{"id":1704,"date":"2007-05-26T00:05:14","date_gmt":"2007-05-26T06:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conradaskland.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/through-the-looking-glass-chapter-twelve\/"},"modified":"2007-05-26T00:05:14","modified_gmt":"2007-05-26T06:05:14","slug":"through-the-looking-glass-chapter-twelve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/through-the-looking-glass-chapter-twelve\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the Looking Glass – Chapter Twelve"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 once 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<\/em> you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?’<\/p>\n

On this occasion the kitten only purred: and it was impossible to guess whether it meant `yes’ or `no.’<\/p>\n

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!’<\/p>\n

(`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<\/em> ashamed of itself, so I think it must<\/em> have been the Red Queen.’)<\/p>\n

`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.’<\/p>\n

`Snowdrop, my pet!’ she went on, looking over her shoulder at the White Kitten, which was still patiently undergoing its toilet, `when will<\/em> 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!<\/p>\n

`And what did dinah<\/em> 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<\/em> you did — however, you’d better not mention it to your friends just yet, for I’m not sure.<\/p>\n

`By the way, Kitty, of only you’d been really with me in my dream, there was one thing you would<\/em> 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!<\/p>\n

`Now, Kitty, let’s consider who it was that dreamed it all. This is a serious question, my dear, and you should not<\/em> go on licking your paw like that — as if Dinah hadn’t washed you this morning! You see, Kitty, it must<\/em> 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<\/em> it the Red King, Kitty. You were his wife, my dear, so you ought to know — Oh, Kitty, do<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

Which do you<\/em> think it was?<\/p>\n

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
\nLingering onward dreamily
\nIn an evening of July —<\/p>\n

Children three that nestle near,
\nEager eye and willing ear,
\nPleased a simple tale to hear —<\/p>\n

Long had paled that sunny sky:
\nEchoes fade and memories die.
\nAutumn frosts have slain July.<\/p>\n

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
\nAlice moving under skies
\nNever seen by waking eyes.<\/p>\n

Children yet, the tale to hear,
\nEager eye and willing ear,
\nLovingly shall nestle near.<\/p>\n

In a Wonderland they lie,
\nDreaming as the days go by,
\nDreaming as the summers die:<\/p>\n

Ever drifting down the stream —
\nLingering in the golden gleam —
\nLife, what is it but a dream?<\/p>\n

THE END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3C0LX-ru","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}