`Stand up and repeat “‘Tis the
voice of the sluggard,"’
said the Gryphon.
`How the creatures order one about, and make one
repeat lessons!’ thought Alice; `I might as
well be at school at once.’ However, she
got up, and began to repeat it, but her head was so
full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew
what she was saying, and the words came very queer
indeed:—
`’Tis the voice of the Lobster;
I heard him declare, “You have baked me
too brown, I must sugar my hair.” As
a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose Trims
his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.’
[later
editions continued as follows
When the sands are all dry,
he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous
tones of the Shark,
But, when the tide rises and
sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and
tremulous sound.]
`That’s different from what I used to say
when I was a child,’ said the Gryphon.
`Well, I never heard it before,’ said the
Mock Turtle; `but it sounds uncommon nonsense.’
Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face
in her hands, wondering if anything would ever
happen in a natural way again.
`I should like to have it explained,’
said the Mock Turtle.
`She can’t explain it,’ said the Gryphon
hastily. `Go on with the next verse.’
`But about his toes?’ the Mock Turtle persisted.
`How could he turn them out with his nose, you
know?’
`It’s the first position in dancing.’
Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by the whole
thing, and longed to change the subject.
`Go on with the next verse,’ the Gryphon repeated
impatiently: `it begins “I passed by his
garden."’
Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure
it would all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling
voice:—
`I passed by his garden, and
marked, with one eye,
How the Owl and the Panther
were sharing a pie—’
[later
editions continued as follows
The Panther took pie-crust,
and gravy, and meat,
While the Owl had the dish
as its share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished,
the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket
the spoon:
While the Panther received
knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet—]
`What is the use of repeating all that stuff,’
the Mock Turtle interrupted, `if you don’t explain
it as you go on? It’s by far the most
confusing thing I ever heard!’
`Yes, I think you’d better leave off,’
said the Gryphon: and Alice was only too glad
to do so.
`Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?’
the Gryphon went on. `Or would you like the Mock
Turtle to sing you a song?’
`Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be
so kind,’ Alice replied, so eagerly that the
Gryphon said, in a rather offended tone, `Hm!
No accounting for tastes! Sing her “Turtle
Soup,” will you, old fellow?’
