L. Carroll "Alice Through the Looking Glass": description, characters, analysis of the work. Alice in the Wonderland. Translation by Yuri Lifshits L Carroll read Alice through the looking glass

One of Lewis Carroll's most famous books is “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” a summary of which is given in this article. It was written in 1871 and became a continuation of the equally popular book "Alice in Wonderland".

First part

After the success of his first book, Carroll decided to write Alice Through the Looking Glass. The summary of the first part told about a girl named Alice. Incredible adventures happen to her.

Through a rabbit hole she finds herself in an imaginary world inhabited by strange creatures. She meets the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Hatter, and the March Hare. The fairy tale immediately became popular, not only among children, but also among adults. This is one of the standard examples of the absurd genre, in which the author used numerous linguistic, mathematical and philosophical jokes and allusions.

The book had a huge influence on the development of further literature. Especially for the fantasy genre.

The continuation of this story was called "Alice Through the Looking Glass." In the summary, the main character this time goes to another country. This time through the looking glass.

And in this case, she encounters incredible adventures thanks to a small animal. But not a rabbit, as in the first part, but a black kitten. Alice plays with him in a light half-asleep. At this time, incredible transformations and miracles begin on the other side of the mirror.

Alice is transported to a room very similar to the one she was in before. But in some ways it is strikingly different. The portraits whisper secretly, and the clock smiles widely. Near the fireplace, the main character of “Alice Through the Looking Glass” sees many animated chess pieces. The book, the summary of which you are reading, introduces the reader to the Black Queen, the White King and other key characters.

The surprised girl grabs the king and begins to clean off the ash. He gets so scared that, as he admits, he freezes to the very tips of his sideburns.

Alice will have to deal with a lot of mysteries in this country. She figures out how to read poetry written in the most mysterious way. To do this, you need to hold the book up to the mirror, but the meaning of what is written still eludes.

Country Through the Looking Glass

I really like Alice Through the Looking Glass. The summary tells how she wants to explore the whole country. But it's not that simple. The girl climbs to the top of the hill for a long time, but in the end each time she ends up at the entrance to the house from which she came.

Alice talks to the flowers that grow in the flower bed nearby. They give her unusual advice - to go in the opposite direction from the goal. Despite the noticeable illogicality and absurdity of this advice, Alice follows it when she sees the Red Queen. Carroll in "Alice Through the Looking Glass", a summary of which allows you to get an idea about this book, says that Alice soon encounters the Queen at the foot of the hill and is convinced that the flowers were right.

Chess game

Only at this moment does Alice notice that the whole country is divided into even cells. This was done using streams and hedges. All this resembles a real chessboard.

Alice decides to definitely play, and is even ready to play the role of a pawn. Although secretly, of course, she dreams of becoming Queen. And in chess it is just possible to transform from a pawn to a queen. If you try hard. Then the main character of the fairy tale “Alice Through the Looking Glass” finally decides to hit the road. In the reader's diary, in the summary of this work, the girl encounters many unusual and incomprehensible things.

For example, instead of bees, elephants fly here, and the train she boards carries a Beetle, a Goat and a Horse. And with real tickets. Unusual and Controller. He examines the girl through a telescope, and in the end concludes that she is going in the wrong direction.

Meeting with the Black King

L. Carroll in “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” a summary of which is given in this article, describes the main character’s acquaintance with two funny fat men. This is Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They always argue and even fight, though over trifles. These fat men scare Alice, but they lead her to the Black King.

The king was surprised to see Alice. But Tweedledee and Tweedledum convince him that it is just a dream. As soon as he wakes up, the girl will disappear.

Life in Through the Looking Glass affects everyone around Alice. For example, the White Queen promises to treat her with jam tomorrow. Alice wants to refuse, but the Queen warns her that this is completely unnecessary. The fact is that, according to her logic, the real tomorrow will never come. Because every day comes only today, and tomorrow remains unattainable.

Moreover, it turns out that the White Queen perfectly remembers not only the past, but also the future. For example, she screams in pain over a finger that she seriously pricked only some time later.

Another strange event happens to the main character in the forest, when she persistently tries to cut the pie in order to treat everyone around her. The pie grows together all the time. Only Lev managed to explain to her that this is another feature of Through the Looking Glass. In this country, the cake must first be distributed and only then cut. Here everything is turned upside down.

Humpty Dumpty

Another remarkable meeting Alice has with Humpty Dumpty. He appears almost out of nowhere. He grows out of an egg right before the girl's eyes. At the same time, he becomes the large and foreheaded man from the famous nursery rhyme. The conversation with him does not work out. Because even words familiar to her in this conversation acquire a completely unthinkable meaning.

The habit of interpreting everything topsy-turvy is inherent in almost all inhabitants of the Looking Glass. For example, at the next meeting with the White King, Alice admits to him that she does not see anyone on the road. In response to this, the king begins to envy her, because he himself never managed to see anyone. According to reviews, the book is quite unique, so to speak, “for everyone.” Some people note strange pictures, which, however, corresponds to the content of the story, and therefore it would be surprising to see the standard design of the book. However, Alice's extraordinary story remains one of the best classic books.

Transformation into a queen

At the very end of the fairy tale, Alice reaches the last, eighth line of the chessboard. At this moment she feels a heavy object on her, which turns out to be a crown.

A sumptuous feast is thrown in her honor. But he, like everything that surrounds Alice in Through the Looking Glass, is very strange. The girl gets angry because of this and begins to shake the Black Queen, who comes into her hand. At this moment, she discovers that she is actually holding a black kitten in her hands. It turns out it was just a dream. But whose, we now have to find out.

Alice - 2

The White Pawn (Alice) starts and becomes Queen in eleven moves

1. Alice meets the Black Queen
2. Alice via d3 (the railway goes to d4 (Tweedledum and Tweedledee)
3. Alice meets the White Queen (with shawl)
4. Alice goes to d5 (bench, river, shop)
5. Alice goes to d6 (Humpty Dumpty)
6. Alice goes to d7 (forest)
7. White Horse takes on Black Horse
8. Alice goes to d8 (coronation)
9. Alice becomes Queen
10. Alice "castles" (feast)
11. Alice takes the Black Queen and wins the game

1. The Black Queen moves to h5
2. The White Queen goes to c4 (catches the shawl)
4. The White Queen moves to f8 (leaves an egg on the shelf)
5. The White Queen goes to c8 (escaping from the Black Horse)
6. Black Knight goes to e7
7. White Knight goes to f5
8. The Black Queen goes to e8 (“exam”)
9. Queens "castle"
10. The White Queen goes to a6 (soup)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE (SETUP BEFORE THE GAME STARTS)

WHITE

Shapes: Tweedledum, Unicorn, Sheep, White Queen, White King,
Old Man, White Knight, Tweedledum
Pawns: Daisy, Zai Ats, Oyster, Little Lily, Doe, Oyster,
Boobs Chick, Daisy

Figures: Humpty Dumpty, Carpenter, Walrus, Black Queen, Black King,
Raven, Black Knight, Lion
Pawns: Daisy, Stranger, Oyster, Tiger Lily, Rose, Oyster,
Frog, Daisy

Child with a cloudless brow
And with a surprised look,
Let everything change around
And you and I are not close,
Let the years separate us
Please accept my story as a gift.

I only see you in my dreams,
I can't hear your laughter, dear,
You have grown up, and about me,
I probably forgot (*1).
I've had enough for now
You will listen to my story.

It started many years ago
Early July morning,
Our boat glided in harmony
With my story.
I remember this blue path
Even though the years have been saying: forget it!

My dear friend, the days will fly by,
A menacing voice will be heard.
And he tells you: “Go to sleep!”
And it will be too late to argue.
We look so much like guys
That they don’t want to go to bed.

All around - frost, blinding snow
And empty as in the desert,
We have joy, children's laughter,
The fire is burning in the fireplace.
A fairy tale saves you from adversity -
Let her save you.

Although there is a slight sadness in the air
In my fairy tale,
Even though summer is over, let it be
Its colors do not fade,
Breath of evil this time too
Don't be saddened by my story.

Since the chess problem given on the previous page posed
to some readers' confusion, I should obviously explain that she
drawn up in accordance with the rules - as far as they themselves are concerned
_moves_.

Lewis Carroll

Alice Through the Looking Glass (with Color Illustrations)

Looking Glass House

One thing was absolutely clear: white the kitten has nothing to do with it; It's all the black's fault and no one else's. For half an hour now, the cat’s mother washed Snowflake’s face (and she steadfastly endured this torment) - so that, with all her desire, Snowflake did nothing could do.

Do you know how Dina washed her kittens? With one paw she grabbed the poor thing by the ear and pressed it to the floor, and with the other she rubbed her entire face, starting from the nose, against the fur. As I already said, at this time she was working on Snowflake, and she lay quietly, did not resist, and even tried to purr - apparently, she understood that all this was being done for her own good.

Dinah had finished with little black Kitty earlier, and now, while Alice sat curled up on the corner of the spacious armchair, muttering something to herself half asleep, Kitty was having a lot of fun playing with the ball of wool that Alice had shaken in the morning; she happily chased it around the floor and, of course, unraveled it and completely tangled it. The threads were now lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, so tangled that it was scary to look at them, and Kitty was jumping on them, trying to catch her own tail.

Oh, Kitty, how disgusting you are! - said Alice, catching her and lightly kissing her on the face, in order, apparently, so that she would better understand that the mistress was angry with her. - Didn’t Dina explain to you how to behave?

She looked reproachfully at Dina and added as sternly as possible:

- Not good, Dina, not good.

And then she climbed back into the chair, taking the wool and the kitten with her, and began to work on the ball again. But things went slowly for Alice, because she was distracted all the time - either talking to Kitty or muttering something under her breath. Kitty sat quietly on her lap, pretending to carefully watch Alice flail her wool; from time to time she extended her paw and quietly touched the ball, as if wanting to say that she would gladly help if she could.

Do you know what will happen tomorrow? - said Alice. “You would have guessed it yourself if you had sat with me in the window this morning.” Only you were busy - Dina washed you. And I watched the boys collect wood chips for the fire. You need a lot of wood for a fire, Kitty. It was terribly cold, and then it started snowing - they had to go home! But don't worry, Kitty! Tomorrow we'll go watch the fire!

Then Alice wrapped a little of Kitty's wool around her neck, just to see if it would suit her; Kitty began to struggle - the ball rolled onto the floor and unraveled again.

You know,” Alice continued as they settled back into the chair, “I was so angry with you, Kitty, when I saw what you had done. I almost opened the window and sat you down in the snow! You deserve it, minx! What can you say in your defense? Now listen and don't interrupt me! (Here she shook her finger at Kitty.) I'll tell you everything! First of all, you squeaked when you were washed this morning. Yes, you have nothing to object to, I heard it with my own ears! What are you saying there? (Alice fell silent, pretending to listen to Kitty.) Did she hit you in the eye with her paw? It's your own fault, there was no need for you to open your eyes! If you had closed your eyes tighter, this wouldn't have happened! Don't make excuses, please! Better listen! Secondly, you pulled Snowflake away from the saucer by the tail when I poured her milk. Oh, that's it, are you thirsty? Haven't you thought about her? And thirdly, as soon as I turned away, you immediately unwound all the wool. Three whole offenses, Kitty, and you haven’t paid for one yet! Well, wait, I’ll punish you for everything at once - in a week!

What would happen if me did they also begin to punish for everything at once? (She thought aloud, more to herself than to Kitty.) What would happen then? end of the year? I should be in jail, no other way! What if I were left without lunch for every offense? Then one fine day I would be left without a hundred lunches at once! Well, This not so scary yet! It would be worse if you had to eat all a hundred dinners at once!

Do you hear the snow rustling against the glass, Kitty? How fluffy and soft he is! How he caresses towards the windows! Snow, that's right loves fields and trees, since he is so gentle with them! He covers them with a white feather bed so that they are warm and comfortable, and says: “Sleep, dear ones, sleep until summer comes.” And having risen from their winter sleep, Kitty, they will put on a green outfit and start dancing in the wind. Oh, how beautiful it is! - Here Alice clapped her hands and dropped the ball again. - It would be nice to have all this and really it was! After all, in the fall the forest really is so sleepy. The leaves of the trees turn yellow and he falls asleep.

Listen, Kitty, can you play chess? Don't laugh, honey, I'm asking you seriously. When we played today, you looked at the board as if you understood all the moves: and when I said “Check!”, you purred! Oh, Kitty, what a time it was. good move! And I, of course, would have won if it weren’t for that nasty horse! How did he get close to my figures! Kitty, honey, let's play as if we...

I can’t even tell you how often Alice repeated this phrase! Just yesterday she had a long argument with her sister; Alice told her: “Let's play as if we were kings and queens,” and her sister, who loves precision in everything, said that this was impossible, because there were only two of them. In the end, Alice had to give in. “Okay,” she said, “ You you will be one king and queen, and I all the other kings and queens at once!” And one day she scared her old nanny to death by shouting right in her ear: “Nanny, let’s play as if I’m a hungry hyena and you’re a bone!”

But we digress. So Alice said to Kitty:

Kitty, honey, let's play like you're the Black Queen! You know, if you sit on your hind legs and press your front legs to your chest, you will look just like the Black Queen. Come on, try it, darling!

And Alice took the Red Queen off the table and put it in front of Kitty so that she could see who to imitate. But nothing came of this idea - mainly because, according to Alice, Kitty never wanted to raise her paws properly. Then, as punishment, Alice brought her to the Mirror over the fireplace - so that she could see how gloomy she looked.

If you don’t correct yourself this very minute, I’ll put you there, in the Looking-Glass House. Well, what are you on This will you say?

You know, Kitty, if you’ll be silent for just a minute,” Alice continued, “and listen to me, I’ll tell you everything I know about the Looking-Glass House. First of all, there is this room that starts right behind the glass. It's exactly the same as our living room, Kitty, only it's the other way around! When I climb onto a chair and look in the Mirror, I can see all of her except the fireplace. Oh, how I wish his see! I'm so interested to know whether they have a fireplace in the winter or not. But no matter how you look at this Mirror, the fireplace will not see, unless our fireplace starts smoking - then smoke will appear there too. Only this, it’s true, they did it on purpose - so that we would think that they also have a fire in the fireplace. And the books there are very similar to ours - only the words are written backwards. I am this exactly I know, because one day I showed them our book, and they showed me theirs!

Well, Kitty, do you want to live in the House of Mirrors? I wonder if they will give you milk there? However, I don’t know if you can drink mirror milk? Won't it hurt you, Kitty... And then there is a corridor. If you open the door wide in our living room, you can see a piece corridor in that house, it is exactly the same as ours. But, who knows, suddenly, where he is not visible, he is completely different? Oh, Kitty, how I would like to go through the Looking Glass! There must be so many miracles there! Let's play like we can get there! Suddenly the glass will become thin as a spider's web, and we will step through it! Look, it really does melt away like fog. It’s not at all difficult to get through it now...

The Alice tales are among the most famous books written in English: in terms of citations, they are second only to the Bible and Shakespeare's plays. Time passes, the era described by Carroll goes deeper and deeper into the past, but interest in “Alice” does not decrease, but, on the contrary, grows. What is "Alice in Wonderland"? A fairy tale for children, a collection of logical paradoxes for adults, an allegory of English history or theological disputes? The more time passes, the more incredible interpretations these texts acquire.

Who is Lewis Carroll

Carroll's writing life is the story of a man who got into literature by accident. Charles Dodgson (that was the real name of the author of Alice) grew up among numerous sisters and brothers: he was the third of 11 children. The younger ones had to be kept busy, and Charles had a natural gift for inventing a wide variety of games. The puppet theater he made at the age of 11 has survived, and in the family papers one can find stories, fairy tales and poetic parodies that he composed at the age of 12 and 13. As a youth, Dodgson loved to invent words and word games; years later he would write a weekly games column for Vanity Fair. Words galumph According to the definition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb to galumph was previously interpreted as “to move in erratic leaps”, and in modern language it has come to mean a noisy and clumsy movement. And chortle To chortle - “to laugh loudly and joyfully.”, invented by him for the poem “Jabberwocky”, are included in English dictionaries.

Dodgson was a paradoxical and mysterious person. On the one hand, a shy, pedantic, stuttering mathematics teacher at Oxford's Christ Church College and researcher of Euclidean geometry and symbolic logic, a prim gentleman and clergyman Dodgson accepted the rank of deacon, but did not dare to become a priest, as was customary for members of the college.; on the other hand, a man who kept company with all the famous writers, poets and artists of his time, an author of romantic poems, a lover of theater and society - including children's. He could tell stories to children; its many child-friends Carroll's definition of the children with whom he was friends and corresponded. they recalled that he was always ready to unfold before them some plot stored in his memory, providing it with new details and changing the action. The fact that one of these stories (an improvisational tale told on July 4, 1862), unlike many others, was written down and then published is an amazing coincidence of circumstances.

How did the fairy tale about Alice come about?

Alice Liddell. Photo by Lewis Carroll. Summer 1858 National Media Museum

Alice Liddell. Photo by Lewis Carroll. May-June 1860 The Morgan Library & Museum

In the summer of 1862, Charles Dodgson told Rector Liddell's daughters Henry Liddell is known not only as Alice's father: together with Robert Scott, he compiled the famous dictionary of the ancient Greek language - the so-called “Liddell-Scott”. Classical philologists around the world still use it today. fairy tale-improvisation. The girls persistently asked to record it. In the winter of the following year, Dodgson completed a manuscript entitled "Alice's Adventures Underground" and gave it to one of the Liddell sisters, Alice. Other readers of the Adventures included the children of the writer George MacDonald, whom Dodgeson met while being treated for a stutter. Macdonald convinced him to think about publication, Dodgson seriously revised the text, and in December 1865 The publisher dated the circulation to 1866."Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was published, signed by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. "Alice" unexpectedly received incredible success, and in 1867 its author began work on a sequel. In December 1871, the book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Seeed There was published.

The British Library

A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library

A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library

A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library

A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library

A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library

In 1928, Alice Hargreaves, née Liddell, finding herself strapped for cash after the death of her husband, put the manuscript up for auction at Sotheby’s and sold it for an incredible £15,400 at the time. After 20 years, the manuscript again went to auction, where for 100 thousand dollars, on the initiative of the head of the US Library of Congress, it was bought by a group of American philanthropists to donate it to the British Museum - as a token of gratitude to the British to the people who held Hitler back while the US prepared for war. Later, the manuscript was transferred to the British Library, on whose website anyone can now look through it.

To date, more than a hundred English editions of “Alice” have been published, it has been translated into 174 languages, dozens of film adaptations and thousands of theatrical productions have been created based on the fairy tales.---

What is "Alice in Wonderland"

Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Library of Congress

Lewis Carroll with the family of writer George MacDonald. 1863 George MacDonald Society

Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

To truly understand Alice in Wonderland, it is important to keep in mind that this book was born by accident. The author moved where his imagination led him, without wanting to tell the reader anything and without implying any clues. Perhaps this is why the text has become an ideal field for searching for meaning. This is not a complete list of interpretations of books about Alice proposed by readers and researchers.

History of England

The baby duke turning into a pig is Richard III, whose coat of arms featured a white boar, and the Queen's demand to repaint the white roses red is, of course, a reference to the confrontation between the Scarlet and White Roses - Lancasters and Yorks. According to another version, the book depicts the court of Queen Victoria: according to legend, the queen herself wrote “Alice”, and then asked an unknown Oxford professor to sign the fairy tales with her name.

History of the Oxford Movement Oxford movement- a movement to bring Anglican worship and dogma closer to the Catholic tradition, which developed in Oxford in the 1830s and 40s.

The high and low doors that Alice, changing her height, is trying to enter are the High and Low Churches (gravitating, respectively, to the Catholic and Protestant traditions) and the believer oscillating between these movements. Dinah the cat and the Scotch terrier, the mention of which the Mouse (a simple parishioner) is so afraid of, are Catholicism and Presbyterianism, the White and Black Queens are Cardinals Newman and Manning, and the Jabberwocky is the papacy.

Chess problem

To solve it, you need to use, unlike ordinary problems, not only chess technique, but also “chess morality,” which leads the reader to broad moral and ethical generalizations.

Encyclopedia of psychosis and sexuality

In the 1920s-50s, psychoanalytic interpretations of “Alice” became especially popular, and attempts were made to present Carroll’s friendship with children as evidence of his unnatural inclinations.

Encyclopedia of "substance" use

In the 1960s, in the wake of interest in various ways of “expanding consciousness”, in fairy tales about Alice, who is constantly changing, drinking from bottles and biting off mushrooms, and conducting philosophical conversations with the Caterpillar, smoking a huge pipe, they began to see an encyclopedia use of "substances". The manifesto of this tradition is the song written in 1967 “ White Rabbit» Jefferson Airplane:

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all “One pill and you grow, // Another and you shrink. // And the ones your mother gives you // Are of no use.”.

Where did it come from?

Carroll's fantasy is surprising in that there is nothing fictitious in “Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass.” Carroll's method resembles an applique: elements of real life are intricately mixed together, so in the heroes of the fairy tale, its first listeners easily guessed themselves, the narrator, mutual acquaintances, familiar places and situations.

July 4, 1862

“Golden July Afternoon” from the poetic dedication that precedes the text of the book is a very specific Friday, July 4, 1862. According to W. Hugh Auden, the day is “as memorable in the history of literature as in the history of the American state.” It was on the 4th of July that Charles Dodgson, as well as his friend, a teacher at Trinity College And later - tutor to Prince Leopold and canon of Westminster Abbey. Robinson Duckworth and the three rector's daughters - 13-year-old Lorina Charlotte, 10-year-old Alice Pleasence and eight-year-old Edith Mary - went on a boat trip on the Isis (that's the name of the Thames that flows through Oxford).

Strictly speaking, this was already the second attempt to go on a summer river walk. On the seventeenth of June the same party, as well as Dodgson's two sisters and aunt, boarded the boat, but soon it began to rain, and the strollers had to change their plans This episode formed the basis for the chapters "Sea of ​​Tears" and "Running in Circles.". But on the 4th of July the weather was fine, and the company had a picnic at Godstow, near the ruins of the ancient abbey. It was there that Dodgson told the Liddell girls the first version of the fairy tale about Alice. It was impromptu: to a friend’s perplexed questions about where he heard this fairy tale, the author answered that he was “making it up on the fly.” The walks continued until mid-August, and the girls asked to talk further and further.

Alice, Dodo, Ed the Eaglet, Black Queen and others

The prototype of the main character was the middle sister, Alice, Dodgeson's favorite. Lorina became the prototype of Laurie the parrot, and Edith became the prototype of Ed the Eaglet. There is also a reference to the Liddell sisters in the chapter “Mad Tea Party”: the “jelly young ladies” from Sonya’s story are called Elsie, Lacey and Tilly. “Elsie” is a reproduction of the initials of Lorina Charlotte (L.C., that is, Lorina Charlotte); "Til-lee" is short for Matilda, Edith's pet name, and "Lacie" is an anagram of Alice. Dodgson himself is a Dodo. When introducing himself, he pronounced his last name with a characteristic stutter: “Do-do-dodgson.” Duckworth was depicted as the Drake (Robin Goose, translated by Nina Demurova), and Miss Prickett, the governess of the Liddell sisters (they called her Pricks), became the prototype of the Mouse and the Black Queen.

A door, a garden of amazing beauty and a crazy tea party

Rector's garden. Photo by Lewis Carroll. 1856–1857Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Gate in the rector's garden todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple

"Cat tree" in the rector's garden todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple

View of the Provost's Garden from Dodgson's office in the library todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple

Fridesvida's well todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple

Looking through the door, Alice sees a “garden of amazing beauty” - this is the door leading from the garden of the rector’s house to the garden at the cathedral (children were forbidden to enter the church garden, and they could only see it through the gate). Here Dodgson and the girls played croquet, and cats sat on a spreading tree growing in the garden. The current residents of the rector's house believe that the Cheshire Cat was among them.

Even the mad tea party, for whose participants it is always six o'clock and time to drink tea, has a real prototype: whenever the Liddell sisters came to Dodgson, he always had tea ready for them. The “molasses well” from the fairy tale that Sonya tells during tea party turns into “kisel”, and the sisters living at the bottom become “jelly ladies”. This is a healing spring in the town of Binzi, which was located on the road from Oxford to Godstow.

The first version of “Alice in Wonderland” was precisely a collection of such references, while nonsense and word games of the well-known “Alice” appeared only when the fairy tale was revised for publication.

Chess, talking flowers and Through the Looking Glass

"Alice Through the Looking Glass" also contains a huge number of references to real people and situations. Dodgson loved to play chess with the Liddell sisters - hence the chess basis of the tale. Snowflake was the name of the kitten of Mary MacDonald, daughter of George MacDonald, and Dodgson bred his eldest daughter Lily as a white pawn. Rose and violet from the chapter “The Garden Where the Flowers Spoke” - Liddell's younger sisters Rhoda and Violet Violet (English) - violet.. The garden itself and the subsequent running in place were obviously inspired by the author's walk with Alice and Miss Prickett on April 4, 1863. Carroll came to visit the children who were staying with their grandparents in Charlton Kings (in their house there was the very mirror through which Alice passes). The episode with the train journey (chapter “Through the Looking Glass Insects”) is an echo of the journey back to Oxford on April 16, 1863. It was perhaps during this trip that Dodgson came up with the topography of Through the Looking Glass: the railway line between Gloucester and Didcot crosses six streams - very similar to the six horizontal streams that Alice the pawn crosses in Through the Looking Glass to become queen.

What does the book consist of?

Words, proverbs, folk poems and songs

The elements of reality that make up the surreal world of Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are not limited to people, places and situations. To a much greater extent, this world is created from the elements of language. However, these layers are closely intertwined. For example, for the role of the prototype of the Hatter Translated by Demurova - Hatter. at least two real people are contenders: Oxford inventor and businessman Theophilus Carter It is believed that John Tenniel, who illustrated Alice, came to Oxford specifically to make sketches from it. and Roger Crab, a hatmaker who lived in the 17th century. But first of all, this character owes its origin to language. The Hatter is a visualization of the English proverb “Mad as a hatter.” In 19th-century England, mercury was used in the production of felt, which was used to make hats. Hatters inhaled its fumes, and symptoms of mercury poisoning include slurred speech, memory loss, tics and distorted vision.

The character created from a linguistic image is a very characteristic technique for Carroll. The March Hare is also from the saying: “Mad as a March hare” translated means “Mad as a March Hare”: in England it is believed that hares go crazy during the breeding season, that is, from February to September.

The Cheshire Cat came from the expression “To grin like a Cheshire cat” "Grinr like the Cheshire Cat.". The origin of this phrase is not entirely obvious. Perhaps it arose because there were many dairy farms in Cheshire and cats felt especially at ease there, or because on these farms they made cheese in the shape of cats with smiling faces (and they were supposed to be eaten from the tail, so the latter is what what was left of them was a muzzle without a body). Or because a local artist painted lions with gaping mouths over the entrances to pubs, but what he ended up with were smiling cats. Alice’s remark “It’s not forbidden to look at kings” in response to the King’s dissatisfaction with the gaze of the Cheshire Cat is also a reference to the old proverb “A cat may look at a king,” meaning that even those at the very bottom have a hierarchical There are rights to the staircase.

But this technique is best seen in the example of the Quasi Turtle, whom Alice meets in the ninth chapter. In the original, her name is Mock Turtle. And in response to Alice’s perplexed question about what she is, the Queen tells her: “It’s the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from” - that is, what “like turtle soup” is made from. Mock turtle soup is an imitation of the traditional gourmet green turtle soup made from veal. That is why in Tenniel's illustration the Mock Turtle is a creature with the head of a calf, hind hooves and a calf's tail.. This kind of wordplay-based character creation is very typical of Carroll. In the original edition of Nina Demurova’s translation, Mock Turtle is called Pod-Kotik, that is, a creature from whose skin fur coats “like a cat” are made..

Carroll's language also controls the development of the plot. So, the Jack of Diamonds steals pretzels, for which he is tried in the 11th and 12th chapters of Wonderland. This is a “dramatization” of the English folk song “The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts...” (“King of Hearts, wishing for pretzels...”). Episodes about Humpty Dumpty, the Lion and the Unicorn also grew from folk songs.

Tennyson, Shakespeare and English folk poetry

In Carroll's books you can find many references to literary works. The most obvious are outright parodies, primarily alterations of well-known poems, mainly moralizing ones (“Papa William,” “Little Crocodile,” “Evening Food,” and so on). Parodies are not limited to poetry: Carroll ironically plays on passages from textbooks (in the chapter “Running in a Circle”) and even poems by poets whom he had great respect for (the episode at the beginning of the chapter “The Garden Where the Flowers Spoke” plays on lines from Tennyson's poem "Maud"). Fairy tales about Alice are so filled with literary reminiscences, quotes and half-quotes that just listing them would fill weighty volumes. Among the authors cited by Carroll are Virgil, Dante, Milton, Gray, Coleridge, Scott, Keats, Dickens, MacDonald and many others. Shakespeare is quoted especially often in Alice: for example, the line “Off with his (her) head,” which the Queen constantly repeats, is a direct quote from Richard III.

How logic and mathematics influenced Alice

Charles Dodgson's specialties were Euclidean geometry, calculus and mathematical logic. In addition, he was interested in photography, the invention of logic and mathematical games and puzzles. This logician and mathematician becomes one of the creators of nonsense literature, in which the absurd is a strict system.

An example of nonsense is the Hatter's watch, which shows not the hour, but the number. This seems strange to Alice - after all, there is no point in a clock that does not show time. But they have no meaning in her coordinate system, whereas in the world of the Hat-no-Kay, in which it is always six o’clock and time for tea, the meaning of the clock is precisely to indicate the day. Within each of the worlds, the logic is not broken - it goes astray when they meet. In the same way, the idea of ​​lubricating a watch with butter is not nonsense, but an understandable failure of logic: both the mechanism and the bread are supposed to be lubricated with something, the main thing is not to confuse what exactly.

Inversion is another feature of Carroll's writing method. In the graphical multiplication method he invented, the multiplier was written backwards and above the multiplicand. According to Dodgson, “The Hunting of the Snark” was written backwards: first the last line, then the last stanza, and then everything else. The game “Duplets” he invented consisted of rearranging the letters in a word. His pseudonym Lewis Carroll is also an inversion: at first he translated his full name - Charles Lutwidge - into Latin, it turned out Carolus Ludovicus. And then back to English - the names swapped places.

Inversion in “Alice” occurs at a variety of levels - from the plot (at the trial of the Knave, the Queen demands first to pronounce a verdict, and then establish the guilt of the defendant) to structural (meeting Alice, the Unicorn says that he has always considered children to be fairy-tale creatures). The principle of mirror reflection, to which the logic of the existence of the Looking Glass is subordinated, is also a type of inversion (and the “reflected” arrangement of the pieces on the chess board makes the chess game an ideal continuation of the theme of the card game from the first book). To quench your thirst, here you need to try dry cookies; to stand still, you need to run; The finger first bleeds, and only then is it pricked with a pin.

Who created the first illustrations for Alice?

One of the most important components of the fairy tales about Alice is the illustrations with which the first readers saw her and which are not in most reprints. We are talking about the illustrations of John Tenniel (1820-1914), which are no less important than the real prototypes of the characters and situations described in the book.

At first, Carroll was going to publish a book with his own illustrations and even transferred some of the drawings onto boxwood tablets, which were used by printers to make engravings. But friends from the prerafa-elite circle convinced him to invite a professional illustrator. Carroll chose the most famous and sought-after: Tenniel was then the chief illustrator of the influential satirical magazine Punch and one of the busiest artists.

Work on the illustrations under Carroll’s meticulous and often intrusive control (70% of the illustrations are based on the author’s drawings) delayed the release of the book for a long time. Tenniel was dissatisfied with the quality of the print run, so Carroll demanded that the publishers withdraw it from sale. Interestingly, it is now the one that is most valued by collectors. and print a new one. And yet, in preparation for the publication of Alice Through the Looking Glass, Carroll again invited Tenniel. At first he flatly refused (working with Carroll required too much effort and time), but the author was persistent and eventually persuaded the artist to take up the work.

Tenniel's illustrations are not an addition to the text, but his full partner, and that is why Carroll was so demanding of them. Even at the level of the plot, much can be understood only thanks to illustrations - for example, that the Royal Messenger from the fifth and seventh chapters of Through the Looking Glass is the Hat from Wonderland. Some Oxford realities began to be associated with “Alice” due to the fact that they served as prototypes not for Carroll, but for Tenniel: for example, the drawing from the chapter “Water and Knitting” depicts a “sheep” store at 83 St. Aldates. Today it is a gift shop dedicated to the books of Lewis Carroll.

Where is the moral

One of the reasons for the success of “Alice” is the lack of moralizing, which was usual for children’s books of that time. Edifying children's stories were the mainstream of children's literature at the time (they were published in huge quantities in publications like Aunt Judy's Magazine). Fairy tales about Alice stand out from this series: their heroine behaves naturally, like a living child, and not a model of virtue. She gets confused with dates and words, and has trouble remembering textbook verses and historical examples. And Carroll’s parodic approach itself, which makes textbook poems the subject of frivolous play, is not very conducive to moralizing. Moreover, moralizing and edification in “Alice” are a direct object of ridicule: just remember the absurd remarks of the Duchess (“And the morality from here is…”) and the bloodthirstiness of the Black Queen, whose image Carroll himself called “the quintessence of all governesses." The success of "Alice" showed that it was precisely this kind of children's literature that was most lacking, both for children and adults.

Carroll's further literary fate confirmed the uniqueness of "Alice" as the result of an incredible coincidence of circumstances. Few people know that, in addition to Alice in Wonderland, he wrote Sylvia and Bruno, an edifying novel about a magical land that consciously (but completely unsuccessfully) develops the themes present in Alice. In total, Carroll worked on this novel for 20 years and considered it his life’s work.

How to translate "Alice"

The main character of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Alice in Wonderland" is language, which makes the translation of these books incredibly difficult, and sometimes impossible. Here is just one of the many examples of the untranslatability of “Alice”: the jam, which, according to the Queen’s “firm rule”, the maid receives only “for tomorrow”, in the Russian translation is nothing more than another case of strange looking-glass logic “I would take you [as a maid] with pleasure,” responded the Queen. - Two
pennies a week and jam for tomorrow!
Alice laughed.
“No, I won’t become a maid,” she said. - Besides, I don’t like jam!
“The jam is excellent,” insisted the Queen.
- Thank you, but today I really don’t feel like it!
“You still wouldn’t get it today, even if you really wanted it,” answered the Queen. “I have a firm rule: jam for tomorrow!” And only for tomorrow!
- But tomorrow will someday be today!
- No never! Tomorrow never happens today! Is it really possible to wake up in the morning and say: “Well, now, finally, tomorrow?”” (translated by Nina Demurova).. But in the original, the phrase “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day” is not just strange. As is usually the case with Carroll, this strangeness has a system that is built from elements of reality. The word jam, which in English means “jam,” is used in Latin to convey the meaning of “now,” “now,” but only in the past and future tenses. In the present tense, the word nunc is used for this. The phrase Carroll put into the Queen’s mouth was used in Latin lessons as a mnemonic rule. Thus, “jam for tomorrow” is not only a looking-glass oddity, but also an elegant game of language and another example of Carroll’s play on school routine.-

“Alice in Wonderland” cannot be translated, but it can be recreated in the material of another language. It is precisely these translations of Carroll that turn out to be successful. This happened with the Russian translation made by Nina Mikhailovna Demurova. The edition of “Alice” prepared by Demurova in the series “Literary Monuments” (1979) is an example of book publishing, combining the talent and deepest competence of the editor-translator with the best traditions of Soviet academic science. In addition to the translation, the publication includes a classic commentary by Martin Gardner from his “Annotated Alice” (in turn, annotated for the Russian reader), articles on Carroll by Gilbert Chesterton, Virginia Woolf, Walter de la Mare and other materials - and, of course , reproduces Tenniel's illustrations.

Demurova not only translated Alice, but performed a miracle, making this book a treasure of Russian-speaking culture. There is quite a lot of evidence of this; one of the most eloquent - made by Oleg Gerasimov based on this translation musical performance, which was released on records from the Me-lo-Diya studio in 1976. The songs for the play were written by Vladimir Vysotsky - and the release of the records became his first official publication in the USSR as a poet and composer. The performance turned out to be so lively that listeners found political overtones in it (“There is a lot that is unclear in a strange country”, “No, no, the people do not have a difficult role: // Falling to your knees - what’s the problem?”), and the artistic council even tried prohibit the release of records. But the records were still released and re-released until the 1990s in millions of copies.

Current page: 1 (book has 8 pages in total)

Carroll Lewis
Alice through the Looking Glass (Alice – 2)

Lewis Carroll

Alice in the Wonderland

(Through the mirror and what Alice saw there)

The White Pawn (Alice) starts and becomes Queen in eleven moves

1. Alice meets the Black Queen

2. Alice via d3 (the railway goes to d4 (Tweedledum and Tweedledee)

3. Alice meets the White Queen (with shawl)

4. Alice goes to d5 (bench, river, shop)

5. Alice goes to d6 (Humpty Dumpty)

6. Alice goes to d7 (forest)

7. White Horse takes on Black Horse

8. Alice goes to d8 (coronation)

9. Alice becomes Queen

10. Alice "castles" (feast)

11. Alice takes the Black Queen and wins the game

1. The Black Queen moves to h5

2. The White Queen goes to c4 (catches the shawl)

4. The White Queen moves to f8 (leaves an egg on the shelf)

5. The White Queen goes to c8 (escaping from the Black Horse)

6. Black Knight goes to e7

7. White Knight goes to f5

8. The Black Queen goes to e8 (“exam”)

9. Queens "castle"

10. The White Queen goes to a6 (soup)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE (SETUP BEFORE THE GAME STARTS)

Figures: Tweedledee, Unicorn, Sheep, White Queen, White King, Old Man, White Knight, Tweedledee

Pawns: Daisy, Zay Ats, Oyster, Little Lily, Doe, Oyster, Chick Chick, Daisy

Figures: Humpty Dumpty, Carpenter, Walrus, Black Queen, Black King, Raven, Black Knight, Lion

Pawns: Daisy, Stranger, Oyster, Tiger Lily, Rose, Oyster, Frog, Daisy

Child with a cloudless brow

And with a surprised look,

Let everything change around

And you and I are not close,

Let the years separate us

Please accept my story as a gift.

I only see you in my dreams,

I can't hear your laughter, dear,

You have grown up, and about me,

I probably forgot (*1).

I've had enough for now

You will listen to my story.

It started many years ago

Early July morning,

Our boat glided in harmony

With my story.

I remember this blue path

Even though the years have been saying: forget it!

My dear friend, the days will fly by,

And he tells you: “Go to sleep!”

And it will be too late to argue.

We look so much like guys

That they don’t want to go to bed.

All around - frost, blinding snow

And empty as in the desert,

We have joy, children's laughter,

The fire is burning in the fireplace.

A fairy tale saves you from adversity

Let her save you.

Although there is a slight sadness in the air

In my fairy tale,

Even though summer is over, let it be

Its colors do not fade,

Breath of evil this time too

Don't be saddened by my story.

Since the chess problem given on the previous page has puzzled some readers, I should obviously explain that it is composed in accordance with the rules - so far as the _moves_ themselves are concerned.

It is true that the _order_ of black and white is not always observed with due strictness, and the "castling" of the three Queens simply means that all three end up in the palace; however, anyone who takes the trouble to arrange the pieces and make the indicated moves will be convinced that the “check” of the White King on the 6th move, the loss of the Knight by Black on the 7th and the final “checkmate” of the Black King do not contradict the laws of the game (*2 ).

The new words in the poem "Jabberwocky" caused some controversy regarding their pronunciation; I should obviously give clarification on _this_ point. "Hlivkie" should be pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable; “grunted” - on the third; and “Zelyuki” is on the last one.”

For the sixty-first thousand of this edition, new clichés were made from wooden forms (since they were not used directly for printing, they are in the same excellent condition as in 1871, when they were made); the entire book was typed in a new font. If, artistically, this reissue is in any way inferior to its predecessors, this will not be through the fault of the author, publisher or printer.

I take this opportunity to inform the public that Alice for Children, which hitherto cost 4 shillings without cover, is now sold on the same terms as ordinary shilling picture books, although I am sure that it is superior to them in every respect (for with the exception of the _text_ itself, which I have no right to judge). 4 shillings was a very reasonable price, considering the serious expense this book entailed on me; however, since Readers say: “For a picture book, no matter how good, we _don’t_ want to pay more than four shillings,” I agree to write off my expenses for its publication at a loss, and so as not to leave the little ones for whom it was written without it at all, I am selling it at such a price that for me it is equivalent to giving it away for nothing.

Christmas 1896

1. THROUGH THE MIRROR HOUSE

One thing was absolutely clear: the _white_ kitten had nothing to do with it; It's all the black's fault and no one else's. For half an hour now, the mother cat had been washing Snowflake’s face (and she steadfastly endured this torment) - so that, with all her desire, Snowflake could not do anything.

Do you know how Dina washed her kittens? With one paw she grabbed the poor thing by the ear and pressed it to the floor, and with the other she rubbed her entire face, starting from the nose, against the fur. As I already said, during this time she was working on Snowflake, and she lay quietly, did not resist, and even tried to purr - apparently, she understood that all this was being done for her own good.

Dinah had finished with little black Kitty earlier, and now, while Alice sat curled up on the corner of the spacious armchair, muttering something to herself half asleep, Kitty was having a lot of fun playing with the ball of wool that Alice had shaken in the morning; she happily chased it around the floor and, of course, unraveled it and completely tangled it. The threads were now lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, so tangled that it was scary to look at them, and Kitty was jumping on them, trying to catch her own tail.

- Oh, Kitty, how disgusting you are! - said Alice, catching her and lightly kissing her on the face, - in order, apparently, so that she would better understand that the mistress is angry with her. – Didn’t Dina explain to you how to behave?

She looked reproachfully at Dina and added as sternly as possible:

- _Not good_, Dina, _not good_!

And then she climbed back into the chair, taking the wool and the kitten with her, and began to work on the ball again. But Alice's progress was slow, because she was constantly distracted - either talking to Kitty or muttering something under her breath. Kitty sat quietly on her lap, pretending to carefully watch Alice flail her wool; from time to time she extended her paw and quietly touched the ball, as if wanting to say that she would gladly help if she could.

– Do you know what will happen tomorrow? - said Alice. “You would have guessed it yourself if you had sat with me in the window this morning.” Only you were busy; Dina washed you. And I watched the boys collect wood chips for the fire. You need a lot of wood for a fire, Kitty. It was terribly cold, and then it started snowing - they had to go home! But don't worry, Kitty! Tomorrow we'll go watch the fire! (*3)

Then Alice wrapped a little of Kitty's wool around her neck, just to see if it would suit her; Kitty began to struggle - the ball rolled onto the floor and unraveled again.

“You know,” Alice continued when they settled back into the chair, “I’m so angry with you.” Kitty, when I saw what you did. I almost opened the window and sat you down in the snow! You deserve it, minx! What can you say in your defense? Now listen and don't interrupt me! (Here she shook her finger at Kitty.) I'll tell you everything! First of all, you squeaked when you were washed this morning. Yes, you have nothing to object to, I heard it with my own ears! What are you saying there? (Alice fell silent, pretending to listen to Kitty.) Did she hit you in the eye with her paw? It's your own fault, there was no need for you to open your eyes! If you had closed your eyes tighter, this wouldn't have happened! Don't make excuses, please! Better listen! Secondly, you pulled Snowflake (*4) by the tail from the saucer when I poured milk for her. Oh, that's it, are you thirsty? Haven't you thought about her? And thirdly, as soon as I turned away, you immediately unwound all the wool. Three whole offenses, Kitty, and you haven’t paid for one yet! Well, wait, I’ll punish you for everything at once - in a week!

– What would happen if _me_ were also punished for everything at once? (She thought aloud, more to herself than to Kitty.) What would happen then at the _end of the year_? I should be in jail, no other way! What if I were left without lunch for every offense? Then one fine day I would be left without a hundred lunches at once! Well, _that_ is not so scary yet! It would be worse if you had to eat all a hundred dinners at once!

– Do you hear the snow rustling against the glass, Kitty? How fluffy and soft he is! How he caresses towards the windows! Snow probably loves fields and trees, since he is so gentle with them! He covers them with a white feather bed so that they are warm and comfortable, and says: “Sleep, dear ones, sleep until summer comes.” And having risen from their winter sleep, Kitty, they will put on a green outfit and start dancing in the wind. Oh, how beautiful it is! - Here Alice clapped her hands and dropped the ball again. – It would be nice if all this really were like this! After all, in the fall the forest really is so sleepy. The leaves of the trees turn yellow and he falls asleep.

- Listen, Kitty, can you play chess? Don't laugh, honey, I'm asking you seriously. When we played today, you looked at the board as if you understood all the moves: and when I said “Check!”, you purred! Oh, Kitty, what a _good_ move it was! And I, of course, would have won if it weren’t for that nasty horse! How did he get close to my figures! Kitty, honey, let's play like we...

“I can’t even tell you how often Alice repeated this phrase!” Just yesterday she had a long argument with her sister; Alice told her: “Let’s play as if we were kings and queens,” and her sister, who loves precision in everything, said that this was impossible, because there were only two of them. In the end, Alice had to give in. “Okay,” she said, _you_ will be one king-and-queen, and I will be all the other kings and queens at once!” And one day she scared her old nanny to death by shouting right in her ear: “Nanny, let’s play as if I’m a hungry hyena and you’re a bone!”

But we digress. So Alice said to Kitty:

- Kitty, dear, let's play as if you are the Black Queen! You know, if you sit on your hind legs and press your front legs to your chest, you will look just like the Black Queen. Come on, try it, darling!

And Alice took the Red Queen off the table and put it in front of Kitty so that she could see who to imitate. But nothing came of this idea - mainly because, according to Alice, Kitty never wanted to raise her paws properly. Then, as punishment, Alice brought her to the Mirror over the fireplace - so that she could see how gloomy she looked.

“If you don’t correct yourself this very minute, I’ll put you there, in the Mirror House.” Well, what do you say to that?

“You know, Kitty, if you’ll be silent for just a minute,” Alice continued, and listen to me, I’ll tell you everything I know about the Looking-Glass House. First of all, there is this room that starts right behind the glass. It's exactly the same as our living room, Kitty, only it's the other way around! (*5) When I climb onto a chair and look in the Mirror, I can see all of her except the fireplace. Oh, how I would like to see him! I'm so interested to know whether they have a fireplace in the winter or not. But no matter how you look in this Mirror, you won’t see the fireplace, unless our fireplace starts smoking - then smoke will appear there too. Only this, it’s true, they did it on purpose - so that we would think that they also have a fire in the fireplace. And the books there are very similar to ours - only the words are written backwards. I know this for sure, because one day I showed them our book, and they showed me theirs!

- Well, Kitty, do you want to live in the Looking-Glass House? I wonder if they will give you milk there? However, I don’t know if you can drink mirror milk? Won't it hurt you, Kitty... (*6) And then there is a corridor. If you open the door in our living room wider, you can see a piece of the corridor in that house, it’s exactly the same as ours. But, who knows, suddenly, where he is not visible, he is completely different? Oh, Kitty, how I would like to go through the Looking Glass! There must be so many miracles there! Let's play like we can get there! Suddenly the glass will become thin as a spider's web, and we will step through it! Look, it really does melt away like fog. It's not at all difficult to get through it now...

Then Alice found herself on the mantelpiece, although she herself did not notice how she got there. And the mirror, sure enough, began to _melt_, like silvery fog in the morning.

A moment later, Alice walked through the mirror and easily jumped into the Looking Glass.

First of all, she looked into the fireplace and was very happy to see that the wood was burning hot in it; the fire was real, just like at home!

“So I’ll be as warm here as I am there,” thought Alice. And probably even warmer! No one here will chase me away from the fireplace. But it will be funny when our people see me here - they can’t get me!

She looked around and immediately noticed that the room was in fact not at all as ordinary and boring as it seemed from behind the Mirror. The portraits on the wall near the fireplace were alive and whispering about something, and the round clock that stood on the mantelpiece (previously Alice had only seen it from behind) smiled at her.

“It’s really not the same order here as ours,” thought Alice, noticing several chess pieces in the fireplace ashes; suddenly she gasped and squatted down; the figures walked importantly on the rug in pairs!

“There’s the Black King and the Black Queen,” said Alice (in a whisper so as not to frighten them away). - And there the White King and White Queen are sitting on the edge of the scoop and dangling their legs. And there are two Turas holding hands and whispering about something. I don't think they hear me...

Alice leaned towards the fireplace.

“They probably don’t see me.” It seems that I have suddenly become invisible...

Then something rolled on the table behind her and squealed; Alice turned around and saw that it was the White Pawn who had fallen. She lay on her back and kicked with all her might, trying to get to her feet. Alice waited with curiosity to see what would happen next.

- This is my little one! - the White Queen shouted and rushed towards the Pawn, pushing the King away with such force that he fell straight into the ashes. - Lily, pussy! You are my darling kitten! My royal baby!

And she began to climb up the fireplace grate.

- Royal nonsense! – muttered the King, rubbing his nose, which had been bruised by the fall.

No wonder he was a little angry with the Queen, since he was covered in ash from head to toe.

Alice decided to come to their aid, and since little Lily was screaming at the top of her voice, she bent down, grabbed the Queen and quickly placed her on the table next to her loudly crying daughter.

The Queen sighed convulsively and sat down: she was breathless from such a dizzying takeoff; For a minute she just silently squeezed her daughter in her arms. Having caught her breath a little, she shouted to the King, who was sitting gloomily in the ashes:

- Beware of the volcano!

– Which volcano? - asked the King and looked anxiously into the fireplace, apparently believing that this was the most suitable place for a volcano.

- Which... threw... me up! – the Queen said with emphasis, who still couldn’t catch her breath. - Go upstairs the usual way! Otherwise you'll fly up into the air!

Alice watched for a long time as the King struggled up the fireplace grate, carefully moving from rung to rung, and finally couldn’t stand it and said:

- So you climb all day! Let me help you, okay?

But the King remained silent in response: he, of course, simply did not hear or see her.

Alice took it carefully in her hand and raised it - slowly, slowly, so that he would not lose his breath, like the Queen. But before putting it on the table, she decided to clean it a little: it was covered in ash.

Alice later said that in her life she had never seen such a face as the King made when he felt that an invisible hand stopped halfway in the air and someone began to blow away the ashes from him: he was so surprised that he could not even scream; his eyes and mouth widened and opened wider and wider, although it seemed there was nowhere to go further. Alice laughed so hard that her hand shook with laughter, and she almost dropped the poor king.

- I beg you, darling, don’t make such faces! - Alice cried, completely forgetting that the King could not hear her. “You made me laugh so much that I almost dropped you!” Shut your mouth! Otherwise you will swallow ashes! Well, now, in my opinion, you are clean!

She smoothed his hair and placed him on the table next to the Queen.

The king immediately fell over backwards and froze, so that Alice became alarmed and went to look for water to revive him. However, no matter how she looked, there was no water anywhere; she only found a bottle of ink, but when she returned to the table with it, it turned out that the King had already come to his senses and was frightenedly whispering something to the Queen - so quietly that Alice could hardly make out the words.

“I assure you, my dear,” whispered the King, “I was so frightened that I went cold to the very tips of my whiskers.”

- But you don’t have sideburns! - the Queen objected.

– I will never forget this terrible moment in my life! - said the King.

“You’ll forget,” the Queen noted, “if you don’t write it down in your notebook.”

Alice watched with curiosity as the King pulled out a huge notebook from his pocket and began to write something in it. Then an unexpected thought occurred to Alice - she grabbed the tip of a huge pencil that was sticking out behind the King’s shoulder and began to write herself.

The poor King was completely at a loss; For a minute he silently struggled with the pencil, but no matter how hard he fought, the pencil wrote its own, so that finally the King said, breathless:

- You know, my dear, I need to get a thinner pencil. This one escapes my fingers - he writes all sorts of nonsense that I never even thought of...

- What nonsense? – asked the Queen, looking into the book.

(Alice meanwhile wrote: “_The White Horse is riding down the poker. He’s about to fall_.”) (*7)

– But that’s not what you wanted to write down! - cried the Queen.

There was some kind of book on the table; Alice took it and began to leaf through it, glancing from time to time at the White King. (She was still worried about him and had ink ready in case he got sick again.) She hoped that she would be able to read at least one page of the book, but everything was written in some incomprehensible language.

This is what it looked like (*8).

TOLGAMRAB

ikrosh eikvilh.solakraV

Evan op silyaryP

Ikulez ilatokyurh I

Ovem in ikizmyum kak

Alice was racking her brains over these lines, when suddenly it dawned on her:

“Well, of course,” she exclaimed, “this is the Looking-Glass Book!” If I hold it up to the Mirror, I can read it.

So she did. And this is what she read;

Jabberwocky

It was boiling. Squishy blinkers

We were poking around on the nave,

And the greenhorns grunted,

Like mumziki in mov (*9).

O fear the Jabberwocky, son! (*10)

He's so fierce and wild

And in the wilderness a giant roars

The vicious Bandersnatch! (*eleven)

But he took the sword, and he took the shield,

The lofty ones are full of thoughts.

Into the depths his path lies

Under the Tumtum tree.

He stood under a tree and waited.

And suddenly there was thunder

The terrible Jabberwocky is flying

And it burns with fire!

One-two, one-two! The grass is burning

Calls and calls - shears the sword,

Wow! Wow! And head

He's babbling off his shoulders!

O my radiant boy!

You won the battle!

O brave hero,

I sing your praises!

It was boiling (*12). Squishy blinkers

We poked around on the nave.

And the greenhorns grunted,

Like mumziki in mov.

“Very nice poems,” said Alice thoughtfully, “but they are not so easy to understand.”

(You know, she didn’t even want to admit to herself that she didn’t understand anything.)

- They lead to all sorts of thoughts - although I don’t know what... One thing is clear: _someone killed someone_ here... But, however, maybe not...

Then she came to her senses and jumped to her feet.

- Why am I sitting here? - she thought. – I have to hurry, otherwise I won’t have time to examine everything that is here! Let's start with the garden!

With these words, Alice rushed out of the room and ran down the stairs... actually, she didn’t run, but... how can I explain this? This is a new way to easily and freely go down the stairs, thought Alice: she just put her hand on the railing - and quietly floated down the steps, without even touching them with her feet; So she rushed through the hallway and would have flown straight out the door if she had not grabbed the doorframe. The flight made her dizzy, and she was glad to set foot on the ground again.

2. THE GARDEN WHERE THE FLOWERS SPEAKED

“If I go up that hill, I’ll see the whole garden at once,” thought Alice. - And here is the path, it leads straight up... No, _not straight_ at all...

(She only took a few steps, but it already became clear to her that the path kept winding.)

“I hope,” Alice said to herself, “she will still lead me upstairs!” How she spins! Just a corkscrew, not a path! Turn - now we will be at the top! Oh no, she turned down again! This way I'll get straight to home again! I'll go back!

And she turned back. But, wherever she went, wherever she turned, every time, for the life of her, she came out again to the house. And once, having made a sharp turn, she ran her nose straight into the wall.

“There’s no need to persuade me,” said Alice, turning to the house, as if he were arguing with her. – It’s still _early_ for me to return! I know that eventually I will have to go home again through the Mirror, and then all my adventures will end!

Here she resolutely turned her back on the house and walked along the path again, promising herself not to turn anywhere until she reached the hill. At first everything was fine, and she was already thinking that this time she would still be able to climb upstairs, when suddenly the path curved and rose (that’s exactly how Alice later talked about it) - and at that very moment Alice found herself right on the threshold of the house.

- This house again! I'm so tired of him! - Alice cried. - It gets under your feet!

And the hill was very close - well, just a stone's throw away. There was nothing to do, Alice sighed and hit the road again. She had not walked even a few steps when she came across a large flower bed with daisies growing along the edges, and an oak tree in the middle.

“Ah, Lily,” said Alice, looking at the Tiger Lily (*13), swaying gently in the wind. - What a pity that you don’t know how to speak!

“We know how to talk,” answered Lilia. - It would be with someone!

Alice was so surprised that she could not utter a word in response: she was literally breathless with amazement. But finally, seeing that Lily was calmly swaying in the wind, Alice came to her senses and timidly whispered:

– Are _all_ the flowers talking here?

“No worse than you,” answered Lilia, “only much louder.”

“We just think it’s not good to speak first,” Rose intervened. “And I’m just standing there and thinking: will you think of talking to us or not?” “This one, at least, doesn’t have a completely meaningless face,” I say to myself. “True, she doesn’t shine with intelligence, but what can you do! But she has the right color, and that’s already something!”

“The color doesn’t bother me,” Lilia remarked. “If only her petals curled more, then she would be very cute.”

Alice was unpleasant to hear all these critical remarks, and she hastened to ask:

– Don’t you ever get scared? You are all alone here, and no one is protecting you...

– How do you mean “alone”? - said Rose. - What's the use of oak?

- But can he do anything? – Alice was surprised.

“He can beat anyone,” said Rose. - Well, he knows how to bludgeon!

“That’s why it’s called an oak tree,” cried Margarita.

– And you didn’t know _this? – her friend picked it up, and then they all screamed so loudly that the air rang with their shrill voices.

- Well, shut up! - Tiger Lily shouted, swaying furiously and trembling all over with indignation.

- They know that I can’t reach them! - she said, breathless, turning her head, trembling with anger, towards Alice. - Let go, you scoundrels!

- Don't worry! - said Alice and, leaning towards the daisies, whispered:

“If you don’t shut up right now, I’ll tear you all down!”

Immediately there was silence, and several pink daisies turned white as a sheet.

- Right! - said Lilia. – Daisies are the most intolerable of all flowers. As soon as one of them blooms, they all immediately bloom after it! They raise such a cry! Listen to them and you'll literally wither.

- How did you all learn to speak so well? - asked Alice, hoping to soften her a little with praise. “I’ve been to many gardens, but I’ve never heard flowers talk!”

“Put your hand down,” said Lilia, “and feel the flowerbed.” Then everything will become clear to you.

Alice sat down and touched the ground.

“Hard as a rock,” she said. - But what does this have to do with it?

“In other gardens,” answered Lilia, “the flowerbeds are loosened every now and then.” They are soft there, like feather beds - flowers and sleep all day long!

Then everything became clear to Alice.

“So that’s what it’s all about,” she rejoiced. – I didn’t think about that!

“In my opinion, you never think about anything,” Rose remarked sternly.

“I’ve never seen such a fool in my life,” said Violet (*14).

Alice jumped out of surprise: Violet was silent all this time, as if she didn’t know how to speak.

– Should you have kept quiet! – Lily shouted. – You’d think you’d even _seen_ anything in your life! You hide under a leaf and sleep there for your own pleasure, but you know no more about what is happening in the world than a bud!

“Are there other people in the garden besides me?” – Alice asked, deciding to ignore Rose’s remark.

“There is another flower here that can walk like you,” said Rose. - I don’t understand how you manage to do this...

(“You never understand anything,” Lilia remarked.)

“Only he’s more spread out than you,” Rose continued as if nothing had happened.

- And for the rest, how am I? – Alice asked with excitement. (“There’s another girl in the garden!” she thought.)

“The same strange shape as you,” said Rose. – A little darker, perhaps, and the petals are shorter...

“Smooth, like Dahlia’s,” picked up Tiger Lily, turning to Alice, “and not as disheveled as yours.”

“Don’t be upset, it’s not your fault,” Rose said condescendingly. “It’s just that you’re already withering, and your petals are frayed, there’s nothing you can do about it...

Alice didn't like this, and to change the conversation, she asked:

– Does she ever come here?

“Don’t worry, you’ll see her soon,” said Rose. “She’s one of those people with nine thorns, you know?”

-Where are her thorns? - Alice asked in surprise.

“On the head, of course,” Rose answered. “And I kept wondering why _you_ don’t have them.” It seemed to me that everything with you was thorny.

- There she comes! - shouted the young Shpornik. - I hear her steps! Top-Top! Only she stomps like that when she walks along the path (*15).

Alice looked around joyfully and saw the Red Queen.

- How she has grown! – Alice involuntarily thought.

And, indeed, when Alice found her in the ashes, she was no more than three inches tall, and now she is half a head taller than Alice herself.

“It’s because of the fresh air,” Rose noted, “we have wonderful air here!”

“I’ll go meet her,” said Alice.

Of course, she was interested in chatting with the flowers, but how can they compare with the real Queen!

- Towards? – Rose asked. - So you will never meet her! _I_ would advise you to go in the opposite direction!

- What nonsense! - thought Alice.

However, she did not say anything out loud and went straight to the Queen. To her surprise, she immediately lost sight of her and found herself again at the threshold of the house.

Angrily, she stepped back, looked around in search of the Queen, whom she finally saw in the distance, and thought: should she go in the opposite direction this time? (*16)

Everything turned out just fine. Not even a minute had passed before she encountered the Queen at the foot of the hill, where she had never been able to approach before.

-Where are you from here? – asked the Queen. - And where are you going? Look in my eyes! Answer politely! And don't wiggle your fingers! (*17)

Alice obediently looked into her eyes and tried to explain that she had lost her way, but now she understood her mistake and was going to continue on her way.

- _Your path? – asked the Queen. – I don’t know what you want to say! All roads are broken here!

Suddenly softening, she added:

- But tell me, why did you come here? While you're thinking about what to say, curtsey! This saves time.

Alice was a little surprised, but the Queen inspired her with such respect that she did not dare object.

“I’ll return home,” she thought, “and try to curtsy when I’m late for dinner!”

- Well, now answer! - said the Queen, looking at her watch. When you speak, open your mouth a little wider and don’t forget to add: “Your Majesty”!

– I just wanted to look at the garden, Your Majesty...

“I see,” said the Queen and stroked Alice on the head, which did not give her the slightest pleasure. Looking around, the Queen added:

- Is this a garden? I’ve seen such gardens, next to which this one is just an abandoned wasteland!

Alice did not dare to contradict her and continued:

– And I also wanted to climb to the top of the hill...

- Is this a hill? – the Queen interrupted her. – I’ve seen such hills, next to which this one is just a plain!

- Oh no! - Alice said suddenly and she was surprised how she decided to object to the Queen. – A hill _cannot_ be a plain. This is absolutely nonsense!

– Is this nonsense? - said the Queen and shook her head. – I’ve heard such nonsense, next to which this is as reasonable as an explanatory dictionary! (*18)

Here Alice curtsied again, because from the Queen’s voice it seemed to her that she was still a little offended. They walked on in silence and finally reached the top of the hill.

For several minutes Alice stood without saying a word, just looking at the country spread out at her feet.

It was an amazing country. Straight streams ran across, and neat hedges divided the space between the streams into equal squares.

“In my opinion, Through the Looking Glass is terribly similar to a chessboard,” Alice finally said. – Only for some reason the figures are not visible... But, by the way, here they are! – she shouted joyfully, and her heart beat loudly in her chest.

- They play chess here! This whole world is chess (*19) (unless, of course, it can be called a world)! This is one big, big batch. Oh, how interesting! And how I _wanted_ to be accepted into this game! I even agree to be a Pawn, if only they would take me... Although, of course, most of all I would like to be the Queen!

She timidly glanced sideways at the real Queen, but she only smiled graciously and said:

- This can be easily arranged. If you want, become the White Royal Pawn. Little Lily is too young to play! (*20) Besides, you are now standing right on the second line. If you reach the eighth, you will become Queen...

Then for some reason Alice and the Queen started to run.