Alice glanced nervously along the table, as she walked up the large
hall, and noticed that there were about fifty quests, of all kinds:
some were animals, some birds, and there were even a few flowers
among them. `I'm glad they've come without waiting to be asked,' she
thought: `I should never have known who were the right people to
invite!'
There were three chairs at the head of the table; the Red and White
Queens had already taken two of them, but the middle one was empty.
Alice sat down in it, rather uncomfortable in the silence, and
longing for some one to speak.
At last the Red Queen began. `You've missed the soup and fish,'
she said. `Put on the joint!' And the waiters set a leg of mutton
before Alice, who looked at it rather anxiously, as she had never had
to carve a joint before.
`You look a little shy; let me introduce you to that leg of
mutton,' said the Red Queen. `Alice -- Mutton; Mutton -- Alice.' The
leg of mutton got up in the dish and made a little bow to Alice; and
Alice returned the bow, not knowing whether to be frightened or
amused.
`May I give you a slice?' she said, taking up the knife and fork,
and looking from one Queen to the other.
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