The time has come,' the Walrus said,

'To talk of many things;

Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax –

Of cabbages – and kings –

And why the sea is boiling hot –

And whether pigs have wings.'

“Boots and shoes under the sea,” the Gryphon went on in a deep voice, “are done with whiting. Now you know.”

“And what are they made of?” Alice asked in a tone of great curiosity.

“Soles and eels, of course,” the Gryphon replied, rather impatiently: “any shrimp could have told you that.”

“You can draw water out of a water-well,” said the Hatter; “so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well – eh, stupid?”

“But they were in the well,” Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to notice this last remark.

“Of course they were,” said the Dormouse: “well in.”

The players all played at once, without waiting for turns, quarreling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting “Off with his head!” or “Off with her head!” about once in a minute.

Alice began to feel very uneasy: to be sure, she had not as yet had any dispute with the Queen, but she knew that it might happen any minute, “and then,” thought she, “what would become of me? They're dreadfully fond of beheading people here: the great wonder is, that there's anyone left alive!”

“Please your Majesty,” said the Knave, “I didn't write it, and they ca'n't prove that I did: there's no name signed at the end.”

If you didn't sign it,” said the King, “that only makes the matter worse. You must havemeant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your name like an honest man.”

There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the first really clever thing the King had said that day.

“Well!” thought Alice to herself. “After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!” (Which was very likely true.)

“I mean,” she said, “that one ca'n't help growing older.”

“One ca'n't, perhaps,” said Humpty Dumpty; “but two can. With proper assistance, you might have left off at seven.”

“I don't much care where – ” said Alice.

“Then it doesn't matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“ – so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you're sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you'd generally get to somewhere else – if you ran very fast for a long time as we've been doing.”

“A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”