Алиса в Стране чудес / Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Алиса в Зазеркалье / Through the Looking-glass, and What Alice Found There

The main difficulty for Alice was to[128 - The main difficulty for Alice was to… – Самым трудным для Алисы было…] use her flamingo: when she was going to hit the hedgehog with its head, it looked up in her face with such a puzzled expression that she began laughing; when she was ready to begin again the hedgehog was crawling away. So Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was really a very difficult game.

The players all played at once without waiting for each other, quarrelling all the time, and fighting for the hedgehogs; very soon the Queen became furious and shouted “Off with his head!” or “Off with her head!” every minute.

Alice began thinking how to get away. Suddenly she noticed something curious in the air. Soon she understood it was a grin of the Cheshire Cat.

“How are you getting on?[129 - How are you getting on? – Как идут дела?]” said the Cat as soon as his mouth appeared.

Alice waited till the whole head appeared, put down her flamingo, and began to tell the Cat about the game.

“How do you like the Queen?” said the Cat in a low voice.

“Not at all,” said Alice: “she’s so – ” Just then she noticed that the Queen was behind her, listening: so she went on, “ – likely to win,[131 - she’s so… likely to win… – она настолько… вероятно, выиграет…] that it’s not interesting to finish the game.

The Queen smiled and moved on.

“Who ARE you talking to?” said the King, coming up to Alice, and looking at the Cat’s head with great curiosity.

“It’s a friend of mine[132 - It’s a friend of mine – Это один из моих друзей] – a Cheshire Cat,” said Alice: “allow me to introduce it.”

“I don’t like the look of it,” said the King: “however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.

“I don’t,” the Cat remarked.

“Don’t be rude,” said the King, “and don’t look at me like that!” He stood behind Alice as he spoke.

“A cat may look at a king,[133 - A cat may look at a king – Кошкам разрешается смотреть на королей]” said Alice. “I’ve read that in some book, but I don’t remember where.