Chapter X.

The Lobster Quadrille

T he Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and drew the back of one

flapper across his eyes. He looked at Alice, and tried to
speak, but for a minute or two sobs choked his voice. ‘Same
as if he had a bone in his throat,’ said the Gryphon: and
it set to work shaking him and punching him in the back.
At last the Mock Turtle recovered his voice, and, with tears
running down his cheeks, he went on again:—
‘You may not have lived much under the sea—’ (’I
haven’t,’ said Alice)— ‘and perhaps you were never even in-
troduced to a lobster—’ (Alice began to say ‘I once tasted—’
but checked herself hastily, and said ‘No, never’) ‘—so you
can have no idea what a delightful thing a Lobster Quadrille
is!’
‘No, indeed,’ said Alice. ‘What sort of a dance is it?’
‘Why,’ said the Gryphon, ‘you first form into a line along
the sea-shore—’
‘Two lines!’ cried the Mock Turtle. ‘Seals, turtles, salm-
on, and so on; then, when you’ve cleared all the jelly-fish out
of the way—’
‘THAT generally takes some time,’ interrupted the Gry-
phon.
‘—you advance twice—’
‘Each with a lobster as a partner!’ cried the Gryphon.

86 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

 ‘Of course,’ the Mock Turtle said: ‘advance twice, set to
partners—’
‘—change lobsters, and retire in same order,’ continued
the Gryphon.
‘Then, you know,’ the Mock Turtle went on, ‘you throw
the—’
‘The lobsters!’ shouted the Gryphon, with a bound into
the air.
‘—as far out to sea as you can—’
‘Swim after them!’ screamed the Gryphon.
‘Turn a somersault in the sea!’ cried the Mock Turtle, ca-
pering wildly about.
‘Change lobster’s again!’ yelled the Gryphon at the top
of its voice.
‘Back to land again, and that’s all the first figure,’ said
the Mock Turtle, suddenly dropping his voice; and the two
creatures, who had been jumping about like mad things all
this time, sat down again very sadly and quietly, and looked
at Alice.
‘It must be a very pretty dance,’ said Alice timidly.
‘Would you like to see a little of it?’ said the Mock Tur-
tle.
‘Very much indeed,’ said Alice.
‘Come, let’s try the first figure!’ said the Mock Turtle
to the Gryphon. ‘We can do without lobsters, you know.
Which shall sing?’
‘Oh, YOU sing,’ said the Gryphon. ‘I’ve forgotten the
words.’
So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice,

Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 87

every now and then treading on her toes when they passed
too close, and waving their forepaws to mark the time, while
the Mock Turtle sang this, very slowly and sadly:—
‘Will you walk a little faster?’ said a whiting to a snail.
‘There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my
tail. See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle—will you come and join the
dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the
dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you
join the dance?
‘You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to
sea!’ But the snail replied ‘Too far, too far!’ and gave a look
askance— Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would
not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could
not, would not join the dance. Would not, could not, would
not, could not, could not join the dance.
‘What matters it how far we go?’ his scaly friend replied.
‘There is another shore, you know, upon the other side. The
further off from England the nearer is to France— Then turn
not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the
dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you
join the dance?‘
‘Thank you, it’s a very interesting dance to watch,’ said
Alice, feeling very glad that it was over at last: ‘and I do so
like that curious song about the whiting!’
‘Oh, as to the whiting,’ said the Mock Turtle, ‘they—

88 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

you’ve seen them, of course?’
‘Yes,’ said Alice, ‘I’ve often seen them at dinn—’ she
checked herself hastily.
‘I don’t know where Dinn may be,’ said the Mock Turtle,
‘but if you’ve seen them so often, of course you know what
they’re like.’
‘I believe so,’ Alice replied thoughtfully. ‘They have their
tails in their mouths—and they’re all over crumbs.’
‘You’re wrong about the crumbs,’ said the Mock Turtle:
‘crumbs would all wash off in the sea. But they have their
tails in their mouths; and the reason is—’ here the Mock
Turtle yawned and shut his eyes.—‘Tell her about the reason
and all that,’ he said to the Gryphon.
‘The reason is,’ said the Gryphon, ‘that they would go
with the lobsters to the dance. So they got thrown out to
sea. So they had to fall a long way. So they got their tails
fast in their mouths. So they couldn’t get them out again.
That’s all.’
‘Thank you,’ said Alice, ‘it’s very interesting. I never
knew so much about a whiting before.’
‘I can tell you more than that, if you like,’ said the Gry-
phon. ‘Do you know why it’s called a whiting?’
‘I never thought about it,’ said Alice. ‘Why?’
‘It does the boots and shoes.’ the Gryphon replied very
solemnly.
Alice was thoroughly puzzled. ‘Does the boots and
shoes!’ she repeated in a wondering tone.
‘Why, what are your shoes done with?’ said the Gryphon.
‘I mean, what makes them so shiny?’

Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 89

 Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before
she gave her answer. ‘They’re done with blacking, I believe.’
‘Boots and shoes under the sea,’ the Gryphon went on in
a deep voice, ‘are done with a whiting. Now you know.’
‘And what are they made of?’ Alice asked in a tone of
great curiosity.
‘Soles and eels, of course,’ the Gryphon replied rather
impatiently: ‘any shrimp could have told you that.’
‘If I’d been the whiting,’ said Alice, whose thoughts were
still running on the song, ‘I’d have said to the porpoise,
‘Keep back, please: we don’t want you with us!‘
‘They were obliged to have him with them,’ the Mock
Turtle said: ‘no wise fish would go anywhere without a por-
poise.’
‘Wouldn’t it really?’ said Alice in a tone of great sur-
prise.
‘Of course not,’ said the Mock Turtle: ‘why, if a fish came
to me, and told me he was going a journey, I should say
‘With what porpoise?‘
‘Don’t you mean ‘purpose’?’ said Alice.
‘I mean what I say,’ the Mock Turtle replied in an offend-
ed tone. And the Gryphon added ‘Come, let’s hear some of
your adventures.’
‘I could tell you my adventures—beginning from this
morning,’ said Alice a little timidly: ‘but it’s no use going
back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.’
‘Explain all that,’ said the Mock Turtle.
‘No, no! The adventures first,’ said the Gryphon in an
impatient tone: ‘explanations take such a dreadful time.’

90 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

 So Alice began telling them her adventures from the time
when she first saw the White Rabbit. She was a little nervous
about it just at first, the two creatures got so close to her,
one on each side, and opened their eyes and mouths so very
wide, but she gained courage as she went on. Her listeners
were perfectly quiet till she got to the part about her repeat-
ing ’You are old, Father William,’ to the Caterpillar, and the
words all coming different, and then the Mock Turtle drew
a long breath, and said ‘That’s very curious.’
‘It’s all about as curious as it can be,’ said the Gryphon.
‘It all came different!’ the Mock Turtle repeated thought-
fully. ‘I should like to hear her try and repeat something
now. Tell her to begin.’ He looked at the Gryphon as if he
thought it had some kind of authority over Alice.
‘Stand up and repeat ‘Tis the voice of the sluggard,‘ said
the Gryphon.
‘How the creatures order one about, and make one re-
peat lessons!’ thought Alice; ‘I might as well be at school at
once.’ However, she got up, and began to repeat it, but her
head was so full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly
knew what she was saying, and the words came very queer
indeed:—

‘Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare,

“You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.”
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.’

[Note: Later editions continued as follows: When the sands

Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 91

 are all dry, he is gay as a lark, And will talk in contemptuous
tones of the Shark, But, when the tide rises and sharks are
around, His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.]

‘That’s different from what I used to say when I was a

child,’ said the Gryphon.
‘Well, I never heard it before,’ said the Mock Turtle; ‘but
it sounds uncommon nonsense.’
Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her
hands, wondering if anything would ever happen in a natu-
ral way again.
‘I should like to have it explained,’ said the Mock Turtle.
‘She can’t explain it,’ said the Gryphon hastily. ‘Go on
with the next verse.’
‘But about his toes?’ the Mock Turtle persisted. ‘How
could he turn them out with his nose, you know?’
‘It’s the first position in dancing.’ Alice said; but was
dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change
the subject.
‘Go on with the next verse,’ the Gryphon repeated impa-
tiently: ‘it begins ‘I passed by his garden.‘
Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would
all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:—

‘I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,

How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie—‘

[Note: Later editions continued as follows: The Panther took

pie-crust, and gravy, and meat, While the Owl had the dish

92 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

 as its share of the treat. When the pie was all finished, the
Owl, as a boon, Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl, And
concluded the banquet—]

‘What IS the use of repeating all that stuff,’ the Mock

Turtle interrupted, ‘if you don’t explain it as you go on? It’s
by far the most confusing thing I ever heard!’
‘Yes, I think you’d better leave off,’ said the Gryphon:
and Alice was only too glad to do so.
‘Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?’
the Gryphon went on. ‘Or would you like the Mock Turtle
to sing you a song?’
‘Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,’
Alice replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rath-
er offended tone, ‘Hm! No accounting for tastes! Sing her
‘Turtle Soup,’ will you, old fellow?’
The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice
sometimes choked with sobs, to sing this:—

‘Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,

Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Beau—ootiful Soo—oop!
Beau—ootiful Soo—oop!
Soo—oop of the e—e—evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 93

 ‘Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Beau—ootiful Soo—oop!
Beau—ootiful Soo—oop!
Soo—oop of the e—e—evening,
Beautiful, beauti—FUL SOUP!’

‘Chorus again!’ cried the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle

had just begun to repeat it, when a cry of ‘The trial’s begin-
ning!’ was heard in the distance.
‘Come on!’ cried the Gryphon, and, taking Alice by
the hand, it hurried off, without waiting for the end of the
song.
‘What trial is it?’ Alice panted as she ran; but the Gry-
phon only answered ‘Come on!’ and ran the faster, while
more and more faintly came, carried on the breeze that
followed them, the melancholy words:—

‘Soo—oop of the e—e—evening,

Beautiful, beautiful Soup!’

94 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland