Алиса в зазеркалье
Queen Alice
‘Inourcountry,’sheremarked,‘there’sonlyonedayatatime.’
TheRedQueensaid,‘That’sapoorthinwayofdoingthings.Nowhere,wemostlyhavedaysandnightstwoorthreeatatime,andsometimesinthewinterwetakeasmanyasfivenightstogether—forwarmth,youknow.’
‘Arefivenightswarmerthanonenight,then?’Aliceventuredtoask.
‘Fivetimesaswarm,ofcourse.’
‘Buttheyshouldbefivetimesascold,bythesamerule—’
‘Justso!’criedtheRedQueen.‘Fivetimesaswarm,andfivetimesascold—justasI’mfivetimesasrichasyouare,andfivetimesasclever!’
Alicesighedandgaveitup.‘It’sexactlylikeariddlewithnoanswer!’shethought.
‘HumptyDumptysawittoo,’theWhiteQueenwentoninalowvoice,moreasifsheweretalkingtoherself.‘Hecametothedoorwithacorkscrewinhishand—’
‘Whatdidhewant?’saidtheRedQueen.
‘Hesaidhewouldcomein,’theWhiteQueenwenton,‘becausehewaslookingforahippopotamus.Now,asithappened,therewasn’tsuchathinginthehouse,thatmorning.’
‘Istheregenerally?’Aliceaskedinanastonishedtone.
‘Well,onlyonThursdays,’saidtheQueen.
‘Iknowwhathecamefor,’saidAlice:‘hewantedtopunishthefish,because—’
HeretheWhiteQueenbeganagain.‘Itwassuchathunderstorm,youcan’tthink!’(Shenevercould,youknow,’saidtheRedQueen.)