--- title: Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The Mock Turtle sobs so hard he can't speak, and the Gryphon thumps him on --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/) / Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1… # Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise) Lesson 19 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 20 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/0/) — The Mock Turtle sobs so hard he can't speak, and the Gryphon thumps him on the back as if he had a bone stuck in his throat. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/1/) — Then the two creatures excitedly explain the Lobster Quadrille, a seaside dance: two lines of seals, turtles and salmon, each with a lobster for a partner — and then you throw the lobsters as far out to sea as you can! - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/2/) — They jump about like mad things while explaining, then suddenly sit down sadly and quietly. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/3/) — To show Alice, they dance round and round her, treading on her toes, while the Mock Turtle sings, slowly and sadly, «Will you walk a little faster?» said a whiting to a snail. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/4/) — Alice is very careful now. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/6/) — The Mock Turtle thinks «Dinn» must be a place. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/7/) — The Gryphon explains, very seriously, why whitings have their tails in their mouths: they were thrown out to sea with the lobsters, fell a long way, and their tails got stuck. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/11/) — «I mean what I say,» answers the Mock Turtle, offended — the very words that tangled Alice up at the tea-party. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/12/) — The Gryphon thumps the sobbing Mock Turtle: «Same as if he had a bone in his throat.» - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/13/) — Alice begins «I once tasted—» but checks herself and says «No, never» — she won't tell a turtle she has eaten lobster. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/14/) — A quadrille is an old-fashioned dance for couples, done in steps called «figures»; the Lobster Quadrille is Carroll's made-up sea version. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/15/) — The dance: two lines on the sea-shore (seals, turtles, salmon and so on), clear the jelly-fish out of the way, advance twice, each with a lobster as partner, set to partners, change lobsters, retire. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/16/) — Then «you throw the— The lobsters!— as far out to sea as you can», swim after them, turn a somersault, change lobsters again, and come back to land: «that's all the first figure»; to show Alice they dance it with no lobsters at all: «We can do without lobsters, you know.» - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/17/) — The song: «"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/20/) — «Shingle» is a beach of small round pebbles; «askance» means sideways, with doubt; «a whiting» is a small sea fish. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/21/) — Alice starts «I've often seen them at dinn—» (dinner) and stops; the Mock Turtle says «I don't know where Dinn may be». - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/22/) — Cooks in Alice's time served whiting curled with the tail in its mouth and covered in breadcrumbs; the Mock Turtle says the crumbs «would all wash off in the sea». - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/23/) — The Gryphon's reason: they went with the lobsters to the dance, got thrown out to sea, fell a long way, got their tails fast in their mouths, and couldn't get them out again. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/24/) — «It does the boots and shoes»: whiting is also an old word for a white chalk powder used for cleaning; shoes on land are «done with blacking», black polish. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/26/) — «No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise» — porpoise (a sea animal like a small dolphin) sounds like purpose (a reason); «I mean what I say,» says the Mock Turtle; Alice, still thinking of the song, says that if she had been the whiting she would have told the porpoise «Keep back, please: we don't want you with us!» - ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter IX, part 2: The Mock Turtle's Story (school under the sea)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/18-alice-the-mock-turtles-story-2/) - next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 2: The Lobster Quadrille (poems gone wrong and Beautiful Soup)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)