Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Al-ice, "Have
you seen the Mock Tur-tle yet?"
"No," said Al-ice, "I don't know what a Mock-tur-tle is."
"It is a thing Mock Tur-tle Soup is made from," the Queen said.
"I've nev-er seen or heard of one," Alice said.
"Come on then, and he shall tell you his sto-ry," said the Queen.
As they walked off, Al-ice heard the King say in a low tone to those
whom the Queen had doomed to death, "You may all go free!" "Come, that's
a good thing," thought Al-ice, for she felt ver-y sad that all those men
must have their heads cut off.
[Illustration]
They soon came to where a Gry-phon lay fast a-sleep in the sun. (If you
don't know what it is like, look at the pic-ture.) "Up, dull thing!"
said the Queen, "and take this young la-dy to see the Mock Tur-tle. I
must go back now;" and she walked a-way and left Al-ice with the
Gry-phon. Al-ice was by no means pleased with its looks, but she thought
she would be quite as safe with it as she would be with the Queen; so
she wait-ed.
The Gry-phon sat up and rubbed its eyes; then watched the Queen till she
was out of sight; then it laughed. "What fun!" it said, half to it-self,
half to Alice.
"What is the fun?" she asked.
"Why, _she_," it said. "It's all a whim of hers; they nev-er cut off
those heads, you know. Come on."
Soon they saw the Mock Tur-tle sitting sad and lone on a ledge of rock,
and as they came near, Al-ice could hear him sigh as if his heart would
break.
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