Through the looking glass and what Alice found there . hould see em come round me ofa Saturday night, Humpty Dumpty went on,wagging his head gravely from side to side,for to get their wages, you know. (Alice didnt venture to ask what he paidthem with ; and so you see I cant tell you.) 126 HUMPTY DUMPTY. You seem very clever at explaining words,Sir, said Alice. Would you kindly tell me themeaning of the poem called Jabberwocky ? Lets hear it. said Humpty Dumpty. Ican explain all the poems that ever were in-vented--and a good many that havent beeninvented just yet. This sounded very hopeful, so
Through the looking glass and what Alice found there . hould see em come round me ofa Saturday night, Humpty Dumpty went on,wagging his head gravely from side to side,for to get their wages, you know. (Alice didnt venture to ask what he paidthem with ; and so you see I cant tell you.) 126 HUMPTY DUMPTY. You seem very clever at explaining words,Sir, said Alice. Would you kindly tell me themeaning of the poem called Jabberwocky ? Lets hear it. said Humpty Dumpty. Ican explain all the poems that ever were in-vented--and a good many that havent beeninvented just yet. This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeatedthe first verse :- Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. i Thats enough to begin with, HumptyDumpty interrupted: there are plenty of hardwords there. Brillig means four oclock in theafternoon--the time when you begin broilingthings for dinner. Thatll do very well, said Alice: andslithy! Well, slitJty means lithe and slimy. HUMPTY DUMPTY - ...ijr, 127. u Lithe is the same as active. You see itslike a portmanteau--there are two meaningspacked up into one word. 128 HUMPTY DUMPTY. I see it now, Alice remarked thoughtfully : and what are toves ? Well, toves7 are something like badgers-they re something like lizards—and they resomething like corkscrews. o They must be very curious-looking creatures. They are that, said Humpty Dumpty: also they make their nests under sun-dials-also they live on cheese. And whats to gyre and to gimble? To gyre is to go round and round likea gyroscope. To gimble is to make holes likea gimblet. And the wabe is the grass-plot round asun-dial, I suppose ? said Alice, surprised ather own ingenuity. Of course it is. Its called wabe, youknow, because it goes a long way before it,and a long way behind it- And a long way beyond it on each side,Alice added. Exactly so. Well then, mimsy is flimsy HUMPTY DUMPTY. 129 and miserable (theres another portmanteau fory
Size: 1434px × 1742px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorcarrolllewis18321898, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
