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

And she began to remember the children she knew, who might be good pigs.

'But how to change them?'

Suddenly she saw the Cheshire Cat. The Cat was sitting on a bough of a tree. The Cat grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: but it had very long claws and many teeth.

'Cheshire Cat,' she began, rather timidly, and the Cat only grinned a little wider. 'Can you tell me, please, where to go?'

'That depends on where you want to go,' said the Cat.

'I don't care where,' said Alice.

'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

'I want to get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.

'Oh, you will do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'

Alice tried another question.

'What people live here?'

'In this direction,' the Cat said, 'lives a Hatter: and in that direction, lives a March Hare. Visit them: they're both mad.'

'But I don't want to see mad people,' Alice remarked.

'Oh, we're all mad here,' said the Cat. 'I'm mad. You're mad.'

'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

'You must be,' said the Cat, 'you are here.'

'And how do you know that you're mad?' she went on.

'A dog is not mad,' said the Cat, 'Do you believe that?'

'I suppose so,' said Alice.

'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad. Do you play croquet with the Queen today?'

'With pleasure,' said Alice, 'but I do not have an invitation.'

'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.'