| [00:01.67] |
6 The Queen' s game of croquet |
| [00:05.94] |
Near the door there was a rosetree and three gardeners, |
| [00:13.28] |
Who were looking at the roses in a very worried way |
| [00:18.87] |
' What' s the matter?' Alice said to them |
| [00:22.53] |
' You see, Miss,' said the first gardener,' these roses are white, |
| [00:30.62] |
but the Queen only likes red roses, and she' |
| [00:36.02] |
' The Queen!' said the second gardener suddenly, and at once, |
| [00:42.58] |
the three gardeners lay down flat on their faces |
| [00:47.17] |
Alice turned round and saw a great crowd of people |
| [00:51.69] |
It was a pack of cards, walking through the garden |
| [00:57.07] |
There were clubs they were soldiers, and diamonds, |
| [01:02.27] |
and ten little children they were hearts Next came some Kings and Queens |
| [01:11.38] |
Then Alice saw the White Rabbit, and behind him, the Knave of Hearts |
| [01:18.29] |
And last of all, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS |
| [01:26.26] |
When the crowd came near to Alice, they all stopped and looked at her, |
| [01:31.29] |
and the Queen said,' Who are you?' |
| [01:36.12] |
' My name is Alice, Your Majesty,' said Alice very politely |
| [01:43.68] |
But she thought to herself,' They' re only a pack of cards |
| [01:48.79] |
I don' t need to be afraid of them!' |
| [01:52.45] |
' And who are these?' said the Queen, looking at the three gardeners |
| [02:00.53] |
Then she saw the white roses, and her face turned red and angry |
| [02:07.91] |
' Off with their heads!' she shouted, |
| [02:11.04] |
and soldiers hurried up to take the gardeners away |
| [02:14.73] |
The Queen turned to Alice' Can you play croquet?' she shouted |
| [02:23.22] |
' Yes!' shouted Alice |
| [02:26.28] |
' Come on, then!' shouted the Queen |
| [02:29.88] |
The crowd began to move on, and Alice went with them |
| [02:35.68] |
' It' s it' s a very fine day,' said a worried voice in her ear |
| [02:44.61] |
Alice saw that the White Rabbit was by her side |
| [02:49.55] |
' Very fine,' said Alice' Where' s the Duchess?' |
| [02:54.53] |
' Shhh!' said the Rabbit in a hurried voice' She' s in prison, waiting for execution' |
| [03:04.26] |
' What for?' said Alice |
| [03:07.46] |
But just then the Queen shouted,' Get to your places!', and the game began |
| [03:15.84] |
It was the strangest game of croquet in Alice' s life! |
| [03:22.82] |
The balls were hedgehogs, and the mallets were flamingoes |
| [03:28.38] |
And the hoops were made by soldiers, |
| [03:31.73] |
who turned over and stood on their hands and feet |
| [03:35.71] |
Alice held her flamingo' s body under her arm, |
| [03:41.79] |
but the flamingo turned its long neck first this way and then that way |
| [03:48.36] |
At last, Alice was ready to hit the ball with the flamingo' s head |
| [03:55.09] |
But by then, the hedgehog was tired of waiting |
| [03:59.81] |
and was walking away across the croquetground . |
| [04:03.86] |
And when both the flamingo and the hedgehog were ready, there was no hoop! |
| [04:10.24] |
The soldiers too were always getting up and walking away |
| [04:16.01] |
It really was a very difficult game, Alice thought |
| [04:21.07] |
The players all played at the same time, |
| [04:26.15] |
and they were always arguing and fighting for hedgehogs |
| [04:31.22] |
Nobody could agree about anything |
| [04:35.15] |
Very soon, the Queen was wildly angry, and went around shouting |
| [04:42.72] |
' Off with his head!' or' Off with her head!' about once a minute |
| [04:52.82] |
Alice began to feel worried |
| [04:57.23] |
' The Queen is sure to argue with me soon,' she thought |
| [05:02.00] |
' And what will happen to me then? |
| [05:04.49] |
They' re cutting people' s heads off all the time here |
| [05:08.87] |
I' m surprised there is anyone left alive!' |
| [05:13.50] |
Just then she saw something very strange She watched carefully, |
| [05:19.98] |
and after a minute or two she saw that the thing was a grin |
| [05:26.01] |
' It' s the Cheshire Cat,' she said to herself' Now I' ll have somebody to talk to' |
| [05:35.34] |
' How are you getting on?' said the Cat, when its mouth appeared |
| [05:43.31] |
Alice waited' I can' t talk to something without ears,' she thought |
| [05:51.12] |
Slowly the Cat' s eyes, then its ears, and then the rest of its head appeared |
| [05:59.09] |
But it stopped at the neck, and its body did not appear |
| [06:04.88] |
Alice began to tell the Cat all about the game |
| [06:11.55] |
' It' s very difficult to play,' she said |
| [06:16.68] |
' Everybody argues all the time, and the hoops and the hedgehogs walk away' |
| [06:24.89] |
' How do you like the Queen?' said the Cat quietly |
| [06:32.02] |
' I don' t,' said Alice' She' s very' Just then she saw the Queen behind her, |
| [06:41.93] |
so she went on,' clever She' s the best player here' |
| [06:49.99] |
The Queen smiled and walked past |
| [06:54.44] |
' Who are you talking to?' said the King |
| [07:00.13] |
He came up behind Alice and looked at the Cat' s head in surprise |
| [07:06.43] |
' It' s a friend of mine a Cheshire Cat,' said Alice |
| [07:13.04] |
' I' m not sure that I like it,' said the King' But it can touch my hand if it likes' |
| [07:22.40] |
' I prefer not to,' said the Cat |
| [07:29.29] |
' Well!' said the King angrily He called out to the Queen,' My dear! |
| [07:37.59] |
There' s a cat here, and I don' t like it' |
| [07:44.10] |
The Queen did not look round' Off with its head!' she shouted |
| [07:51.98] |
' Call for the executioner! |
| [07:55.52] |
Alice was a little worried for her friend, but when the executioner arrived, |
| [08:02.77] |
everybody began to argue |
| [08:06.87] |
' I can' t cut off a head,' said the executioner,' if there isn' t a body to cut it off from' |
| [08:14.84] |
' You can cut the head off,' said the King,' from anything that' s got a head' |
| [08:24.51] |
' If somebody doesn' t do something quickly,' said the Queen, |
| [08:29.50] |
' I' ll cut everybody' s head off' |
| [08:33.18] |
Nobody liked that plan very much, so they all turned to Alice |
| [08:41.46] |
' And what do you say?' they cried |
| [08:46.68] |
' The Cat belongs to the Duchess,' said Alice carefully |
| [08:52.88] |
' Perhaps you could ask her about it' |
| [08:57.54] |
' She' s in prison,' the Queen said to the executioner' Bring her here at once' |
| [09:06.16] |
But then the Cat' s head slowly began to vanish, |
| [09:12.35] |
and when the executioner came back with the Duchess, there was nothing there |
| [09:19.72] |
The King ran wildly up and down, looking for the Cat, |
| [09:25.15] |
and the Duchess put her arm round Alice |
| [09:28.95] |
' I' m so pleased to see you again, my dear!' she said |
| [09:35.47] |
' Let' s get on with the game,' the Queen said angrily, |
| [09:40.53] |
and Alice followed her back to the croquetground |
| [09:44.99] |
The game went on, but all the time the Queen was arguing, |
| [09:51.32] |
And shouting' Off with his head!' or' Off with her head!' |
| [09:58.56] |
Soon there were no hoops left, |
| [10:01.70] |
because the soldiers who were the hoops were too busy taking everybody to prison |
| [10:08.73] |
And at the end there were only three players left the King, the Queen, and Alice |
| [10:17.84] |
The Queen stopped shouting and said to Alice, |
| [10:22.38] |
' Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?' |
| [10:26.41] |
' No,' said Alice' I' m not sure what a Mock Turtle is' |
| [10:32.69] |
' Then come with me,' said the Queen |
| [10:37.75] |
They found the Mock Turtle down by the sea |
| [10:42.28] |
Next to him was a Gryphon, asleep in the sun |
| [10:47.69] |
Then the Queen hurried away, saying,' I have to get on with some executions' |
| [10:55.90] |
The Gryphon woke up, and said sleepily to Alice, |
| [11:02.16] |
' It' s just talk, you know They never execute anybody' |
| [11:09.77] |
Alice was pleased to hear this |
| [11:13.62] |
She felt a little afraid of the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle, |
| [11:18.82] |
because they were so large But they were very friendly, |
| [11:23.71] |
and sang songs and told her many stories about their lives |
| [11:28.88] |
The Mock Turtle was in the middle of a very sad song |
| [11:34.35] |
when they all heard a shout a long way away:' It' s beginning!' |
| [11:41.67] |
' Come on! We must hurry!' cried the Gryphon |
| [11:48.83] |
It took Alice by the hand and began to run |