# ■ 4 Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Alice knew immediately which one was which，because each had his name on his shirt．They were standing very still，with their arms round each other，and Alice forgot that they were alive．‘They look just like schoolboys，’she said aloud．Then one of them spoke，and Alice jumped in sur-prise.

‘You've begun wrong！’cried the one called Tweedledum．‘The first thing in a visit is to say“How do you do？” and shake hands．’And here the brothers held out the two hands that were free，to shake hands with her．

Alice did not know which hand to shake first，so she took hold of both hands at once．The next moment they were all three dancing round in a circle．This seemed very natural at the time，and Alice was not even surprised to hear music play-ing.

The two brothers were fat，and soon got tired．‘Four times round is enough for one dance，’Tweedledee said，and they stopped as suddenly as they had begun．Then they stood look-ing at Alice in silence．

Alice did not know what to say.How do you begin a con-versation with people that you have just been dancing with？she wondered．

‘I hope you're not too tired？’she said at last．

‘Not at all．And thank you very much for asking，’said Tweedledum．

‘Very kind of you，’added Tweedledee．‘Do you like po-ems？’

‘Ye-es… well，some poems，’Alice said carefully．‘Would you tell me which road to take out of the wood？’

‘What shall I repeat to her？’Tweedledee said to Tweedle-dum，not noticing Alice's question．

‘The Walrus and the Carpenter is the longest，’Tweedle-dum replied，putting a friendly arm round his brother．

‘If it's very long，’Alice said politely，‘would you tell me first which road-’

Tweedledee smiled gently and began his poem．It was a very long poem indeed-all about a Walrus and a Carpenter，who went for a walk along a beach and invited lots of young Oysters to go with them. The Oysters accepted happily．

‘Perhaps that wasn't very sensible of them，’Alice said．

Tweedledee only smiled，and continued：

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Walked on a mile or so，

And then they rested on a rock

Conveniently low；

And all the little Oysters stood

And waited in a row.

‘The time has come，’the Walrus said，

‘To talk of many things：

Of shoes-and ships-and sealing-wax-

Of cabbages-and kings-

And why the sea is boiling hot-

And whether pigs have wings．’

Alice waited with interest to hear about this conversation，but it never happened，because the Walrus and the Carpenter went on to eat all the Oysters instead．

At the end Alice said，‘I like the Walrus best，because he said he felt sorry for the poor Oysters．’

‘He ate more of them than the Carpenter，’said Tweedledee．‘He ate faster，you see．’

‘Oh！’said Alice．‘Well then，I like the Carpenter best．’

‘But he ate as many as he could get，’said Tweedledum．

‘Well，they were both very unkind-’Alice began，then stopped when she heard a noise in the wood．It sounded like a wild animal．‘What's that？’she asked，afraid．

‘It's only the Red King snoring，’said Tweedledee．‘Come and look at him．’

The brothers each took one of Alice's hands and they went through the wood to where the King was sleeping．

‘Doesn't he look lovely？’said Tweedledum．

Alice really couldn't agree．The King was lying in a very untidy way，and was snoring loudly．

‘He's dreaming now，’said Tweedledee，‘and what do you think he's dreaming about？’

‘Nobody can guess that，’said Alice．

‘Why，about you！’Tweedledee said．‘And if he stops dreaming about you，where do you think you will be？’

‘Where I am now，of course，’said Alice．

‘Oh no！’said Tweedledum．‘You'll be nowhere．You're only a kind of thing in his dream！If he wakes up，you'll go out-bang！-just like a light！’

‘What nonsense！’Alice said crossly．‘And if I'm only a kind of thing in his dream，what are you，I'd like to know．’

‘The same！’the brothers cried together．

‘Shhh！Don't make so much noise，’Alice said．‘You'll wake him up．’

‘How can you wake him，’said Tweedledum，‘when you're only one of the things in his dream？You know very well that you're not real．’

‘I am real！’said Alice，and began to cry．

‘I don't know why you're crying，’Tweedledee said un-kindly．‘You won't become real that way．’

‘I know they're talking nonsense，’Alice thought to herself，‘and there really isn't anything to cry about．’She gave herself a little shake，then said，‘I think I must find my way out of the wood now，because it's getting very dark．Do you think it's going to rain？’

‘Possibly，’Tweedledum said，opening a large umbrella．

It was now getting very dark indeed and Alice thought there must be a storm coming．‘What a thick black cloud that is！’she said．‘And how fast it comes！Why，I do believe it’got wings！’

‘It's the crow！’Tweedledee shouted fearfully．The two brothers turned to run and had disappeared in a moment．

Alice ran too，and hid under some low trees．‘It can't get me under here，’she thought，‘but I wish its wings didn't make so much wind．It's blowing everything around terribly-and look！Here's somebody's shawl flying through the air！’

■ 4 特威丹與特威帝

愛麗絲一下子就把這對孿生兄弟辨認出來了，因為襯衫上都標明瞭名字。他們紋絲不動地站在那兒，手挽著手，愛麗絲因此竟忘了他們是活的。她大聲地說：“他們看起來就像小男學生。”接著兩個中的一個講話了，愛麗絲驚奇地跳起來。

叫特威丹的那位叫道：“你開頭就錯了。拜訪朋友，第一件事是打招呼‘你好！’同時握手。”這時，兩兄弟伸出了閒著的兩隻手，與她握手。

愛麗絲搞不清楚要先握哪隻手，於是就同時抓住了兩隻手。隨後，他們就圍成一個圈跳舞。當時這似乎非常自然，愛麗絲聽見音樂奏起，也不感到奇怪。

這兩兄弟長得胖墩墩的，一會兒就疲憊不堪了。特威帝說：“一曲跳四圈就夠了。”他們停下來就像開始時那樣突然，然後他們站在那兒，靜靜地看著愛麗絲。

愛麗絲不知道該說些什麼。如何開始同剛剛與你跳過舞的人談話呢？她拿不準。

她終於開了口，說：“希望你們不會太累。”

“一點也沒有。謝謝你的關心。”特威丹答道。

“你太好了。你喜歡詩歌嗎？”特威帝補充說。

愛麗絲非常謹慎地答道：“是……是的，有些詩歌。勞駕你告訴我哪條路可以走出樹林？”

“我該給她背誦什麼？”特威帝對特威丹說，沒有注意到愛麗絲的發問。

特威丹很友好地摟住自己的兄弟，說：“海象與木匠這首詩是最長的。”

“如果這首詩很長，勞駕你先告訴我哪條路……”愛麗絲很有禮貌地懇求道。

特威帝微微一笑，就背誦起詩來了。那真是首長詩，講的是海象與木匠去海邊散步，並邀請許多小牡蠣同往。小牡蠣很高興地接受了邀請。

愛麗絲說：“它們恐怕不太明智吧。”

特威帝只笑了笑，又繼續背：

海象與木匠

步行一英里，

要坐岩石上

石頭低又矮；

牡蠣站成排

等待又等待。

海象先開言：

“時光已來臨，”

“談論許多事：

鞋、船與封蠟--

甘藍與國王--

大海怎滾燙--

豬玀有無翼。”

愛麗絲覺得非常有趣，等著聽海象與木匠的對話，但就是沒聲響，因為他們接著忙著吃牡蠣了。

最後愛麗絲說：“我最喜歡海象，因為他說他為可憐的牡蠣感到難過。”

特威帝說：“他比木匠吃得還多，還快。”

“哦，是這樣。那麼我最喜歡木匠。”愛麗絲改口說。

但特威丹說：“其實木匠也在拚命地吃。”

“哦，他們兩個都不是什麼好人--”愛麗絲剛一出口，就住了口，這時她突然聽見樹林裡傳來好像是野獸的吼叫。她害怕了，忙問：“那是什麼聲音？”

特威帝答道：“那只是紅方國王在打呼嚕。來，我們去看看他。”

兩兄弟每人拉住愛麗絲的一隻手，他們穿過樹林，來到國王睡覺的地方。

特威丹問：“他夠可愛的，是吧？”

愛麗絲真是不敢苟同。國王躺在那兒，邋里邋遢，呼嚕打得山響。

特威帝說：“他在做夢呢。你說他在做什麼夢？”

“誰也不會知道的，”愛麗絲答道。

特威帝說：“他在夢見你呢！如果他不再夢見你，你說你會在哪兒？”

愛麗絲答道：“當然還是在這兒。”

“哦，不！你將不在任何地方。你只是他夢中的一種東西！他一醒來，你就出去了--就像一道光！”特威丹說。

愛麗絲生氣地說：“一派胡言！如果我只是他夢中的某種東西，那麼我倒想知道，你又是什麼呢？”

“同樣的東西！”兄弟倆異口同聲道。

愛麗絲說：“噓！別嚷嚷了，否則會把他吵醒的。”

“你只是他夢境中的一件東西，你又怎麼能把他吵醒呢？你並不是真實的，這你很清楚。”特威丹說。

愛麗絲說：“我是真實的！”說完就哭了起來。

特威帝不友好地說：“我不明白你為什麼哭了。這並不能使你變為真實的。”

愛麗絲思忖著，“我清楚他們在胡言亂語，不過確實沒什麼好哭的。”她輕微抖動一下身子，說：“我想眼下我必須要找到走出樹林的路。因為天越來越暗了。你認為要下雨了嗎？”

“可能的”。特威丹說著，打開了一把大傘。

天空一片漆黑，愛麗絲揣測一定會有場暴風雨。她說：“那雲團又密又黑，來勢多凶猛！我肯定它長了翅膀。”

特威帝嚇得慘叫一聲：“那是烏鴉！”倆兄弟轉身拔腿就跑，一會兒就不見了。

愛麗絲也跑了起來，躲到低矮樹林下面。她想：“我躲在這下面，烏鴉不會抓到我的，但我還希望它的翅膀不要颳起太大的風。周圍一切都被席捲而去--你瞧！有人的披肩都被捲上了天。”