Chapter 12
The trial collapses and Alice wakes
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1 Alice has grown enormous and forgotten it.
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2 Alice forgets how big she has grown and jumps up, and her skirt tips the jury-box over.
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3 Giant Alice gently sets the ruffled little jurors back on their benches one by one
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4 The trial stops dead.
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5 In her haste, the giant Alice has put Bill the Lizard back into the jury-box head downwards.
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6 Two slates lie side by side on the jury-box ledge after the upset.
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7 Giant Alice towers over the court and tells the small King she knows nothing whatever
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8 Bowing low, the White Rabbit frowns a warning at the King over Alice's evidence
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9 The King of Hearts murmurs important–unimportant, trying which word sounds best
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10 Two jurors write opposite verdicts on their slates: important and unimportant
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11 The King reads Rule Forty-two: all persons more than a mile high must leave the court
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12 After the King reads Rule Forty-two, the whole court turns silently to giant Alice
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13 Over giant Alice's shoulder, the tiny King and Queen of Hearts look up at her
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14 Huge Alice tells the King that the oldest rule ought to be Number One
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15 Alice has just told him his "oldest rule" ought to be Number One, and the King of Hearts turns pale.
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16 The White Rabbit hops forward with a folded paper just as the King calls for a verdict
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17 In the White Rabbit's paws, the blank paper found as evidence unfolds halfway.
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18 The animal jurors look up, relieved, as the King says the Knave imitated another hand
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19 The chained Knave of Hearts protests that no name is signed under the verses
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20 The whole court applauds the King's absurd "clever" reasoning.
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21 Grown huge, Alice leans over the packed benches and flings out an open hand toward the throne.
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22 At the foot of the throne, the White Rabbit, now in his spectacles, holds up the sheet of verses.
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23 In spectacles, the White Rabbit solemnly reads the nonsense verses aloud
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24 The White Rabbit reads the mysterious verses at the foot of the dais.
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25 From above: the dish of jam tarts sits untouched as the court argues over the verses
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26 The White Rabbit lowers the sheet after the last line of the nonsense verses.
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27 Alice cuts off the King and offers sixpence to any juror who can explain the verses
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28 A furry juror crams Alice's scornful remark onto a slate word for word
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29 The King of Hearts hunches over the sheet of verses spread on his knee.
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30 Asked if he can swim, the chained Knave turns edge-on: he is only thin cardboard
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31 Alice leans over the court and quotes the next line of the verses to the muttering King
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32 The King of Hearts points in triumph at the dish of tarts on the table
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33 The Queen of Hearts shouts "Never!" and hurls an inkstand across the court at the Lizard.
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34 Splashed by the Queen's inkstand, Bill writes on his slate with the dripping ink
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35 The King's pun falls flat, and at his offended "It's a pun!" the whole court laughs on command.
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36 The Queen cuts the King off: sentence first, verdict afterwards
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37 The purple-faced Queen of Hearts shakes her fist up at giant Alice: hold your tongue
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38 The Queen of Hearts shrieks "Off with her head!" down the long crimson aisle of the court.
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39 Back at full size, Alice scornfully calls the court nothing but a pack of cards
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40 The whole pack of cards rises and whirls down on Alice like a gust of autumn leaves.
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41 Alice wakes on the sunlit bank with her head in her sister's lap.
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42 On the shady bank, Alice's sister kisses her forehead before sending her in to tea
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43 Alice runs across the sunny daisy field toward home, still full of her wonderful dream.
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44 Alice has run in to tea, and her elder sister sits alone on the bank with her head on her hand.
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45 In her sunset half-dream, the sister sees little Alice's hands clasped on her knee
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46 At sunset Alice's sister sits alone on the bank with her eyes closed.
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47 Alone at sunset, Alice's sister keeps her eyes closed to hold on to Wonderland
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48 Golden evening countryside: grass, reeds, a shepherd boy, a farm-yard and cattle
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49 Alone on the bank at sunset, Alice's sister rests her cheek in her hand.
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50 The dream is over and the day is ending.
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