# ■ 1 Looking-glass house

One thing was certain，it was the black kitten that began it all.The white kitten had been unable to do anything for the last quarter of an hour，because the old cat was washing its face，very slowly and very carefully．

But the black kitten was free to do what it wanted．And so，while Alice was sitting in a corner of the great armchair，half talking to herself and half asleep，the kitten was playing a grand game with a ball of wool．Soon the wool was lying in a terrible tangle all over the carpet，with the kitten running after its own tail in the middle．

‘Oh，you bad little thing！’cried Alice，when she saw the wool．She picked up the kitten and climbed back into the armchair．‘You really mustn't play with the wool，you know．It will take me so long to roll the ball up again．Why don't you play chess instead，Kitty？When I was playing a while ago，you were watching me so carefully．In fact，you look just like the Red Queen yourself．’

And Alice picked up the Red Queen from the chessmen on the table，and held it up to show the kitten．But the kitten tried to escape，and，to punish it，Alice lifted it up to the looking-glass above the fireplace．‘If you're not good，Kitty，’she said，‘I'll put you through into looking-glass house．How would you like that？

‘I do wonder，’Alice went on，‘if everything in that room is the same as in our room．The things that I can see look the same-except the books，because the words go the wrong way．But perhaps the rest of the house is really different and full of interesting things．Oh，I wish we could get through，Kitty！Let's pretend we can．Let's pretend the glass has gone soft and…Why，I do believe it has！It's turning into a kind of cloud…’

Alice did not know how it happened，but while she was speaking，she found herself climbing up to the looking-glass． And the glass was beginning to disappear，just like a bright silvery cloud．

In another moment Alice was through the glass and had jumped down into the looking-glass room．At once she began looking around and noticed that several things were very different from the old room．The pictures on the wall all seemed to be alive，and the clock above the fireplace had the face of a little old man，who smiled at her．

‘This room isn't as tidy as the other one，’Alice thought to herself，as she noticed several chessmen on the floor by the fireplace．But the next moment， with a little‘Oh！’of surprise，she was down on the floor herself，watching them．

The chessmen were walking around， arm in arm！

‘Here are the Red King and the Red Queen，’Alice said，in a whisper，in order not to frighten them．‘And there are two Castles walking together．And two of the Pawns，and a white Bishop reading a newspaper…I don't think they can hear me or see me，’she went on．‘I wonder-’

Then something on the table behind her made a noise．Alice turned to look and saw that one of the White Pawns had fallen over and begun to cry.She watched it with interest.

‘It is the voice of my child！’ cried the White Queen by the fireplace．‘My dear Lily！My sweet child！’and she began to climb wildly up the table leg.

Poor little Lily was now screaming loudly．Alice wanted to be helpful，so she picked up the Queen and put her on the table next to her noisy little daughter．

The Queen sat very still，with her mouth open，for almost a minute. Then she called down to the White King，who was still on the floor by the fireplace．‘Be careful of the storm！’

‘What storm？’said the King，looking round worriedly．

‘There's a terrible wind-it blew me up here in a second． You come up the usual way，and be careful！’

Alice watched as the White King slowly began to climb the table leg．Then she said，‘It will take you hours to get up.Why don't I help you？’Gently，she picked him up and moved him slowly upwards. The King was very surprised indeed. His eyes and his mouth got larger and larger，and rounder and rounder. Alice nearly dropped him because she was laughing so much．

When she put him down on the table， he immediately fell flat on his back and lay still. But after a while he sat up，andspoke to the Queen in a frightened whisper．

‘I tell you，my dear， I turned cold to the very ends of my hair！I shall never，never forget that moment．’

‘You will，’the Queen said，‘if you don't write it down．’

Alice watched with interest as the King took out a very large notebook and began writing．Then she saw a book lying on the table near her，and began to turn the pages．

‘It's all in some language that I don't know，’ she said to herself．It was like this．

Puzzled，she looked at it for some time，then suddenly understood．‘Of course，it's a looking-glass book！If I hold it up to the glass，the words will go the right way again.’

This was the poem that Alice read．

JABBERWOCKY

’Twas brillig，and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe；

All mimsy were the borogoves，

And the mome raths outgrabe．

‘It seems very pretty，’Alice said，‘but a little hard to un-derstand．’（Actually，she didn't understand a word of it，but didn't like to say so．）‘It seems to fill my head with ideas- but I don't know what they are！’

Then she suddenly jumped up，as another idea came to her．‘If I don't hurry，I shall have to go back through the looking-glass before I've seen the rest of the house，and the garden．I'll look at the garden first，I think．’

In a moment she was out of the room and running down the stairs．But it wasn't really running， because she was moving gently through the air and her feet weren't touching the stairs at all．At the bottom she managed to catch hold of the doorpost，and after that she was pleased to find herself walking again in a natural way．

■ 1 鏡子屋

小黑貓是這個故事的緣起，這是肯定的。小白貓什麼事也幹不了，因為，過去的一刻鐘，他一直在慢悠悠地仔細地洗著自己的臉兒。

相反，小黑貓卻自由自在。愛麗絲坐在一張大扶手椅的角上，自言自語，睡意矇矓，就在這當兒，小黑貓逗著一個毛線團兒，玩得正開心。過不多時，整個地毯全是一團糟的毛線，小黑貓在中間追著自己的尾巴跑。

愛麗絲看見毛線，叫了聲“你這個小淘氣！”她提起小黑貓，重又回到扶手椅上。接著又說：“你真不應該追著線團兒玩。要把它繞好，我要費多大功夫呀！小貓兒，幹嗎不下下棋？剛才我下棋，你一直在用心看我。其實，你外表活像紅方王后。”

愛麗絲從桌上棋子兒裡拿了紅方王后，舉在空中給小黑貓看。但貓兒掙脫著想逃跑，愛麗絲就把它提到壁爐上方的鏡子前，以示懲罰，並說：“貓兒，如果你不乖，我就讓你穿透鏡子，把你放到鏡子屋去。你意下如何？”

愛麗絲繼續說：“我的確不知道那兒房間的擺設是否跟我們這兒的一個樣子，我看得見的東西外形都沒有什麼兩樣--只是書不同，因為字體方向倒錯。可能屋子的其他方面確有差別，而且有許多好玩的東西。小貓，我們能到那兒去該多好！我們裝作可以進到裡面去。假設玻璃軟化了……化作了一團雲，我真的信以為真了呢！”

愛麗絲不明白這是怎麼回事，但正在她說話的當兒，她發現自己正在往鏡子上爬，鏡子開始消失，就像銀光閃閃的一朵雲。

片刻之後，愛麗絲鑽入鏡子，跳進了鏡子屋。她馬上環顧四周，注意到有好幾件東西與剛才的迥然相異。牆壁上的畫中物都會動，活生生的，壁爐上方的鬧鐘像小老頭的臉，向她微笑。

愛麗絲看見壁爐邊地板上散落了幾個棋子，想著，“這個房間沒有剛才的整潔。”隨後她發出了“哦”的一小聲驚歎，坐在了地板上看著這些棋子。

這些棋子兒手挽著手四處走動！

為了不使他們害怕，愛麗絲輕聲說：“紅方國王與王后都在這兒，還有兩枚車並排走，兩枚卒子，還有一枚白象在讀報……我想他們既聽不見我，也看不見我。”她接著說：“我不清楚--”

隨後，她身後的桌子上傳來響聲。愛麗絲轉身瞧了瞧，看見一隻白卒在桌上摔了一跤，哭了起來。她端詳著，感到很有意思。

白方王后站在壁爐邊，叫道：“那是我孩子的哭聲！我可愛的百合！我的心肝寶貝！”然後拼命順著桌腿往上爬。

可憐的小百合這時哭喊得更響亮了。愛麗絲想幫點忙。她提起王后，把她放在她亂喊亂叫的小女兒旁邊。

王后坐在那兒，一動不動，張著嘴，持續了大約一分鐘。然後她叫底下的白方國王：“當心風暴！”這時他正紋絲不動地站在壁爐旁邊的地板上。

“什麼風暴？”國王不安地四處環顧，問道。

“有一陣極其猛烈的風--一眨眼功夫，就把我吹到了這兒來。你還是走原路，千萬當心！”

白方國王開始緩慢地往桌腿上爬，愛麗絲觀望著。然後她說：“你爬上桌面得費幾小時，為什麼我不幫幫你呢？”她輕輕地把國王拎了起來，慢慢地往上移動。國王真是吃驚不小。眼睛、嘴巴張得越來越大，越來越圓。愛麗絲開懷大笑，差點兒鬆了手。

她把國王放到了桌面上。他馬上仰面平躺，一動不動。可是過了會兒，他坐了起來，受驚地輕聲對王后說：

“親愛的，我確實怕得毛骨悚然！那片刻我永世也難忘。”

王后說：“如果你不記下來，肯定會忘記的。”

愛麗絲饒有興趣地看著國王掏出了一本超大號筆記本並開始在上面寫東西。她還看見旁邊一張桌子上放著書，就隨手翻了起來。

她自言自語道：“用的語言我一點都不懂。”其中有一首詩是這樣寫的：

她看了一會兒，開始迷惑不解，隨後茅塞頓開。“當然，這是本鏡子世界的書！把它放在鏡子前面，詞兒就會恢復到正確的順序上來。”

下面是愛麗絲讀到的詩：

怪 獸

烤晚餐肉時辰，粘柔的三不像怪獸

圍著日晷草坪轉悠鑽地洞；

蓬頭垢面的小鳥脆弱、發抖，

綠豬迷路，又吼叫又吹哨又打噴嚏。

愛麗絲說：“看起來是首好詩，但有點兒費解。”（其實，她一個字都不懂，但不願意這麼講。）“這首詩好像把很多思想塞進了我的腦子，但那到底是些什麼思想，又糊里糊塗。”

說完，她突然跳了一下，另一個想法來到了心頭。“如果我不趕緊點，就得穿過鏡子走回去了。這樣我就看不見鏡子屋的其他地方，以及那個花園。我想還是先看看花園吧。”

不一會兒，她就出了房間往樓下跑。其實那不是真跑，因為她是在空氣中輕輕地飄過，雙足一點兒也沒有觸到樓梯。到了底層她握住門柱。之後她很高興地發現她又能正常地走路了。