Алиса в Зазеркалье / Through the Looking-glass, and What Alice Found There

Kitty, dear, let’s pretend …”

“Let’s pretend …” was Alice’s favourite phrase.

“Let’s pretend that you’re the Red Queen! I think if you sit like this, you’ll look exactly like her. Try, dear!” And Alice took the Red Queen and showed it to the kitten. But the kitten couldn’t sit properly. In order to punish it, Alice held it up to the Looking-glass. “If you’re not good,” she said, “I’ll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like that? Would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they would give you milk there.

Let’s pretend we can find a way into it, Kitty. Look, it’s turning into a sort of mist! It will be easy to get through …”

In another moment Alice was through the glass, and jumped down into the Looking-glass room.

She began looking about. She noticed some chessmen on the floor and thought that it wasn’t very tidy there. But in another moment, she saw that they were alive! The chessmen were walking about!

“Here are the Red King and the Red Queen,” Alice whispered, “and there are the White King and the White Queen … I don’t think they can hear me!” she went on, as she put her head closer down.

“And I’m sure they can’t see me. I feel as if I were invisible …”

Something began squeaking on the table behind Alice, and she turned her head and saw that one of the White Pawns fell down.

“It is the voice of my child!” the White Queen cried out. “My dear Lily!”

Alice wanted to help the White Queen, and she picked up the Queen and set her on the table next to her noisy little daughter.

That frightened the White Queen and for a minute or two she could do nothing but hug the little Lily in silence. But then she cried, “Mind the volcano!”[4 - Mind the volcano! – Берегись вулкана!]

“What volcano?” said the White King.

“It blew me up,” said the White Queen, who was still frightened.

Alice watched the White King.

She said, “I will help you!” She picked him up very gently, and lifted him. But, before she put him on the table, she began cleaning him—he was very dirty because of ashes. Of course, he was frightened too—he was hanging in the air and something was cleaning him!

Alice set him on the table near the Queen. When the White King recovered, he started talking to the Queen in a frightened whisper. Alice could barely hear what they were saying.