# ■ 5 The White Queen

She caught the shawl as she spoke，and looked around for the owner．A moment later the White Queen came running wildly through the wood．Alice went to meet her with the shawl．

‘I'm pleased I was able to catch it for you，’Alice said，as she helped the Queen to put on her shawl again．‘Am I speak-ing to the White Queen？’she added politely．

‘Yes，’said the Queen，as she pulled helplessly at her shawl．‘Oh dear！I don't know what's the matter with my shawl today．I think it's angry with me．I've pinned it here，and I've pinned it there，but it's just not happy．’

‘But it can't go straight，you know，if you pin it all on one side，’Alice said，as she gently put it right for her．‘And I'm afraid your hair is terribly untidy．’

‘The hairbrush is lost in it somewhere，’the Queen said un-happily．

Alice carefully took out the brush and pinned up the Queen's hair more tidily．‘There，you look better now，’she said．‘But really you should have a lady's maid．’

‘I'd be happy to take you，’the Queen said．‘Twopence a week，and jam every other day．’

‘I don't want you to employ me，’Alice said，laughing．‘And I don't like jam．’

‘It's very good jam，’said the Queen． ‘Well，I don't want any today，thank you．’

‘But you can't have jam today，’the Queen said．‘It's jam tomorrow and jam yesterday-but never jam today．’

‘It must be “jam today”sometimes，’Alice argued．

‘No，it isn't，’said the Queen．‘It's jam every other day．Today isn't any other day，you know．’

‘I don't understand that，’said Alice，very puzzled．

‘That's because we live backwards here，’explained the Queen kindly．‘It's always a little difficult at first．’

‘Live backwards！’Alice repeated，in great surprise．‘I never heard of anybody doing that．’

‘But there's one very useful thing about it，’the Queen went on，‘you can remember things both ways．’

‘I only remember things one way，’Alice said.‘I can't re-member things before they happen．’

‘That's not very useful，’said the Queen．‘I can remember things that happened the week after next．For example，the King's Messenger is in prison now，but he hasn't done any-thing wrong yet．His crime will come much later．’

‘But what happens if there is no crime，’asked Alice，‘and he doesn't do anything wrong at all？ That seems a strange way of-’

At that moment the Queen began to scream very loudly，and to shake her hand around in the air．‘Oh，oh！’she shout-ed．‘My finger's bleeding！Oh，oh，oh！’

Alice put her hands over her ears．‘What is the matter？’she said，in between the Queen's screams．‘Have you cut your finger？’

‘I haven't cut it yet，’the Queen said，‘but I soon shall-oh，oh，oh！’

‘When do you think you will do it？’Alice asked，trying not to laugh．

‘When I fasten my shawl again，’the Queen said unhappily，‘one of the pins will come out and-oh，oh！’As she said the words，one of her shawl pins came undone and she quickly took hold of it，trying to fasten it again．

‘Take care！’cried Alice．‘You're holding it wrong！’She tried to help the Queen，but it was too late-the pin had al-ready gone deep into the Queen's finger．

‘That explains the bleeding，you see，’the Queen said to Alice with a smile．‘Now you understand the way things hap-pen here．’

‘But why don't you scream now？’Alice asked，holding her hands ready to put over her ears again．

‘I've done all the screaming already，’said the Queen．‘Why do it all again？’

‘It's very difficult to believe，’Alice said，‘that life can happen backwards．’

‘Try to believe something a bit easier，’said the Queen helpfully．‘For example，I'm a hundred and one years old．’

‘I can't believe that！’said Alice．

‘Can't you？’the Queen said，shaking her head sadly．‘Try again．Put your hands together and shut your eyes．’

Alice laughed．‘There's no use trying，’she said．‘Nobody can believe impossible things．’

‘Perhaps you don't work hard enough at it，’said the Queen．‘When I was a child，I worked at it for an hour a day．Why，sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast．There goes my shawl again！’

The pins had come undone again as she spoke，and a sudden wind blew her shawl across a little brook．The Queen went flying after it，and managed to catch it．‘I've got it！’she called happily．‘Now you will see me pin it on again，all by myself．’

‘Then I hope your finger is better now？’Alice said very po-litely，as she crossed the brook after the Queen．

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‘Oh，much better！’cried the Queen，her voice getting higher and higher as she went on．‘Much be-etter！Be-e-e-ter！ Be-e-eh！’The last word sounded very like the sound that a sheep makes，and Alice looked at the Queen in surprise．

And indeed，the Queen was now covered in a thick woolly coat，and…Alice closed her eyes，then opened them again．She couldn't understand what had happened at all．The wood had disappeared，and she was in a little dark shop-and it re-ally was a sheep in front of her，wearing large glasses and sit-ting calmly on a chair，knitting．

‘What do you want to buy？’the Sheep said at last，lookingup for a moment from her knitting.

‘I'm not sure at the moment， ’Alice said gently．‘May Ilook round first？’

She began to walk round the shop， looking at everything．But every time she looked hard at something，it seemed tomove and then appear again a moment later in a differentplace．So it was difficult to see clearly what was there． Shewent on walking， and soon realized that the shop was muchbigger than she had thought．

‘What a strange shop！’Alice said．‘I wish things wouldkeep still！’

A few minutes later the shop became even stranger， becauseAlice found herself walking beside a large lake， with tall greenplants growing round the edge．She put out her hand to picksome， but the plants disappeared when she touched them．

‘Oh， what a pity！’said Alice．‘I would like to take somehome．They look so pretty．’

‘There are lots of other things here，’said the Sheep．‘Butyou must decide what you want to buy．’

‘To buy！’Alice said，jumping a little in surprise．The lakehad gone，and she was back in the little dark shop．The Sheepwas still knitting， and was looking at her crossly over the topof her glasses．

‘I would like to buy an egg，please，’Alice said．‘Howmuch do they cost？’

‘Fivepence for one， twopence for two，’the Sheep replied．

‘So two are cheaper than one？’Alice said in a surprisedvoice，taking out her purse．

‘But you must eat them both，if you buy two，’said theSheep.

‘Then I'll have one，please，’said Alice，giving the Sheepfivepence．

The Sheep took the money，then said，‘You must get ityourself，you know．It's at the end of the shop．’

The end of the shop was very dark，and was crowded withtables and chairs．Alice could see the egg，but she neverseemed to get near it．She almost fell over a chair，and thenrealized that it was not a chair at all，but a small tree．‘Whyare trees growing here？’she wondered．‘This is the strangestshop that I ever saw！And now here's a little brook as well！’

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So she went on， wondering more and more at every step．Af-ter a while everything had turned into a tree，and she thoughtthat the egg would soon do the same．

■ 5 白方王后

講話的當兒，她抓住了披肩，四處張望，尋找主人。片刻之後，白方王后穿過樹林，飛奔而來。愛麗絲手拿披肩迎上前去。

愛麗絲說：“我很高興能把圍巾抓住。”同時，她給王后重新披上披肩。她又很有禮貌地補充了一句：“我現在是跟白方王后講話嗎？”

王后答道：“是的。”同時徒然地拉了拉披肩，“天哪！我不明白今天我的披肩是怎麼回事。我想它在生我的氣。我把它別在這兒，又別到那兒，但它就是不滿意。”

“你如果把披肩別在一邊，它就不可能挺直，這你也清楚。”愛麗絲說著就輕輕地把披肩給她披好。“恐怕你頭髮也太亂了。”

王后不高興地說：“梳子不知丟在頭髮裡的什麼地方了。”

愛麗絲小心地拿出了梳子，把王后的頭髮更整齊地別起來。“這樣看起來就好多了。說真的，你應該有一個侍女。”她說。

王后說：“納你做侍女，我會很高興。一週兩便士，再加上隔天吃果醬。”

“我不要你來僱我。再說我也不喜歡吃果醬。”愛麗絲說完，笑了起來。

王后說：“那是很好的果醬。”

“我今天一點也不想要，謝謝了。”

王后又說：“但你不可能今天有果醬。只是明天或昨天有果醬--今天決沒有果醬。”

愛麗絲爭辯說：“有時肯定會‘今天有果醬’的。”

“不會有的。隔天才有果醬。今天不是隔天中的任何一天。”王后說。

愛麗絲摸不著頭腦，說：“我真不明白那一套。”

“那是因為在這兒我們往後過日子。要理解這一點起初總是困難的。”王后很友善地解釋道。

“往後過日子！”愛麗絲重複了一遍，大吃一驚。“我還從沒有聽說過有人這樣過日子。”

王后又說：“但這樣有一點很有用處，你就可以用兩種方法記事情了。”

“我只能用一種方法記住事情。我不會記住那些還沒有發生過的事情。”愛麗絲說。

王后說：“那可沒有好處。我可以記住兩週後發生的事情。譬如說，國王的信使現在坐牢了，但他至今還沒有做錯什麼事。他犯罪的時間要晚得多。”

愛麗絲問：“如果他根本沒犯罪，沒做錯事，那又能有什麼後果呢？這似乎是用離奇的方式來--”

王后突然大聲尖叫起來，並在空中揮舞著手，叫喊著：“哎呀，哎呀！我的手指在流血！哎呀，哎呀，哎呀！”

愛麗絲用雙手捂住了耳朵，在王后尖叫的間隙，問：“怎麼回事？你割破了手指頭？”

“我還沒有割破手指，但我不久就會了，哎呀，哎呀，哎呀！”王后說。

愛麗絲問：“你認為什麼時候會割破手指？”儘量不笑出聲來。

王后不高興地說：“當我再次繫牢披肩時，一隻別針會脫落下來--哎呀，哎呀！”正說著，披肩上的一隻別針鬆了，她快速把它抓住，想重新把它固定住。

愛麗絲喊道：“小心！你抓錯了方向！”她想幫王后個忙，但太遲了--別針已經深深地扎進了王后的指頭。

王后笑著對愛麗絲講：“那就解釋了流血的事。現在你明白了這兒事情是怎樣發生的吧。”

“可是你現在為什麼不叫喊？”愛麗絲問，揚起雙手準備再次把耳朵捂住。

王后說：“我已經叫喊過了。幹嗎又要重複一遍呢？”

“人生階段可以倒過來發生，這真令人難以置信。”愛麗絲說。

王后有意指點她，就說：“設法相信得更容易點。譬如說，我已101歲了。”

“我不能相信。”愛麗絲說。

王后沮喪地搖搖頭，說：“你怎麼不相信？再試試。合上雙手並閉上眼睛。”

愛麗絲笑了，說：“試也沒用，沒人會相信不可能的事。”

王后說：“也許你不夠努力。我小時候，每天花一小時來相信不可能的事。有時早餐前共相信多達六件這樣的事。我的披肩又飛了！”

她說著，別針又鬆了，一陣風把披肩吹過小溪。王后飛速追了過去，設法抓住了披肩。她高興地叫起來：“我抓到了！你將看到我重新把它別上，全部自己來。”

愛麗絲非常有禮貌地說：“希望你的手指頭好些了。”同時緊隨王后跨過了小溪。

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“噢，好多了！”王后高叫道，她不停地叫著，聲音越來越高：“好多--了！好--多--了！好--！”最後一個詞聽起來就像綿羊在叫喚，愛麗絲不禁驚奇地看了看王后。

一點不假，王后現在身披著一件厚厚的毛外衣。愛麗絲閉上眼睛，然後又睜開。她真的弄不明白到底是怎麼回事。樹林消失了，她在一家昏暗的小商店裡--而且在她面前確實是一隻綿羊，戴著大眼鏡，靜靜地坐在椅子上織毛活。

綿羊終於抬起眼睛問話了：“你要買什麼？”

“現在我還拿不準。我可以先看看嗎？”愛麗絲輕聲輕氣地問。

她開始在商店裡轉悠著，什麼東西都瀏覽一番。但每當她盯著一件東西看，那東西似乎就動起來，過一會兒出現在另一個地方。因此要看清楚那兒有些什麼是不容易的。她繼續走動，不久就發現那商店比她想的要大得多。

愛麗絲說：“這商店太奇特了！我希望東西擺在那兒不動。”

幾分鐘後，商店變得更加奇特了，愛麗絲髮現自己在一個大湖邊散步，湖邊長著高大的綠色植物。她伸出手去採摘，但當她一觸手，植物就消失了。

愛麗絲說：“太可借了！我要帶些回家，它們看起來多漂亮。”

“本商店還出售許多其他東西，但你必須想好到底買些什麼。”綿羊說。

愛麗絲驚奇地跳了一小步，說：“買！”湖消失了，她又回到了那個昏暗的小店。綿羊還在織毛活，抬眼從眼鏡上面憤怒地看了看她。

愛麗絲說：“我想買個雞蛋。怎麼賣？”

“一個五便士，兩個兩便士。”綿羊答道。

愛麗絲拿出錢包，非常驚奇地說：“這麼說，兩個比一個要便宜。”

“你要買兩個，就得吃兩個。”綿羊說。

“那我就買一個。”愛麗絲說著，遞給綿羊五便士。

綿羊接了錢，然後說道：“你得自己去拿。就在店面那一頭。”

店面那頭很暗，擺滿了桌椅。愛麗絲看得見雞蛋，但似乎永遠也接近不了。她差點兒倒在了椅子上，卻發現那根本不是椅子，而是一棵小樹。“樹怎麼會長在這兒？”她不明白：“這是我看到過的最奇怪的一家商店。而且裡面也有一條小溪！”

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因此她繼續走著，每走一步，心裡都在想，這到底是怎麼一回事。片刻之後，樣樣東西都變成了一株樹。她想雞蛋恐怕也會變成樹的。