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Through
the Looking-Glass
and what Alice
found there
Kapitel 5:
Wool and water, Lewis Carroll, Seite 5 ( von 6 )
"How am I
to stop it?" said the Sheep. "If you leave off rowing, it'll stop of
itself."
So the boat was left to drift down the stream as it would, till it glided
gently in among the waving rushes. And then the little sleeves were carefully
rolled up, and the little arms were plunged in elbow-deep, to get hold of the
rushes a good long way down before breaking them off - and for a while Alice
forgot all about the Sheep and the knitting, as she bent over the side of the
boat, with just the ends of her tangled hair dipping into the water - while
with bright eager eyes she caught at one bunch after another of the darling
scented rushes.
"I only hope the boat won't tipple over!" she said to herself.
"Oh, what a
lovely one! Only I couldn't quite reach it." And it certainly
did seem a
little provoking ("almost as if it happened on purpose," she thought)
that, though she managed to pick plenty of beautiful rushes as the boat glided
by, there was always a more lovely one that she couldn't reach.
"The prettiest are always further!" she said at last, with a sigh at
the obstinacy of the rushes in growing so far off, as, with flushed cheeks and
dripping hair and hands, she scrambled back into her place, and began to
arrange her new-found treasures.
What mattered it to her just then that the rushes had begun to fade, and to
lose all their scent and beauty, from the very moment that she picked them?
Even real scented rushes, you know, last only a very little while - and these,
being dream-rushes, melted away almost like snow, as they lay in heaps at her
feet - but Alice hardly noticed this, there were so many other curious things
to think about.
They hadn't gone much farther before the blade of one of the oars got fast in
the water and wouldn't come out
again (so Alice explained if afterwards), and the consequence was that the
handle of it caught her under the chin, and, in spite of a series of little
shrieks of "Oh, oh, oh!" from poor Alice, it swept her straight off
the seat, and down among the heap of rushes.
However, she wasn't a bit hurt, and was soon up again: the Sheep went on with
her knitting all the while, just as if nothing had happened. "That was a
nice crab you caught!" she remarked, as Alice got back into her place,
very much relieved to find herself still in the boat.
"Was it? I didn't see it," said Alice, peeping cautiously over the
side of the boat into the dark water. "I wish it hadn't let go - I should
so like a little crab to take home with me!" But the Sheep only laughed
scornfully, and went on with her knitting.
"Are there many crabs here?" said Alice.
"Crabs, and all sorts of things," said the Sheep: "plenty of
choice, only make up your mind. Now, what
do you want to
buy?"
"To buy!" Alice echoed in a tone that was half astonished and half
frightened - for the oars, and the boat, and the river, had vanished all in a
moment, and she was back again in the little shop.
"I should like to buy an egg, please," she said timidly. "How do
you sell them?"
"Fivepence farthing for one - twopence for two," the Sheep replied.
"Then two are cheaper than one?" Alice said in a surprised tone,
taking out her purse.
"Only you must eat them both,
if you buy two," said the Sheep.
"Then I'll have one, please,"
said Alice, as she put the money down on the counter. For she thought to
herself, "They mightn't be at all nice, you know."
The Sheep took the money, and put it away in a box: then she said "I never
put things into people's hands - that would never do - you must get it for
yourself." And so saying, she went off to the other end of the shop, and
set the egg upright on a shelf.
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