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Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland
Kapitel 12:
Alice's evidence, Lewis Carroll, Seite 3 ( von 4 )
If I or she should
chance to be
Involved in this affair,
He trusts to you to set them free,
Exactly as we were.
My notion was that you had been
(Before she had this fit)
An obstacle that came between
Him, and ourselves, and it.
Don't let him know she liked them best,
For this must ever be
A secret, kept from all the rest,
Between yourself and me."
"That's the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet," said
the King, rubbing his hands; "so now let the jury -"
"If any one of them can explain it," said Alice, (she had grown so
large in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting
him,) "I'll give him sixpence. I don't believe there's an atom of
meaning in it."
The jury all wrote down on their slates, "She doesn't believe
there's an atom of meaning in it," but none of them attempted to explain
the paper.
"If there's no meaning in it," said the King, "that saves a
world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't
know," he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at
them with one eye; "I seem to see some meaning in them, after all. '-
said I could not
swim -' you can't swim, can you?" he added, turning to the Knave.
The Knave shook his head sadly. "Do I look like it?" he said. (Which
he certainly did not, being made entirely of cardboard.)
"All right, so far," said the King, and he went on muttering over the
verses to himself: "'We know it to be
true -' that's the jury, of course - 'I gave her one, they
gave him two -' why, that must be what he did with the tarts, you know
-"
"But it goes on 'they all returned from
him to you,'" said Alice.
"Why, there they are!" said the King triumphantly, pointing to the
tarts on the table. "Nothing can be clearer than
that. Then again
- 'before she had
this fit -' you never had fits, my dear, I think?" he said to the
Queen.
"Never!" said the Queen furiously throwing an inkstand at the Lizard
as she spoke. (The unfortunate little Bill had left off writing on his slate
with one finger, as he found it made no mark; but he now hastily began again,
using the ink, that was trickling down his face, as long as it lasted.)
"Then the words don't
fit you,"
said the King, looking round the court with a smile. There was a dead silence.
"It's a pun!" the King added in an angry tone, and everybody laughed.
"Let the jury consider their verdict," the King said, for about the
twentieth time that day.
"No, no!" said the Queen. "Sentence first - verdict
afterwards."
"Stuff and nonsense!" said Alice loudly. "The idea of having the
sentence first!"
"Hold your tongue!" said the Queen, turning purple.
"I won't!" said Alice.
"Off with her head!" the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.
Nobody moved.
"Who cares for you?" said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by
this time.) "You're nothing but a pack of cards!"
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