XII. THE LOBSTER-QUADRILLE.

Did you ever play at Croquet? There are large wooden balls, painted with different colours, that you have to roll about; and arches of wire, that you have to send them through; and great wooden mallets, with long handles, to knock the balls about with.

Now look at the picture, and you’ll see that Alice has just been playing a Game of Croquet.

“But she couldn’t play, with that great red what’s-its-name in her arms! Why, how could she hold the mallet¹?”
Alice holding a flamingo² and talking to the Duchess

Why, my dear Child, that great red what’s-its-name (its real name is “a Flamingo”) is the mallet! In this Croquet-Game, the balls were[46] live Hedge-hogs——you know a hedge-hog can roll itself up into a ball?——and the mallets were live Flamingos³!

So Alice is just resting from the Game, for a minute, to have a chat with that dear old thing, the Duchess: and of course she keeps her mallet under her arm, so as not to lose it.

“But I don’t think she was a dear old thing, one bit! To call her Baby a Pig, and to want to chop off Alice’s head!”

Oh, that was only a joke, about chopping off Alice’s head: and as to the Baby——why, it was a Pig, you know! And just look at her smile! Why, it’s wider than all Alice’s head: and yet you can only see half of it!

Well, they’d only had a very little chat, when the Queen came and took Alice away, to see the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle.

You don’t know what a Gryphon is? Well! Do you know anything? That’s the question. However, look at the picture. That creature with a red head, and red claws, and green scales, is the Gryphon. Now you know.

And the other’s the Mock Turtle. It’s got a calf’s-head, because calf’s head is used to make Mock Turtle Soup. Now you know.

“But what are they doing, going round and round Alice like that?”

Why, I thought of course you’d know that! They’re dancing a Lobster-Quadrille.

Alice, Gryphon, and Mock Turtle

And next time you meet a Gryphon and a Mock Turtle, I daresay they’ll dance it for you, if you ask them prettily⁴. Only don’t let them come quite close, or they’ll be treading on your toes, as they did on poor Alice’s.

1 mallet   

n.槌棒

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• The chairman rapped on the table twice with his mallet.主席用他的小木槌在桌上重敲了两下。

2 flamingo   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟

参考例句：

• This is the only species of flamingo in the region,easily recognized by its pink plumage.这是那个地区唯一一种火烈鸟，很容易凭粉红色的羽毛辨认出来。
• In my family,I am flamingo in the flock of pigeons.在家里，我就像一只被困在鸽笼里的火烈鸟。

3 flamingos   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟（羽毛粉红、长颈的大涉禽）( flamingo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Flamingos stand in a salt lake in Larnaca, Cyprus. 塞浦路斯的拉纳卡市一个盐湖中的火烈鸟。 来自互联网
• The research started researchers studied greater flamingos and in a bird sanctuary in southern Spain. 研究人员在西班牙南部的一个鸟类保护区对大型火烈鸟进行研究。 来自互联网

4 prettily   

adv.优美地；可爱地

参考例句：

• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back.此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。
• She pouted prettily at him.她冲他撅着嘴，样子很可爱。