the king and queen of hearts were seated on their throne when they arrived with a great crowd assembled about them all sorts of little birds and beasts as well as the whole pack of cards the knave was standing before them in chains with a soldier on each side to guard him and near the king was the white rabbit with a trumpet in one hand and a scroll of parchment in the other in the very middle of the court was a table with a large dish of tarts upon it they looked so good that it made alice quite hungry to look at them i wish theyd get the trial done she thought and hand round the refreshments but there seemed to be no chance of this so she began looking at everything about her to pass away the time

alice had never been in a court of justice before but she had read about them in books and she was quite pleased to find that she knew the name of nearly everything there thats the judge she said to herself because of his great wig

the judge by the way was the king and as he wore his crown over the wig look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he did it he did not look at all comfortable and it was certainly not becoming

and thats the jury box thought alice and those twelve creatures she was obliged to say creatures you see because some of them were animals and some were birds i suppose they are the jurors she said this last word two or three times over to herself being rather proud of it for she thought and rightly too that very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all however jury men would have done just as well

the twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates what are they doing alice whispered to the gryphon they cant have anything to put down yet before the trials begun

theyre putting down their names the gryphon whispered in reply for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial

stupid things alice began in a loud indignant voice but she stopped hastily for the white rabbit cried out silence in the court and the king put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round to make out who was talking

alice could see as well as if she were looking over their shoulders that all the jurors were writing down stupid things on their slates and she could even make out that one of them didnt know how to spell stupid and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him a nice muddle their slatesll be in before the trials over thought alice

one of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked this of course alice could not stand and she went round the court and got behind him and very soon found an opportunity of taking it away she did it so quickly that the poor little juror it was bill the lizard could not make out at all what had become of it so after hunting all about for it he was obliged to write with one finger for the rest of the day and this was of very little use as it left no mark on the slate

herald read the accusation said the king

on this the white rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet and then unrolled the parchment scroll and read as follows 

the queen of hearts she made some tarts all on a summer day the knave of hearts he stole those tarts and took them quite away

consider your verdict the king said to the jury

not yet not yet the rabbit hastily interrupted theres a great deal to come before that

call the first witness said the king and the white rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet and called out first witness

the first witness was the hatter he came in with a teacup in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in the other i beg pardon your majesty he began for bringing these in but i hadnt quite finished my tea when i was sent for

you ought to have finished said the king when did you begin

the hatter looked at the march hare who had followed him into the court arm in arm with the dormouse fourteenth of march i think it was he said

fifteenth said the march hare

sixteenth added the dormouse

write that down the king said to the jury and the jury eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates and then added them up and reduced the answer to shillings and pence

take off your hat the king said to the hatter

it isnt mine said the hatter

stolen the king exclaimed turning to the jury who instantly made a memorandum of the fact

i keep them to sell the hatter added as an explanation ive none of my own im a hatter

here the queen put on her spectacles and began staring at the hatter who turned pale and fidgeted

give your evidence said the king and dont be nervous or ill have you executed on the spot

this did not seem to encourage the witness at all he kept shifting form one foot to the other looking uneasily at the queen and in his confusion he bit a large piece out of his teacup instead of the bread and butter

just at this moment alice felt a very curious sensation which puzzled her a good deal until she made out what it was she was beginning to grow larger again and she thought at first she would get up and leave the court but on second thoughts she decided to remain where she was as long as there was room for her

i wish you wouldnt squeeze so said the dormouse who was sitting next to her i can hardly breathe

i cant help it said alice very meekly im growing

youve no right to grow here said the dormouse

dont talk nonsense said alice more boldly you know youre growing too

yes but i grow at a reasonable pace said the dormouse not in that ridiculous fashion and he got up very sulkily and crossed over to the other side of the court

all this time the queen had never left off staring at the hatter and just as the dormouse crossed the court she said to one of the officers of the court bring me the list of the singers in the last concert on which the wretched hatter trembled so that he shook both his shoes off

give your evidence the king repeated angrily or ill have you executed whether youre nervous or not

im a poor man your majesty the hatter began in a trembling voice  and i hadnt begun my tea not above a week or so and what with the bread and butter getting so thin and the twinkling of the tea 

the twinkling of the what said the king

it began with the tea the hatter replied

of course twinkling begins with a t said the king sharply do you take me for a dunce go on

im a poor man the hatter went on and most things twinkled after that only the march hare said 

i didnt said the hatter

i deny it said the king leave out that part

well at any rate the dormouse said  the hatter went on looking anxiously round to see if he would deny it too but the dormouse denied nothing being fast asleep

after that continued the hatter i cut some more bread  and butter 

but what did the dormouse say one of the jury asked

that i cant remember said the hatter

you must remember remarked the king or ill have you executed

the miserable hatter dropped his teacup and bread and butter and went down on one knee im a poor man your majesty he began

youre a very poor speaker said the king

here one of the guinea pigs cheered and was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court as that is rather a hard word i will just explain to you how it was done they had a large canvas bag which tied up at the mouth with strings into this they slipped the guinea pig head first and then sat upon it

im glad ive seen that done thought alice ive so often read in the newspapers at the end of trials there was some attempts at applause which was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court and i never understood what it meant till now

if thats all you know about it you may stand down continued the king

i cant go no lower said the hatter im on the floor as it is

then you may sit down the king replied

here the other guinea pig cheered and was suppressed

come that finished the guinea pigs thought alice now we shall get on better

id rather finish my tea said the hatter with an anxious look at the queen who was reading the list of singers

you may go said the king and the hatter hurriedly left the court without even waiting to put his shoes on

 and just take his head off outside the queen added to one of the officers but the hatter was out of sight before the officer could get to the door

call the next witness said the king

the next witness was the duchesss cook she carried the pepper box in her hand and alice guessed who it was even before she got into the court by the way the people near the door began sneezing all at once

give your evidence said the king

shant said the cook

the king looked anxiously at the white rabbit who said in a low voice your majesty must cross examine this witness

well if i must i must the king said with a melancholy air and after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till his eyes were nearly out of sight he said in a deep voice what are tarts made of

pepper mostly said the cook

treacle said a sleepy voice behind her

collar that dormouse the queen shrieked out behead that dormouse turn that dormouse out of court suppress him pinch him off with his whiskers

for some minutes the whole court was in confusion getting the dormouse turned out and by the time they had settled down again the cook had disappeared

never mind said the king with an air of great relief call the next witness and he added in an undertone to the queen really my dear you must cross examine the next witness it quite makes my forehead ache

alice watched the white rabbit as he fumbled over the list feeling very curious to see what the next witness would be like  for they havent got much evidence yet she said to herself imagine her surprise when the white rabbit read out at the top of his shrill little voice the name alice