"I am so happy to see you again!" the Duchess (a very important woman) said. She put her arm into Alice’s arm. They walked together. Alice was happy because the Duchess was kind now. Alice thought, "Maybe the pepper in the kitchen made her angry before."
Alice thought about many things. She thought about food. She thought that sour food makes people sour. She thought that sweet food makes children sweet. Alice wanted to tell the world about this rule.
The Duchess spoke into Alice’s ear. "You are thinking, my dear," the Duchess said. "Everything has a moral (a lesson about what is right or wrong)." The Duchess pushed her face close to Alice. Alice did not like this because the Duchess was very ugly. Also, the Duchess had a very sharp chin. She rested her chin on Alice’s shoulder.
The Duchess said, "Love makes the world go round." Then the Duchess said, "Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves." Alice thought the Duchess looked for a moral in everything.
Suddenly, the Duchess stopped talking. Her arm began to shake. Alice looked up and saw the Queen of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts looked very angry. The Queen of Hearts said to the Duchess, "Go away now or I will cut off your head!" The Duchess ran away quickly.
The Queen of Hearts said to Alice, "Let us go back to the game." Alice was afraid, so she followed the Queen of Hearts. The game continued for a while. The Queen of Hearts argued with everyone. She shouted, "Off with his head!" many times.
Soon, all the players were in prison. Only the King, the Queen, and Alice were left. The Queen of Hearts stopped the game. She asked Alice, "Do you know the Mock Turtle?" Alice said, "No, I do not know what a Mock Turtle is."
The Queen of Hearts said, "It is the animal for Mock Turtle soup. Come with me." As they walked, the King of Hearts spoke to the prisoners. He whispered, "You are all pardoned (forgiven and free to go)." Alice was happy because no one had to die.
They found a Gryphon (a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle). The Gryphon was sleeping in the sun. The Queen of Hearts told the Gryphon to take Alice to the Mock Turtle. Then the Queen of Hearts walked away.
The Gryphon woke up. He watched the Queen of Hearts leave. Then the Gryphon laughed. "What is the fun?" Alice asked. The Gryphon said, "The Queen of Hearts. She never really kills anyone. It is only her fancy."
Alice and the Gryphon walked to a rock. They saw the Mock Turtle. He sat alone and he looked very sad. He was crying. "Why is he sad?" Alice asked. The Gryphon said, "He is not really sad. He only likes to feel sad."
The Mock Turtle looked at them with eyes full of tears. The Gryphon said, "This young lady wants to know your story." The Mock Turtle said, "Sit down. Do not speak until I finish." They sat in silence for a long time.
"Once," the Mock Turtle said with a sigh, "I was a real Turtle." He cried and the Gryphon made strange noises. Alice wanted to leave, but she waited. The Mock Turtle said he went to school in the sea when he was little.
The Mock Turtle said his teacher was an old Turtle. "We called him Tortoise," the Mock Turtle said. Alice asked, "Why did you call him Tortoise if he was a Turtle?" The Mock Turtle was angry. "We called him Tortoise because he taught us!" he shouted.
The Mock Turtle talked about his school. He said it was a very good school. He studied French and music. He also studied "Reeling and Writhing." Alice thought he meant Reading and Writing.
The Mock Turtle said he studied different types of math. He called them "Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision." Alice did not know the word "Uglification." The Gryphon was surprised. "You know what it is to make things pretty," the Gryphon said. "Uglification is to make things ugly!"
Alice asked how many hours he studied. The Mock Turtle said, "Ten hours the first day. Nine hours the next day. The hours became less every day." Alice thought this was very strange. The Gryphon said, "That is why they are called lessons. They lessen every day."
Alice asked about the eleventh day. The Mock Turtle said it was a holiday. Then the Gryphon said, "That is enough about school. Tell her about the games now."