterâthe Sixth belongs to Humpty DumptyâBut you make no remark?â
âIâI didnât know I had to make oneâjust then,â Alice faltered out.
âYou should have said, âItâs extremely kind of you to tell me all thisââhowever, weâll suppose it saidâthe Seventh Square is all forestâhowever, one of the Knights will show you the wayâand in the Eighth Square we shall be Queens together, and itâs all feasting and fun!â Alice got up and curtseyed, and sat down again.
At the next peg the Queen turned again, and this time she said, âSpeak in French when you canât think of the English for a thingâturn out your toes as you walkâand remember who you are!â She did not wait for Alice to curtsey this time, but walked on quickly to the next peg, where she turned for a moment to say âgood-bye,â and then hurried on to the last.
How it happened, Alice never knew, but exactly as she came to the last peg, she was gone. Whether she vanished into the air, or whether she ran quickly into the wood (âand she can run very fast!â thought Alice), there was no way of guessing, but she was gone, and Alice began to remember that she was a Pawn, and that it would soon be time for her to move.