CHAPTER XII
Which Dreamed it?
- Your majesty shouldn't purr so loud, - Alice said, rubbing her
eyes, and addressing the kitten, respectfully, yet with some severity. -
You woke me out of oh! such a nice dream! And you've been along with me,
Kitty - all through the Looking-Glass world. Did you know it, dear?
It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had one made the
remark) that, whatever you say to them, they Always purr. - If them would
only purr for "yes" and mew for "no," or any rule of that sort, - she had
said, - so that one could keep up a conversation! But how CAN you talk
with a person if they always say the same thing?
On this occasion the kitten only purred: and it was impossible to
guess whether it meant - yes - or - no.
So Alice hunted among the chessmen on the table till she had found
the Red Queen: then she went down on her knees on the hearth-rug, and put
the kitten and the Queen to look at each other. "Now, Kitty! - she cried,
clapping her hands triumphantly. - Confess that was what you turned into!
( - But it wouldn't look at it, - she said, when she was explaining
the thing afterwards to her sister: - it turned away its head, and
pretended not to see it: but it looked a LITTLE ashamed of itself, so I
think it MUST have been the Red Queen.')
- Sit up a little more stiffly, dear! - Alice cried with a merry
laugh. - And curtsey while you're thinking what to - what to purr. It
saves time, remember! - And she caught it up and gave it one little kiss,
- just in honour of having been a Red Queen.
- Snowdrop, my pet! - she went on, looking over her shoulder at the
White Kitten, which was still patiently undergoing its toilet, - when WILL
Dinah have finished with your White Majesty, I wonder? That must be the
reason you were so untidy in my dream - Dinah! do you know that you're
scrubbing a White Queen? Really, it's most disrespectful of you!
- And what did DINAH turn to, I wonder? - she prattled on, as she
settled comfortably down, with one elbow in the rug, and her chin in her
hand, to watch the kittens. - Tell me, Dinah, did you turn to Humpty
Dumpty? I THINK you did - however, you'd better not mention it to your
friends just yet, for I'm not sure.
- By the way, Kitty, of only you'd been really with me in my dream,
there was one thing you WOULD have enjoyed - I had such a quantity of
poetry said to me, all about fishes! To-morrow morning you shall have a
real treat. All the time you're eating your breakfast, I'll repeat "The
Walrus and the Carpenter" to you; and then you can make believe it's
oysters, dear!
- Now, Kitty, let's consider who it was that dreamed it all. This is
a serious question, my dear, and you should NOT go on licking your paw
like that - as if Dinah hadn't washed you this morning! You see, Kitty, it
MUST have been either me or the Red King. He was part of my dream, of
course - but then I was part of his dream, too! WAS it the Red King,
Kitty. You were his wife, my dear, so you ought to know Oh, Kitty, DO help
to settle it! I'm sure your paw can wait! - But the provoking kitten only
began on the other paw, and pretended it hadn't heard the question.
Which do YOU think it was?
A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear
Long had paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream
Lingering in the golden gleam
Life, what is it but a dream?
THE END
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