Alice felt that in that case she really OUGHT to listen to it, so she
sat down, and said - Thank you - rather sadly.
- In winter, when the fields are white,
I sing this song for your delight
only I don't sing it, - he added, as an explanation. - I see you
don't, - said Alice. - If you can SEE whether I'm singing or not, you're
sharper eyes
than most. - Humpty Dumpty remarked severely. Alice was silent.
- In spring, when woods are getting green,
I'll try and tell you what I mean.
- Thank you very much, - said Alice.
- In summer, when the days are long,
Perhaps you'll understand the song:
In autumn, when the leaves are brown,
Take pen and ink, and write it down.
- I will, if I can remember it so long, - said Alice.
- You needn't go on making remarks like that, - Humpty Dumpty said: -
they're not sensible, and they put me out.
- I sent a message to the fish:
I told them "This is what I wish."
The little fishes of the sea,
They sent an answer back to me.
The little fishes - answer was
"We cannot do it, Sir, because - "
- I'm afraid I don't quite understand, - said Alice.
- It gets easier further on, - Humpty Dumpty replied.
- I sent to them again to say
"It will be better to obey."
The fishes answered with a grin,
"Why, what a temper you are in!"
I told them once, I told them twice:
They would not listen to advice.
I took a kettle large and new,
Fit for the deed I had to do.
My heart went hop, my heart went thump;
I filled the kettle at the pump.
Then some one came to me and said,
"The little fishes are in bed."
I said to him, I said it plain,
"Then you must wake them up again."
I said it very loud and clear;
I went and shouted in his ear.
Humpty Dumpty raised his voice almost to a scream as he repeated this
verse, and Alice thought with a shudder, - I wouldn't have been the
messenger for ANYTHING!
- But he was very stiff and proud;
He said "You needn't shout so loud!"
And he was very proud and stiff;
He said "I'd go and wake them, if - "
I took a corkscrew from the shelf:
I went to wake them up myself.
And when I found the door was locked,
I pulled and pushed and knocked.
And when I found the door was shut,
I tried to turn the handle, but
There was a long pause. - Is that all? - Alice timidly asked. -
That's all, - said Humpty Dumpty. Good-bye.
This was rather sudden, Alice thought: but, after such a VERY strong
hint that she ought to be going, she felt that it would hardly be civil to
stay. So she got up, and held out her hand. - Good-bye, till we meet
again! - she said as cheerfully as she could.
- I shouldn't know you again if we DID meet, - Humpty Dumpty replied
in a discontented tone, giving her one of his fingers to shake; - you're
so exactly like other people.
- The face is what one goes by, generally, - Alice remarked in a
thoughtful tone.
- That - s just what I complain of, - said Humpty Dumpty. - Your face
is that same as everybody has - the two eyes, so - (marking their places
in the air with this thumb) - nose in the middle, mouth under. It's always
the same. Now if you had the two eyes on the same side of the nose, for
instance - or the mouth at the top - that would be SOME help.
- It wouldn't look nice, - Alice objected. But Humpty Dumpty only
shut his eyes and said - Wait till you've tried.
Alice waited a minute to see if he would speak again, but as he never
opened his eyes or took any further notice of her, she said - Good-bye! -
once more, and, getting no answer to this, she quietly walked away: but
she couldn't help saying to herself as she went, - Of all the
unsatisfactory - (she repeated this aloud, as it was a great comfort have
such a long word to say) - of all the unsatisfactory people I EVER met -
She never finished the sentence, for at this moment a heavy crash shook
the forest from end to end.
CHAPTER VII
The Lion and the Unicorn
The next moment soldiers cam running through the wood, at first in
twos and threes, then ten or twenty together, and at last in such crowds
that they seemed to fill the whole forest. Alice got behind a tree, for
fear of being run over, and watched them go by.
She thought that in all her life she had never seen soldiers so
uncertain on their feet: they were always tripping over something or
other, and whenever one went down, several more always fell over him, so
that the ground was soon covered with little heaps of men.
Then came the horses. Having four feet, these managed rather better
than the foot-soldiers: but even THEY stumbled now and then; and it seemed
to be a regular rule that, whenever a horse stumbled the rider fell off
instantly. The confusion got worse every moment, and Alice was very glad
to get out of the wood into an open place, where she found the White King
seated on the ground, busily writing in his memorandum-book.
- I've sent them all! - the Kind cried in a tone of delight, on
seeing Alice. - Did you happen to meet any soldiers, my dear, as you came
through the wood?
- Yes, I did, - said Alice: several thousand, I should think.
- Four thousand two hundred and seven, that's the exact number, - the
King said, referring to his book. - I couldn't send all the horses, you
know, because two of them are wanted in the game. And I haven't sent the
two Messengers, either. They're both gone to the town. Just look along the
road, and tell me if you can see either of them.
- I see nobody on the road, - said Alice.
- I only wish _I_ had such eyes, - the King remarked in a fretful
tone. - To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as
much as _I_ can do to see real people, by this light!
All this was lost on Alice, who was still looking intently along the
road, shading her eyes with one hand. - I see somebody now! - she
exclaimed at last. - But he's coming very slowly - and what curious
attitudes he goes into! - (For the messenger kept skipping up and down,
and wriggling like an eel, as he came along, with his great hands spread
out like fans on each side.)
- Not at all, - said the King. - He's an Anglo-Saxon Messenger - and
those are Anglo-Saxon attitudes. He only does them when he's happy. His
name ia Haigha. - (He pronounced it so as to rhyme with - mayor.
- I love my love with an H, - Alice couldn't help beginning, -
because he is Happy. I hate him with an H, because he is Hideous. I fed
him with - with - with Ham-sandwiches and Hay. His name is Haigha, and he
lives
- He lives on the Hill, - the King remarked simply, without the least
idea that he was joining in the game, while Alice was still hesitating for
the name of a town beginning with H. - The other Messenger's called Hatta.
I must have TWO, you know - to come and go. Once to come, and one to go.
- I beg your pardon? - said Alice.
- It isn't respectable to beg, - said the King.
- I only meant that I didn't understand, - said Alice. - Why one to
come and one to go?
- Don't I tell you? - the King repeated impatiently. - I must have
Two - to fetch and carry. One to fetch, and one to carry.
At this moment the Messenger arrived: he was far too much out of
breath to say a word, and could only wave his hands about, and make the
most fearful faces at the poor King.
- This young lady loves you with an H, - the King said, introducing
Alice in the hope of turning off the Messenger's attention from himself -
but it was no use - the Anglo-Saxon attitudes only got more extraordinary
every moment, while the great eyes rolled wildly from side to side.
- You alarm me! - said the King. - I feel faint - Give me a ham
sandwich!
On which the Messenger, to Alice's great amusement, opened a bag that
hung round his neck, and handed a sandwich to the King, who devoured it
greedily.
- Another sandwich! - said the King.
- There's nothing but hay left now, - the Messenger said, peeping
into the bag.
- Hay, then, - the King murmured in a faint whisper. Alice was glad
to see that it revived him a good deal. - There's
nothing like eating hay when you're faint, - he remarked to her, as he
munched away.
- I should think throwing cold water over you would be better, Alice
suggested: - or some sal-volatile.
- I didn't say there was nothing BETTER, - the King replied. - I said
there was nothing LIKE it. - Which alice did not venture to deny.
- Who did you pass on the road? - the King went on, holding out his
hand to the Messenger for some more hay.
- Nobody, - said the Messenger.
- Quite right, - said the King: - this young lady saw him too. So of
course Nobody walks slower than you.
- I do my best, - the Messenger said in a sulky tone. - I'm sure
nobody walks much faster than I do!
- He can't do that, - said the King, - or else he'd have been here
first. However, now you've got your breath, you may tell us what's
happened in the town.
- I'll whisper it, - said the Messenger, putting his hands to his
mouth in the shape of a trumpet, and stooping so as to get close to the
King's ear. Alice was sorry for this, as she wanted to hear the news too.
However, instead of whispering, he simply shouted at the top of his voice
- They're at it again!
- Do you call THAT a whisper? - cried the poor King, jumping up and
shaking himself. - If you do such a thing again, I'll have you buttered!
It went through and through my head like an earthquake!
- It would have to be a very tiny earthquake! - thought Alice. - Who
are at it again? - she ventured to ask.
- Why the Lion and the Unicorn, of course, - said the King.
- Fighting for the crown?
- Yes, to be sure, - said the King: - and the best of the joke is,
that it's MY crown all the while! Let's run and see them. - And they
trotted off, Alice repeating to herself, as she ran, the words of the old
song:
- The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown:
The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town.
Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.
- Does - the one - that wins - get the crown? - she asked, as well as
she could, for the run was putting her quite out of breath.
- Dear me, no! - said the King. - What an idea!
- Would you - be good enough, - Alice panted out, after running a
little further, - to stop a minute - just to get - one's breath again?
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