The Complete Alice in Wonderland (52 page)

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!”

“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, he hurried off, without waiting for the end of the song.

“What trial is it?” panted Alice as she ran, but the Gryphon only answered “come on!” and ran the faster, and more and more faintly came, borne on the breeze that followed them, the melancholy words:

‘Soo-oop of the e-e-evening,

Beautiful beautiful Soup!”

The King and Queen were seated on their throne when they arrived, with a great crowd assembled around them: the Knave was in custody: and before the King stood the white rabbit, with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in the other.

“Herald! read the accusation!” said the King.

“On this the white rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:

‘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!’”

“Now for the evidence,” said the King, “and then the sentence.”

“No!” said the Queen, “first the sentence, and then the evidence!”

“Nonsense!” cried Alice, so loudly that everybody jumped, “the idea of having the sentence first!”

“Hold your tongue!” said the Queen.

“I wo’n’t!” said Alice, “you’re nothing but a pack of cards! Who cares for you?”

At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream of fright, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some leaves that had fluttered down from the trees on to her face.

“Wake up!, Alice dear!” said her sister, “what a nice long sleep you’ve had!”

“Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream!” said Alice, and she told her sister all her Adventures Under Ground, as you have read them, and when she had finished, her sister kissed her and said “it was a curious dream, dear, certainly! But now run in to your tea: it’s getting late.”

So Alice ran off, thinking while she ran (as well she might) what a wonderful dream it had been.

But her sister sat there some while longer, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and her Adventures, till she too began dreaming after a fashion, and this was her dream:

She saw an ancient city, and a quiet river winding near it along the plain, and up the stream went slowly gliding a boat with a merry party of children on board—she could hear their voices and laughter like music over the water—and among them was another little Alice, who sat listening with bright eager eyes to a tale that was being told, and she listened for the words of the tale, and lo! it was the dream of her own little sister. So the boat wound slowly along, beneath the bright summer-day, with its merry crew and its music of voices and laughter, till it passed round one of the many turnings of the stream, and she saw it no more.

Then she thought, (in a dream within the dream, as it were,) how this same little Alice would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman: and how she would keep, through her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather around her other little children, and make
their
eyes bright and eager with many a wonderful tale, perhaps even with these very adventures of the little Alice of long-ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.

THE END.

By Kent David Kelly

Overview

ALICE’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND
, as mentioned prior, was illustrated by Lewis Carroll himself. The Alice we see here is not the blond cherub who the world has come to know and love. Instead, she has long dark hair, and appears more as an idealized Pre-Raphaelite vision of Alice Liddell herself. The text is odd as well, particularly in choices of capitalization. For example, Carroll used underlines throughout the manuscript text; in the published edition, these would become italicized.

Despite curiosities in word choice and formatting and Carroll’s charming diction,
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground
is primarily of interest to us because of the changes which occurred when
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
was being prepared for publication. Some of these “secrets” are explored here.

The Preface

The grim, divine, hopeful and nostalgic tone of Carroll’s 1886 preface seems odd and out of place, until we recall that he had written letters to his aged child-friend, Alice Liddell, and was publishing this manuscript after seeing it for the first time in twenty years.

The initial question in the preface, “Who will Riddle me the How and the Why?” comes from the poem “The How and the Why,” published in
Poems Chiefly Lyrical
, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (who Carroll met and greatly admired). We will glimpse more of Tennyson in
The Hunting of the Snark
.

Mention of the Missing

The following characters and episodes were specifically written for the publication of
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
, and do not appear in
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground
: the caucus-race; Fury (the tormentor of the Mouse); the Duchess and her retinue (the Fish-Footman, Frog-Footman, Cook, Pig-Baby and the Cheshire-Cat); the Mad Tea-Party (with the March Hare, the Dormouse and the Hatter); the Executioner; the explanation of the Underwater School; the songs of the Mock Turtle; the extended court scene with the jurors and recurrence of many characters; and the Carrollian poem “She’s All My Fancy Painted Him.”

Chapter I

The Secret Mouse Who Watches Over Her:
When Alice—thwarted in her first attempts to get through the garden door—sits down and cries, there is an interesting illustration by Carroll, which shows the Mouse standing directly in front of her (on dry land) as he regards the curious child. Alice never knew he was there, and since this illustration was not recreated in
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
, the reader never knew either!

The White Rabbit’s Flowers:
In this original version, the White Rabbit carries a nosegay, or bouquet of flowers, instead of the Duchess’s fan. Alice shrinks not by fanning herself, but by smelling the flowers. The nosegay is inherently more comedic, since rabbits of course love to eat flowers; however, Carroll may have decided that the fan was more appropriate, because it directly ties the White Rabbit to affiliation with (and service to) Wonderland’s noblewomen.

A Question of Privacy:
When Alice is comparing herself to other girls, the names used are Gertrude and Florence. Since these were the names of two of Alice’s
actual
companions, the names were politely changed to Ada and Mabel for publication.

Chapter II

“Speak English!”:
This admonition to the Dodo (Lewis Carroll) is given by his friend, the Duck (Robinson Duckworth). In the published version, the speaker was changed to the Eaglet, perhaps to put forth Edith Liddell’s personality in a subtle manner that would be completely unnoticed by the contemporary (Victorian) reader.

The House on the River:
The Dodo recommends that Alice and the party should get dry in a house. This relates to a real-life incident, in which Lewis Carroll had taken the Liddell children out onto the River Isis, and they had gotten drenched and then taken shelter. Since this incident would be amusing only to someone who had “been there,” the published version was changed (quite dramatically) to feature the caucus-race instead. Carroll’s diary reports on the matter (June 17, 1862) as follows: “About a mile above Nuneham heavy rain came on, and after bearing it a short time I settled that we had better leave the boat and walk: 3 miles of this drenched us all pretty well. I went on first with the children, as they could walk much faster than Elizabeth, and took them to the only house I knew in Sanford. ... I left them ... to get their clothes dried ...”

A Long and Sad Tale:
The Mouse’s tale here is completely different from the published version. The version here is exceedingly violent, resulting in the Mouse’s family being crushed to death by the paws of the dog. Carroll must have decided this was far too morbid for other children, and so the tale was changed to
imply
death, but by no means to feature it.

The Judgmental Canary:
In the published version, when Alice begins talking about Dinah the cat, the Canary mother ushers her children away, encouraging them to go to bed. In the original, however, the Canary disdainfully passes judgment on Alice, saying to her children, “She’s no fit company for you!”

The Singing Duck:
Robinson Duckworth was quite a talented singer, and used to regale Lewis Carroll and the Liddell sisters with many a song on the River Isis. Alice mentions here that the Duck was singing as he came ashore. Since this was a winking inside reference a stranger would not understand, this reference was removed for publication.

Mention of the Marchioness:
In the original manuscript, the noblewoman of Wonderland’s forest is known as the Marchioness. (A Marchioness is less powerful than a Duchess, but more powerful than a Countess.) Carroll may have decided that the title was too obscure for a general audience, and so the term “Duchess” was used instead.

The Fear and the Fist:
Carroll’s illustration of the White Rabbit shows him shaking a fist-paw angrily at Alice, as he mistakes her for Mary Ann and more forcibly demands that she fetch his belongings for him. This stronger version of the scene makes Alice’s fear quite clear, as she runs off to fulfill her errand. But the incident may have been seen as being too stern for a children’s book, and Sir John Tenniel chose not to replicate this illustration for the published version.