# ■ 7 The Lion and the Unicorn

The next moment soldiers came running through thewood，at first in twos and threes，then ten or twentytogether，and at last in great crowds that seemed to fill theforest．Alice got behind a tree and watched them go past．

They were very strange soldiers，she thought．They werealways falling over something or other， and when one soldierwent down，several more always fell over him．Soon theground was covered with fallen men．

Then came the horses．With four feet，they managed betterthan the foot-soldiers， but even they fell more often than not．And when a horse fell， the rider always fell off at once． It wasalmost like a battle in itself，and Alice decided it would besafer to move on．Soon she came to an open place， where shefound the White King sitting on the ground， busily writing inhis notebook．

‘I've sent them all！’the King cried happily when he sawAlice．‘Did you happen to meet any soldiers， my dear， as youcame through the wood？’

‘Yes，I did，’said Alice．‘Several thousand，I think．’

‘Four thousand two hundred and seven，’ the King said，looking at his book．‘I couldn't send all the horses，becausetwo of them are wanted in the game．And I haven't sent theMessengers， Haigha and Hatta．I need them myself， of course-to come and go．One to come，and one to go．’

‘I don't think I understand，’ said Alice．‘Why one to comeand one to go？’

‘I've told you，’the King said crossly．‘I must have two-to fetch and carry．One to fetch， and one to carry．’

At that moment Haigha，one of the Messengers，arrived．He had very large hands and great eyes，which were alwaysmoving wildly from side to side．

‘What's the news from town？’ said the King．

‘I'll whisper it，’said Haigha， putting his mouth close tothe King's ear．

Alice was sorry about this，because she wanted to hear thenews too．But，instead of whispering，Haigha shouted at thetop of his voice，‘They're at it again！’

‘Do you call that a whisper？’ cried the poor King， jumpingup and shaking himself．‘Don't do that again！’

‘Who are at it again？’ Alice asked．

‘The Lion and the Unicorn，of course，’said the King．

‘Fighting for the crown？’

‘Yes， and it's my crown that they're fighting about！’saidthe King．‘Amusing， isn't it？ Let's run and see them．’

They began to run，and as they went，Alice repeated to her-self the words of the old song．

The Lion and the Unicorn

were fighting for the crown；

The Lion beat the Unicorn

all round the town．

Some gave them white bread

and some gave them brown；

Some gave them plum-cake

and drummed them out of town．

Soon they saw a great crowd in front of them， and in themiddle the Lion and the Unicorn were fighting． Hatta， theother Messenger， was standing at the edge of the crowd，witha cup of tea in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in theother．He looked very unhappy．

‘He's only just come out of prison，’ Haigha whispered inAlice's ear，‘so he's very hungry and thirsty，you see．Howare you，dear child？’ he said to Hatta，in a friendly voice．

Hatta looked round， but went on eating his bread and butterand drinking his tea．

‘Come，tell us the news！’ cried the King．‘How are theygetting on with the fight？’

‘They're getting on very well，’Hatta said through amouthful of bread and butter．‘Each of them has been down about eighty-seven times．’

‘Then I suppose they'll soon bring the white bread and thebrown，’ Alice said．

‘It's waiting for them now，’said Hatta．‘I'm eating a bitof it myself．’

The fight stopped just then，and the Lion and the Unicornsat down，looking tired．

The King called out，‘Ten minutes for tea！’，and Haighaand Hatta began to carry round plates of white and brownbread．Alice took a piece to taste， but it was very dry.

‘I don't think they'll fight any more today，’the King saidto Hatta．‘Go and order the drums to begin．’

As Alice watched him go，she suddenly saw somebody run-ning out of the wood．

‘Look！’she cried excitedly．‘There's the White Queen！She came flying out of the wood．How fast those Queens canrun！’

‘There's probably an enemy after her，’said the King， notlooking round．‘That wood's full of them. ’

‘But aren't you going to help her？’asked Alice，very sur-prised．

‘No use， no use！’said the King．‘She runs so terriblyquickly．You can't catch a Queen when she's running．’

At that moment the Unicorn came past，with his hands inhis pockets．When he saw Alice，he stopped and looked at herfor some minutes．He did not seem to like what he saw．

‘What- is- this？’ he said at last．

‘This is a child！’Haigha said helpfully，coming forward tointroduce Alice．‘We only found it today．It's as large as life，and twice as natural！’

‘I always thought they were fantastic monsters，’said theUnicorn．‘Is it alive？’

‘It can talk，’said Haigha．

The Unicorn looked dreamily at Alice．‘Talk， child．’

Alice smiled．‘I always thought that Unicorns were fantas-tic monsters，too！ I never saw one alive before．’

‘Well， we have now met and spoken，so we can believe ineach other， yes？’The Unicorn turned to the King．‘Fetchout the plum-cake，old man. I'm tried of brown bread！’

‘Certainly，certainly，’said the King，sounding a littlefrightened．‘Quick，Haigha， open the bag．’

Haigha was carrying a big bag round his neck， and now hetook ont of it a very large cake，a plate and a knife．He gavethem to Alice to hold．

The Lion had joined them while this was going on． Helooked very tired and sleepy，and his eyes were half shut．‘What's this？’ he said，looking at Alice．

‘An， what is it， then？’the Unicorn cried．‘You'll neverguess！I couldn't．’

The Lion looked at Alice without interest．‘Are you a veg-etable or an animal？’he asked tiredly．

‘It's a fantastic monster！’ the Unicorn cried，before Alicecould reply．

‘Then pass round the plum-cake，Monster，’the Lion said，lying down on the ground．‘And you two sit down，’he said tothe King and the Unicorn．

The King looked very uncomforable when he had to sit be-tween the Lion and the Unicorn，but there was no other placefor him．His crown nearly fell off because he was shaking somuch. The Unicorn looked amused，and then tried to arguewith the Lion about who was winning the fight.

‘I beat you all round the town，’ said the Lion angrily.‘And why is the Monster taking so long to cut up the cake？’

‘It's very difficult，’said Alice．‘I've cut off several piecesalready，but then they join up again immediately！’

‘You don't know how to manage looking-glass cakes，’saidthe Unicorn. ‘Pass it round first，and cut it up afterwards. ’

This sounded nonsense，but Alice got up and carried theplate round. At once the cake cut itself into three pieces， andthen Alice returned to her place with the empty plate.

‘Look at my piece of cake！’cried the Unicorn．‘The Mon-ster has given the Lion twice as much as me！’

‘She hasn't kept any for herself，’said the Lion. ‘Do youlike plum-cake， Monster？’

But before Alice could answer，the drums began．The airseemed full of the noise，and it rang and rang through herhead．Frightened， Alice began to run and jumped over the brook．

* * * * *

* * * *

* * * * *

Then she fell to the ground and put her hands over her ears，trying to shut out the terrible noise．

‘If that doesn't drum the Lion and the Unicorn out oftown，’she thought to herself，‘nothing ever will！’

7 獅子與獨角獸

稍後，士兵跑步穿過樹林，起先是三三兩兩的，隨後是十個二十個，最後是成群成群的，似乎把整個森林都塞滿了。愛麗絲躲在樹後看著他們過去。

她想這些士兵真夠奇特。他們總是跌倒在什麼東西上。一個士兵倒下，更多的士兵就倒在他上面。片刻之間，地面上到處是倒下的人了。

後來馬過來了。馬有四條腿，因此跑得比步兵平穩，但即使這樣也經常摔倒。馬一摔倒，騎士總是馬上掉下來。這種局面幾乎本身就像一場戰鬥。愛麗絲拿定主意，離開此地會更安全。不久，她來到了一個開闊地。在那兒，她看見白方國王坐在地上，忙著在筆記本上寫東西。

國王一看見愛麗絲就高興地叫嚷道：“我把士兵都派出去了，小寶貝，你走過樹林時，碰見他們了嗎？”

“碰上了，我想有好幾千。”愛麗絲答道。

國王看了看本子，說：“共4207位。我不能把馬匹都派出去，因為象棋裡需要兩枚馬。而且我也沒把黑格與哈特兩位信使派去。當然，我需要他們來回穿梭送信。一個來，一個去。”

愛麗絲說：“我想我還是不明白。幹嗎一個來，一個去？”

國王面有慍色，說：“我告訴過你，我得有兩個幫手--一個取信，一個送信。”

這時，叫黑格的那個信使來了。他長著巨手、大眼，眼珠老是左右亂轉。

國王問：“城裡有什麼消息？”

“我悄聲告訴你。”黑格湊近國王的耳朵說話。

愛麗絲也想聽聽城裡的消息。於是心裡有點遺憾。但突然黑格轉而大叫一聲：“他們又鬥起來了！”

“你把這稱作悄悄話？不允許再這樣大嚷大叫了！”可憐的國王嚇得跳了起來，渾身顫抖。

愛麗絲問：“誰又鬥起來了？”

“當然是獅子與獨角獸。”國王說。

“為了爭奪王冠？”

“是的，他們為爭奪我的王冠鬥了起來！太有趣了，是不是？我們趕緊去瞧瞧！”國王說。

他們開始跑起來，一邊跑著，愛麗絲一邊揹著一首古老的歌詞：

獅子與獨角獸

為王冠而格鬥；

獅子打敗了獨角獸，

把他滿城追逐。

有些人給他們白麵包

有些人卻佈施黑麵包；

有些人送上了葡萄乾蛋糕

擊鼓把他們送出城。

不久他們就看見前面聚集了一大群人，獅子與獨角獸在圈中打鬥。另一個叫哈特的信使站在人群的外圍，一隻手端著一杯茶，另一隻手拿著黃油麵包。他看上去很不高興。

黑格湊著愛麗絲的耳朵輕聲說：“他剛從監獄裡出來，所以又餓又渴。你好嗎，親愛的孩子？”隨後他非常友好地對哈特講話。

哈特看了看周圍，又繼續吃他的黃油麵包，喝他的茶。

國王喊道：“好了，告訴我們他們打鬥得怎麼樣？”

“他們打得很順利，每人都已被打倒了大約八十七次。”哈特說著，滿嘴是黃油麵包。

愛麗絲說：“那麼我想他們不久就會帶來白麵包和黑麵包的。”

“麵包都在等著他們呢。我自己先吃點兒。”哈特說。

就在這時，打鬥告一段落，獅子與獨角獸坐了下來，顯得疲憊不堪。

國王喊叫著：“喝10分鐘茶！”黑格與哈特開始分發白麵包和黑麵包。愛麗絲拿了一片嚐嚐，但太乾了。

“我想今天他們不會再打了。去叫人擊鼓。”國王對哈特說。

在愛麗絲看著他走的當兒，她突然瞧見有人跑出樹林。

她激動地說：“看呀！那是白方王后！她正飛奔出樹林，那些王后跑得可真快！”

“可能有敵人追她，那樹林裡面多的是。”國王頭也不轉地說。

愛麗絲非常驚奇地問：“可是你不打算去救她？”

“沒用了，沒用了！她跑得太快了，王后跑起來你是追不上的。”國王說。

這時，獨角獸路過這裡，雙手插在口袋裡。他看見了愛麗絲，就停了下來，端詳了她好幾分鐘。他似乎並不喜歡他所看見的這個東西。

最後他問：“這--是--什麼？”

“這是個孩子！”黑格自告奮勇地上前將愛麗絲做了介紹，並說：“我們也是今天剛碰上的。她跟真小孩一樣大，但比一般小孩自然大方得多！”

“我一向認為他們是些奇異的怪物。它活著嗎？”獨角獸問。

黑格說：“它能講話。”

獨角獸矇矓地看著愛麗絲說：“孩子，講吧。”

愛麗絲笑了。“我也向來認為獨角獸是種奇異的怪物。以前我從未看見過活的。”

“我們見了面，又講了話，我們可以互相信任了，是嗎？”獨角獸轉向國王說：“老頭子，拿出葡萄乾蛋糕。黑麵包我吃厭了！”

國王有點怕了，忙說：“當然，當然。黑格，趕快把袋子打開。”

黑格脖子上掛一個大袋子，他從裡面拿出一個很大的糕，一個盤子，一把刀。他給愛麗絲遞過去，要她拿著。

這時獅子來到了他們中間。他很疲勞，睡意矇矓，雙眼半睜半閉著。“這是什麼？”他看看愛麗絲問。

獨角獸叫道：“啊，這是什麼？你永遠猜不出的！我剛才也猜不出。”

獅子毫無興趣地看著愛麗絲，無精打采地問：“你是植物，還是動物？”

沒等愛麗絲回答，獨角獸就叫道：“這是隻奇異的怪物。”

“那就把葡萄乾蛋糕給大家遞過去，怪物。”獅子說著，躺了下來。“你們兩位也坐下來吧。”他又對國王與獨角獸說。

國王坐在獅子與獨角獸之間非常不自在，但確實沒有其他地方讓他坐。他全身顫抖得厲害，王冠也差點掉了下來。獨角獸顯得很高興，然後他便與獅子爭論誰會贏得這場打鬥。

獅子憤怒地問：“我滿城追著你打。這怪物怎麼這樣久還沒把葡萄乾蛋糕切開？”

“切糕不容易。我已切下好幾塊了，但它們又粘在一起了。”愛麗絲說。

獨角獸說：“你不懂切鏡子屋蛋糕的方法。要先遞給大家，然後再切開。”

這聽起來荒唐，但愛麗絲還是站起來，端著盤子轉一圈，蛋糕馬上把自己切成三塊，然後，愛麗絲拿著空盤子回到自己的位置上。

獨角獸叫道：“看看我這塊糕。這怪物給獅子的那塊比我的大一倍。”

“她一點沒給自己留。怪物，你喜歡葡萄乾蛋糕嗎？”獅子問。

愛麗絲還沒來得及答話，鼓聲就響了起來。空中滿是噪音，她的頭好像要被吵炸了。愛麗絲心驚膽顫，趕緊跑開，跳過了小河。然後她倒在地上，用雙手捂住耳朵，試圖擋住那震耳欲聾的噪音。

“這鼓聲如果還不能把獅子與獨角獸逐出本城，那也就沒希望了。”她心裡想著。