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Through the Looking-Glass

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Title: Through the Looking-Glass

Author: Lewis Carroll

 
Release date: June 25, 2008 [eBook #12]
 Most recently updated: June 11, 2026

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12

Credits: David Widger

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS ***

[Illustration]

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS

And What Alice Found There

By Lewis Carroll

The Millennium Fulcrum Edition 1.7

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
(_As arranged before commencement of game._)

WHITE RED.
PIECES. PAWNS. PAWNS. PIECES.
Tweedledee. Daisy. Daisy. Humpty Dumpty.
Unicorn. Haigha. Messenger. Carpenter.
Sheep. Oyster. Oyster. Walrus.
W. Queen. "Lily." Tiger-lily. R. Queen.
W. King. Fawn. Rose. R. King.
Aged man. Oyster. Oyster. Crow.
W. Knight. Hatta. Frog. R. Knight.
Tweedledum. Daisy. Daisy. Lion.

_RED._

[Illustration: chessboard]

_WHITE._

White Pawn (Alice) to play, and win in eleven moves.

1. Alice meets R. Q.
 1. R. Q. to K. R.'s 4th
2. Alice through Q.'s 3d (_by railway_) to 4th (_Tweedledum and Tweedledee_)
 2. W. Q. to Q. B.'s 4th (_after shawl_)
3. Alice meets W. Q. (_with shawl_)
 3. W. Q. to Q.B.'s 5th (_becomes sheep_)
4. Alice to Q.'s 5th (_shop, river, shop_)
 4. W. Q. to K. B.'s 8th (_leaves egg on shelf_)
5. Alice to Q.'s 6th (_Humpty Dumpty_)
 5. W. Q. to Q. B.'s 8th (_flying from R. Kt._)
6. Alice to Q.'s 7th (_forest_)
 6. R. Kt. to K.'s 2nd (ch.)
7. W.Kt. takes R.Kt.
 7. W. Kt. to K. B's 5th
8. Alice to Q.'s 8th (_coronation_)
 8. R. Q. to K.'s sq. (_examination_)
9. Alice becomes Queen
 9. Queens castle
10. Alice castles (_feast_)
 10. W.Q. to Q.R.'s 6th (_soup_)
11. Alice takes R.Q. & wins

Child of the pure unclouded brow
 And dreaming eyes of wonder!
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
 Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.

I have not seen thy sunny face,
 Nor heard thy silver laughter;
No thought of me shall find a place
 In thy young life's hereafter-
Enough that now thou wilt not fail
To listen to my fairy-tale.

A tale begun in other days,
 When summer suns were glowing-
A simple chime, that served to time
 The rhythm of our rowing-
Whose echoes live in memory yet,
Though envious years would say 'forget.'

Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread,
 With bitter tidings laden,
Shall summon to unwelcome bed
 A melancholy maiden!
We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near.

Without, the frost, the blinding snow,
 The storm-wind's moody madness-
Within, the firelight's ruddy glow,
 And childhood's nest of gladness.
The magic words shall hold thee fast:
Thou shalt not heed the raving blast.

And though the shadow of a sigh
 May tremble through the story,
For 'happy summer days' gone by,
 And vanish'd summer glory-
It shall not touch with breath of bale
The pleasance of our fairy-tale.

Contents

 CHAPTER I. Looking-Glass house
 CHAPTER II. The Garden of Live Flowers
 CHAPTER III. Looking-Glass Insects
 CHAPTER IV. Tweedledum And Tweedledee
 CHAPTER V. Wool and Water
 CHAPTER VI. Humpty Dumpty
 CHAPTER VII. The Lion and the Unicorn
 CHAPTER VIII. "It's my own Invention"
 CHAPTER IX. Queen Alice
 CHAPTER X. Shaking
 CHAPTER XI. Waking
 CHAPTER XII. Which Dreamed it?

CHAPTER I.
Looking-Glass house

One thing was certain, that the _white_ kitten had had nothing to do
with it:-it was the black kitten's fault entirely. For the white kitten
had been having its face washed by the old cat for the last quarter of
an hour (and bearing it pretty well, considering); so you see that it
_couldn't_ have had any hand in the mischief.

The way Dinah washed her children's faces was this: first she held the
poor thing down by its ear with one paw, and then with the other paw
she rubbed its face all over, the wrong way, beginning at the nose: and
just now, as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten, which
was lying quite still and trying to purr-no doubt feeling that it was
all meant for its good.

But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in the afternoon,
and so, while Alice was sitting curled up in a corner of the great
arm-chair, half talking to herself and half asleep, the kitten had been
having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been
trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all
come undone again; and there it was, spread over the hearth-rug, all
knots and tangles, with the kitten running after its own tail in the
middle.

"Oh, you wicked little thing!" cried Alice, catching up the kitten, and
giving it a little kiss to make it understand that it was in disgrace.
"Really, Dinah ought to have taught you better manners! You _ought_,
Dinah, you know you ought!" she added, looking reproachfully at the old
cat, and speaking in as cross a voice as she could manage-and then she
scrambled back into the arm-chair, taking the kitten and the worsted
with her, and began winding up the ball again. But she didn't get on
very fast, as she was talking all the time, sometimes to the kitten,
and sometimes to herself. Kitty sat very demurely on her knee,
pretending to watch the progress of the winding, and now and then
putting out one paw and gently touching the ball, as if it would be
glad to help, if it might.

"Do you know what to-morrow is, Kitty?" Alice began. "You'd have
guessed if you'd been up in the window with me-only Dinah was making
you tidy, so you couldn't. I was watching the boys getting in sticks
for the bonfire-and it wants plenty of sticks, Kitty! Only it got so
cold, and it snowed so, they had to leave off. Never mind, Kitty, we'll
go and see the bonfire to-morrow." Here Alice wound two or three turns
of the worsted round the kitten's neck, just to see how it would look:
this led to a scramble, in which the ball rolled down upon the floor,
and yards and yards of it got unwound again.

"Do you know, I was so angry, Kitty," Alice went on as soon as they
were comfortably settled again, "when I saw all the mischief you had
been doing, I was very nearly opening the window, and putting you out
into the snow! And you'd have deserved it, you little mischievous
darling! What have you got to say for yourself? Now don't interrupt
me!" she went on, holding up one finger. "I'm going to tell you all
your faults. Number one: you squeaked twice while Dinah was washing
your face this morning. Now you can't deny it, Kitty: I heard you!
What's that you say?" (pretending that the kitten was speaking.) "Her
paw went into your eye? 

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