The King and the Queen were sitting on their throne. A lot of little birds and animals were standing around the throne. All the other cards of the pack were there too.

Chapter Fifteen

DID HE STEAL THE TARTS?

The King and the Queen were sitting on their throne. A lot of little birds and animals were standing around the throne. All the other cards of the pack were there too.

The Knave of Hearts was standing before them in chains with a soldier on each side.

Near the throne stood the White Rabbit with some long paper in its hand. In the middle of the courtroom there was a table with a dish of tarts on it. The tarts looked so good that Alice became quite hungry. “I hope they will soon finish the trial and everybody will get a tart,” she thought.

Alice was in a courtroom for the first time. But she knew all about trials from books. She thought:

“I am so glad I know the name of everything here[1]. That is the judge because he has a great wig on his head[2]. Oh, the judge is the King. And those twelve birds and animals are jurymen[3]. I am sure, that very few little girls know the word ‘juryman’.”

The twelve jurymen were writing something on pieces of paper.

“What are they writing?” asked Alice, “The trial is only beginning.”

A card, which was standing near Alice answered:

“They are writing their names. They are afraid that they will forget them before the end of the trial.”

“Stupid things!” said Alice. And she saw that all the jurymen wrote the words ‘Stupid things’ on their pieces of paper.

“Read the accusation!” said the King.

The White Rabbit began to read:

“The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,

All on a a summer day,

The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,

And took them quite away.”

“Read the sentence![4]” the King said to the Jurymen.

“It is too early!” said the Rabbit, “We must call the witnesses first.”

Suddenly Alice began to grow larger again. At first she wanted to get up and go away. Then she thought:

“No, I shall stay and see the trial to the end.”

One of the witnesses was the cook of the Duchess. She had a pepper box in her hand. When she came to the door, the people in the courtroom began to sneeze at once.

“Tell us what you know,” said the King.

“I shall not![5]” said the cook.

Then the King said: “What do you put into tarts?”

“Pepper,” answered the cook.

“Sugar,” said a voice behind her.

“Who is making a noise in the courtroom?” shouted the Queen. “Oh, it’s the Mouse! Catch that Mouse! Off with its head!”

Everybody tried to catch the Mouse. The noise in the courtroom lasted for a long time. When it was over there was no Mouse and no cook in the courtroom.

“Never mind![6]” said the King. “Call the next witness.”

“Who will be the next witness?” thought Alice.

Suddenly the White Rabbit cried out the name: “Alice!”

[1] I am so glad I know the name of everything here. — Я так рада, что я знаю, как называется все, что здесь находится.

[2] That is the judge because he has a great wig on his head. — Это судья, потому что у него на голове большой парик.

[3] jurymen — присяжные; в зарубежных странах участники заседания, избирающиеся из представителей сословий; они выносят решения о виновности или невиновности обвиняемого

[4] Read the sentence! — Огласите (букв. Прочтите) приговор!

[5] I shall not (tell)! — He скажу!

[6] Never mind! — He беда!

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04