May 18, 2004 - 5:44 p.m.

        Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; 
All mimsy were the borogoves, 
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son! 
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! 
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun 
The frumious Bandersnatch!

He took his vorpal sword in hand: 
Long time the manxome foe he sought 
So rested he by the Tumtum tree, 
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood, 
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, 
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, 
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through 
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! 
He left it dead, and with its head 
He went galumphing back.

And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? 
Come to my arms, my beamish boy! 
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! 
He chortled in his joy.

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; 
All mimsy were the borogoves, 
And the mome raths outgrabe. 


Hard to translate?
http://www.cd.chalmers.se/~jessica/Jabberwock/
                                     :French
Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux 
Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave. 
Enmîmès sont les gougebosqueux 
Et le mômerade horsgrave. 

_________-----------__---          - - -------
http://www.textlibrary.com/download/alice-wo.txt

  `Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted,
yawning.  `I'm getting tired of this.  I vote the young lady
tells us a story.'

  `I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at
the proposal.

  `Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried.  `Wake up,
Dormouse!'  And they pinched it on both sides at once.

  The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes.  `I wasn't asleep,' he
said in a hoarse, feeble voice:  `I heard every word you fellows
were saying.'

  `Tell us a story!' said the March Hare.

  `Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice.

  `And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, `or you'll be asleep
again before it's done.'

  `Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the
Dormouse began in a great hurry; `and their names were Elsie,
Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--'

  `What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great
interest in questions of eating and drinking.

  `They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a
minute or two.

  `They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently
remarked; `they'd have been ill.'

  `So they were,' said the Dormouse; `VERY ill.'

  Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways
of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went
on:  `But why did they live at the bottom of a well?'

  `Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very
earnestly.

  `I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so
I can't take more.'

  `You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter:  `it's very
easy to take MORE than nothing.'

  `Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice.

  `Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked
triumphantly.

  Alice did not quite know what to say to this:  so she helped
herself to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the
Dormouse, and repeated her question.  `Why did they live at the
bottom of a well?'

  The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and
then said, `It was a treacle-well.'

  `There's no such thing!'  Alice was beginning very angrily, but
the Hatter and the March Hare went `Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse
sulkily remarked, `If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the
story for yourself.'

  `No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; `I won't interrupt
again.  I dare say there may be ONE.'

  `One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly.  However, he
consented to go on.  `And so these three little sisters--they
were learning to draw, you know--'

  `What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.

  `Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this
time.

  `I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter:  `let's all move
one place on.'

  He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him:  the
March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather
unwillingly took the place of the March Hare.  The Hatter was the
only one who got any advantage from the change:  and Alice was a
good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset
the milk-jug into his plate.

  Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began
very cautiously:  `But I don't understand.  Where did they draw
the treacle from?'

  `You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; `so
I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh,
stupid?'

  `But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not
choosing to notice this last remark.

  `Of course they were', said the Dormouse; `--well in.'

  This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse
go on for some time without interrupting it.

  `They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and
rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; `and they drew
all manner of things--everything that begins with an M--'

  `Why with an M?' said Alice.

  `Why not?' said the March Hare.

  Alice was silent.

  The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going
off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up
again with a little shriek, and went on:  `--that begins with an
M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness--
you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever
see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?'

  `Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I
don't think--'

  `Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.

  This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear:  she got
up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep
instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her
going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that
they would call after her:  the last time she saw them, they were
trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.

  `At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she
picked her way through the wood.  `It's the stupidest tea-party I
ever was at in all my life!'

  Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a
door leading right into it.  `That's very curious!' she thought.
`But everything's curious today.  I think I may as well go in at once.'
And in she went.

  Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the
little glass table.  `Now, I'll manage better this time,'
she said to herself, and began by taking the little golden key,
and unlocking the door that led into the garden.  Then she went
to work nibbling at the mushroom (she had kept a piece of it
in her pocket) till she was about a foot high:  then she walked down
the little passage:  and THEN--she found herself at last in the
beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool fountains.




-======--=-=. ..         ........=- =-= ..=-- -==========

from 'Through the Looking-glass', Lewis Carroll, 1832-1898
I love the walrus' 'lets have a "chat"' speech.
The Walrus and the Carpenter

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright -
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done -
'It's very rude of him,' she said,
'To come and spoil the fun!'

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead -
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
'If this were only cleared away,'
They said, 'it would be grand!'

'If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year,
Do you suppose,' the Walrus said,
'That they could get it clear?'
'I doubt it,' said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

'O Oysters, come and walk with us!'
The Walrus did beseech,
'A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.'

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head -
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat -
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more -
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
 And then they rested on a rock
  Conveniently low:
   And all the little Oysters stood
   And waited in a row.

     'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
     'To talk of many things:
     Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax -
     Of cabbages - and kings -
     And why the sea is boiling hot -
     And whether pigs have wings.'

    'But wait a bit,' the Oysters cried,
   'Before we have our chat;
  For some of us are out of breath,
 And all of us are fat!'
'No hurry,' said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

'A loaf of bread,' the Walrus said,
'Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed -
 Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
  We can begin to feed.'

   'But not on us!' the Oysters cried,
     Turning a little blue.
     'After such kindness, that would be
      A dismal thing to do!'
'The night is fine,' the Walrus said.
'Do you admire the view?

 It was so kind of you to come!
  And you are very nice!'
The Carpenter said nothing but
'Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf -
I've had to ask you twice!'

 'It seems a shame,' the Walrus said,
  'To play them such a trick,
    After we've brought them out so far,
     And made them trot so quick!'
The Carpenter said nothing but
'The butter's spread too thick!'

 'I weep for you,' the Walrus said:
  'I deeply sympathize.'
    With sobs and tears he sorted out
     Those of the largest size,
       Holding his pocket-handkerchief
      Before his streaming eyes.

'O Oysters,' said the Carpenter,
'You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none -
And this was scarcely odd, because
         They'd eaten every one.

 
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