there were no arches left, and all the players, except the King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and under sentence of execution.
Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Alice, âHave you seen the Mock Turtle yet?â
âNo,â said Alice. âI donât even know what a Mock Turtle is.â
âItâs the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,â said the Queen.
âI never saw one, or heard of one,â said Alice.
âCome on, then,â said the Queen, âand he shall tell you his history.â
As they walked off together, Alice heard the King say in a low voice, to the company generally, âYou are all pardoned.â âCome, thatâs a good thing!â she said to herself, for she had felt quite unhappy at the number of executions the Queen had ordered.
They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the sun. (If you donât know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture.) âUp, lazy thing!â said the Queen, âand take thisyoung lady to see the Mock Turtle, and to hear his history. I must go back and see after some executions I have orderedâ; and she walked off, leaving Alice alone with the Gryphon. Alice did not quite like the look of the creature, but on the whole she thought it would be quite as safe to stay with it as to go after that savage Queen: so she waited.
The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the Queen till she was out of sight: then it chuckled. âWhat fun!â said the Gryphon, half to itself, half to Alice.
âWhat is the fun?â said Alice.
âWhy, she ,â said the Gryphon. âItâs all her fancy, that: they never executes nobody, you know. Come on!â
âEverybody says âcome on!â here,â thought Alice, as shewent slowly after it: âI never was so ordered about in all my life, never!â
They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply. âWhat is his sorrow?â she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, very nearly in the same words as before, âItâs all his fancy, that: he hasnât got no sorrow, you know. Come on!â
So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes full of tears, but said nothing.
âThis here young lady,â said the Gryphon, âshe wants for to know your history, she do.â
âIâll tell it her,â said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone: âsit down, both of you, and donât speak a word till Iâve finished.â
So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, âI donât see how he can ever finish, if he doesnât begin.â But she waited patiently.
âOnce,â said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, âI was a real Turtle.â
These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only by an occasional exclamation of âHjckrrh!â from the Gryphon, and the constant heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was very nearly getting up and saying, âThank you, sir, for your interesting story,â but she couldnot help thinking there must be more to come, so she sat still and said nothing.
âWhen we were little,â the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, âwe went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle â we used to call him Tortoise ââ
âWhy did you call him Tortoise, if he wasnât one?â Alice asked.
âWe called him Tortoise because he taught us,â said the Mock Turtle angrily: âreally you are very dull!â
âYou ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question,â added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and looked at