Читать книгу Алиса в Стране чудес / Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland онлайн

'Please can you tell me,' said Alice timidly, 'why does your cat grin?'

'It's a Cheshire cat[7],' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'

She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice jumped. But she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, and not to her. So she took courage, and went on again:

'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know that cats could grin.'

'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of them do.'

'I don't know anything about it,' Alice said very politely.

'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.'

Alice did not like the tone of this remark. Meanwhile the cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and began to throw everything at the Duchess and the baby-saucepans, plates, and dishes.

'Oh, please, don't do it!' cried Alice in terror. 'Oh, his precious nose!'

'Mind your own business,' the Duchess said in a hoarse growl. 'Oh, don't bother me! Here! You may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said to Alice, and threw the baby at her. 'I must go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of the room. The cook threw a frying-pan after her as she went out.

Alice caught the baby with some difficulty. She carried it out into the open air.

'If I don't take this child away with me,' thought Alice, 'they will kill it in a day or two: it is murder to leave it there.'

She said the last words out loud, and the baby grunted in reply.

'Don't grunt,' said Alice; 'that's impolite.'

The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into its face. The baby sobbed (or grunted, it was impossible to say which), and they went on in silence.

'Now, what shall I do with the baby when I get it home?' said Alice when it grunted again. She looked down into its face. No mistake about it: it was a pig, and it was quite absurd for her to carry it further.

So she set the little pig down, and it trotted away quietly into the wood.

'It is a dreadfully ugly child,' she said to herself, 'but it is a handsome pig, I think.'