King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and under sentence of
execution.

Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to
Alice, `Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?'

`No,' said Alice. `I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is.'

`It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,' said the Queen.

`I never saw one, or heard of one,' said Alice.

`Come on, then,' said the Queen, `and he shall tell you his
history,'

As they walked off together, Alice heard the King say in a low
voice, to the company generally, `You are all pardoned.' `Come,
THAT'S a good thing!' she said to herself, for she had felt quite
unhappy at the number of executions the Queen had ordered.

They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the
sun. (IF you don't know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture.)
`Up, lazy thing!' said the Queen, `and take this young lady to
see the Mock Turtle, and to hear his history. I must go back and
see after some executions I have ordered'; and she walked off,
leaving Alice alone with the Gryphon. Alice did not quite like
the look of the creature, but on the whole she thought it would
be quite as safe to stay with it as to go after that savage
Queen: so she waited.

The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the
Queen till she was out of sight: then it chuckled. `What fun!'
said the Gryphon, half to itself, half to Alice.

`What IS the fun?' said Alice.

`Why, SHE,' said the Gryphon. `It's all her fancy, that: they
never executes nobody, you know. Come on!'

`Everybody says "come on!" here,' thought Alice, as she went
slowly after it: `I never was so ordered about in all my life,
never!'

They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the
distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and,
as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart
would break. She pitied him deeply. `What is his sorrow?' she
asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, very nearly in the
same words as before, `It's all his fancy, that: he hasn't got
no sorrow, you know. Come on!'

So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with
large eyes full of tears, but said nothing.

`This here young lady,' said the Gryphon, `she wants for to
know your history, she do.'

`I'll tell it her,' said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow
tone: `sit down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've
finished.'

So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice
thought to herself, `I don't see how he can EVEN finish, if he
doesn't begin.' But she waited patiently.

`Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, `I was
a real Turtle.'

These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only
by an occasional exclamation of `Hjckrrh!' from the Gryphon, and
the constant heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was very
nearly getting up and saying, `Thank you, sir, for your
interesting story,' but she could not help thinking there MUST be
more to come, so she sat still and said nothing.

`When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more
calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, `we went to
school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call
him Tortoise--'

`Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.

`We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock
Turtle angrily: `really you are very dull!'

`You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple
question,' added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and
looked at poor Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. At
last the Gryphon said to the Mock Turtle, `Drive on, old fellow!
Don't be all day about it!' and he went on in these words:

`Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe
it--'

`I never said I didn't!' interrupted Alice.

`You did,' said the Mock Turtle.

`Hold your tongue!' added the Gryphon, before Alice could speak
again. The Mock Turtle went on.


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