Hello there.
Thank you so much for joining me for this continued reading of Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Saw There.
This is the charming quirky old sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Both books are now more than 150 years old.
They were published back in England by the esteemed mathematician Charles Ludwig Dodgson,
Who was using the pen name Lewis Carroll.
And believe it or not,
We have actually reached the end of the book here.
The final three chapters are rather short,
Especially chapters 10 and 11 contain only a few words each.
So this will bring us now to the end of this story.
I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.
I think the encounters with Humpty Dumpty and the Inventor Knight are my favourite parts of the book.
There were certainly a lot of outtakes reading those two chapters for me because I find them hilarious.
And I think it's pretty impressive that the humour from this very serious,
Revered mathematician teaching at Oxford University has carried over more than a century and a half later.
Perhaps you've already heard the preceding parts of this book.
If you haven't and you'd like to,
You can certainly look for the playlist for Through the Looking Glass and you'll find all the chapters there in order.
But for now,
Let's just take a moment here to have a nice,
Deep exhale,
Letting go of the day,
Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment.
For right now,
There's nowhere else we have to go,
Nothing else we have to be doing.
So we can just relax,
Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy this final instalment of the quaint,
Old,
Charming Victorian tale of Through the Looking Glass.
Chapter 10.
Shaking.
She took her off the table as she spoke and shook her backwards and forwards with all her might.
The Red Queen made no resistance whatever,
Only her face grew very small and her eyes got large and green.
And still,
As Alice went on shaking her,
She kept on growing shorter and fatter and softer and rounder and.
.
.
Chapter 11.
Waking.
And it really was a kitten after all.
Chapter 12.
Witch dreamed it.
Your Majesty shouldn't purr so loud,
Alice said,
Rubbing her eyes and addressing the kitten respectfully,
Yet with some severity.
You woke me out of,
Oh,
Such a nice dream.
And you've been along with me,
Kitty,
All through the Looking Glass world.
Did you know it,
Dear?
It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens,
Alice had once made the remark,
That whatever you say to them,
They always purr.
If they would only purr for yes and mew for no,
Or any rule of that sort,
She had said,
So that one could keep up a conversation.
But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?
On this occasion,
The kitten only purred.
And it was impossible to guess whether it meant yes or no.
So Alice hunted among the chessmen on the table till she had found the Red Queen.
Then she went down on her knees on the hearthrug and put the kitten and the Queen to look at each other.
Now Kitty,
She cried,
Clapping her hands triumphantly,
Confess that was what you turned into.
But it wouldn't look at it,
She said,
When she was explaining the thing afterwards to her sister.
It turned away its head and pretended not to see it.
But it looked a little ashamed of itself.
So I think it must have been the Red Queen.
Sit up a little more stiffly,
Dear,
Alice cried with a merry laugh.
And curtsy while you're thinking what to,
What to purr.
It saves time,
Remember?
And she caught it up and gave it one little kiss.
Just in honour of having been a Red Queen.
Snowdrop,
My pet,
She went on,
Looking over her shoulder at the White Kitten,
Which was still patiently undergoing its toilet.
When will Dinah have finished with your White Majesty,
I wonder?
That must be the reason you were so untidy in my dream.
Dinah,
Do you know that you're scrubbing a White Queen?
Really?
It's most disrespectful of you.
And what did Dinah turn to,
I wonder?
She prattled on as she settled comfortably down with one elbow in the rug and her chin in her hand to watch the kittens.
Tell me,
Dinah,
Did you turn to Humpty Dumpty?
I think you did.
However,
You'd better not mention it to your friends just yet,
For I'm not sure.
By the way,
Kitty,
If only you'd been really with me in my dream,
There was one thing you would have enjoyed.
I had such a quantity of poetry said to me,
All about fishes.
Tomorrow morning,
You shall have a real treat.
All the time you're eating your breakfast,
I'll repeat,
The walrus and the carpenter to you.
And then you can make believe it's oysters,
Dear.
Now,
Kitty,
Let's consider who it was that dreamed it all.
This is a serious question,
My dear,
And you should not go on licking your paw like that,
As if Dinah hadn't washed you this morning.
You see,
Kitty,
It must have been either me or the Red King.
He was part of my dream,
Of course,
But then I was part of his dream too.
Was it the Red King,
Kitty?
You were his wife,
My dear,
So you ought to know.
Oh,
Kitty,
Do help to settle it.
I'm sure your paw can wait.
But the provoking kitten only began on the other paw and pretended it hadn't heard the question.
Which do you think it was?
A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily in an evening of July.
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear.
Long has paled that sunny sky.
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still,
She haunts me,
Phantom-wise.
Alice,
Moving under skies,
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet,
The tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die.
Ever-drifting down the stream,
Lingering in the golden gleam.
Life,
What is it but a dream?
The End
