Through the Looking Glass
after the eponymous tale by L. Carroll
Part One
It was a quiet winter evening
Fluffy, soft snow was falling and it seemed that there, behind the window, was as cosy and good as here, in the room.
Alice was sitting in the big armchair, and little Kitty was having real fun hunting a wool ball across the floor.
Oh, Kitty, how wicked you are!
Listen up, Kitty, can you play chess?
Let's pretend we're kings and queens! You'll be Black Queen and I'll be all the other kings and queens at the same time.
Oh, Kitty, if only you'd sit still for a moment! I will tell you about the house in the looking glass.
First, this room which begins right behind the glass is exactly the same as our living-room.
Only there everything is the other way...
I wonder if they'd give you milk in there? However, I don't know whether one can drink looking-glass milk.
Perhaps it will harm you, Kitty?
Oh, Kitty, how nice it would be to get through into the Looking-glass! Let's pretend there's a way of getting through.
Then Alice found herself on the mantelpiece, although she didn't notice how she had got there.
The room here was not at all so ordinary as it seemed from other side of the looking glass.
Oh, what is it?
They probably don't see me.
It seems I've suddenly become invisible.
That's my baby!
Oh, Lily my kitten! Lily, my royal baby!
- Mind the volcano! - What volcano?
The one that blew me up here. Mind you come up the regular way.
You'll be crawling all day like this... Let me help you, all right?
The King said nothing in reply. He, clearly, could neither see nor hear Alice.
- My dear, I was so scared that I turned cold to the very ends of my... whiskers! - You haven't got any whiskers!
- The horror of that moment, I shall never, never forget! - You will, if you don't write it down.
There Alice had a sudden thought: she took hold of the end of the pencil and began to write herself.
The White Knight is sliding down the poker...
But you wanted to write something entirely different.
Why, of course, - this is a Looking-glass book! And if I hold it up to a glass, I will be able to read it.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
Phew, it seems very pretty, but it's rather hard to understand!
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.
Why am I sitting? I must make haste or I won't get to see all that is here.
Saying this, Alice ran down the stairs. Or, at least, it wasn't exactly running, but - how to explain it? -
She floated gently down without even touching the stairs with her feet.
Moving in this manner was unusual yet wonderfully enjoyable.
If I climb that hill, I will see the whole garden at once. And here's a path that leads straight up...
I suppose — no, it doesn't!
Wherever Alice went, wherever she turned, every time she found herself at the house.
This house again! How fed up I am with it - it keeps getting under my feet!
So, resolutely turning her back upon the house, she set out once more down the path, determined to keep straight on till she got to the hill.
And the hill was quite near - near enough to touch with her hand.
How do I get to this hill? Oh, Lily, I wish you all could talk!
We can talk, when there's anybody worth talking to.
And can all the flowers here talk?
As well as you can. And a great deal louder.
It's just that we think it awkward for us to speak first.
- Are there other people in the garden besides me? - There is one flower that has the same awkward shape as you,
and that can move about like you. - She's coming! I hear her footsteps!
Alice looked around and saw the Black Queen. Of course, she found the flowers interesting enough, but could they compare with a real queen?
I hear you saying: "like fairy-tale living" But judge for yourselves: is that easily lived?
You can't do a thing here without being cautious, Because of uncertainly and of obscurity, And lack of knowledge and unpleasantness...
Oh, it's so complicated! And that's where the fun is! You can't take one step here without taking care.
Well, who hasn't dreamed? I, also, have dreamed That I'd enter a story, at least while I slept.
And enter I have, and the story's beginning Seems very confusing, so very confusing It all seems to me.