Алиса в Стране чудес / Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - страница 12

'You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished.

Alice was not much surprised at this. While she was looking at the place where the cat was, it suddenly appeared again.

'And what became of the baby?' said the Cat. 'I forgot to ask.'

'It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said.

'Of course,' said the Cat, and vanished again.

Alice waited a little, but the Cat did not appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in which the March Hare lived.

'I saw hatters,' she said to herself; 'the March Hare is more interesting.'

As she said this, she looked up, and there was the Cat again. It was sitting on a branch of a tree.

'Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat.

'I said pig,' replied Alice; 'can you appear and vanish not so fast, please?'

'All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly. It began with the end of the tail, and ended with the grin. Its grin remained some time.

'Well! I saw a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; 'but a grin without a cat! How curious!'

She went farther and she saw the house of the March Hare. The chimneys were like ears and the roof was thatched with fur. It was a large house, and she ate a bit of the mushroom, and raised herself to about two feet high.

There was a table under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep. The March Hare and the Hatter were using it as a cushion. They were resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head.

'Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; 'but it's asleep, so, I suppose it doesn't mind.'

The table was large, but they were sitting together at one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice.

'There's plenty of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.

'Have some wine,' the March Hare said.

Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea.

'I don't see any wine,' she remarked.

'There isn't any,' said the March Hare.

'Why do you offer? It isn't very polite of you,' said Alice angrily.

'It isn't very polite of you to sit down here: nobody invited you,' said the March Hare.

'I didn't know it was your table,' said Alice; 'there are many cups on it.'