--- title: Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 2: The Lobster Quadrille (poems gone wrong and Beautiful Soup) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 2: The Lobster Quadrille (poems gone wrong and Beautiful Soup)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Now the creatures want Alice's adventures. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/) [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 2… # Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 2: The Lobster Quadrille (poems gone wrong and Beautiful Soup) Lesson 20 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 22 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/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/0/) — Now the creatures want Alice's adventures. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/1/) — She says she can only tell them from this morning: «it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then». - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/2/) — She starts with the White Rabbit, nervous at first with the two big creatures pressing close on each side, but braver as she goes on. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/3/) — When she gets to the part where «You are old, Father William» came out all wrong for the Caterpillar, the Mock Turtle wants to hear her try again. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/4/) — The Gryphon orders her to stand up and recite «'Tis the voice of the sluggard». - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/5/) — «How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!» thinks Alice — it's like being at school. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/6/) — Her head is so full of the Lobster Quadrille that the poem comes out as nonsense about a lobster who has been «baked too brown» and must «sugar his hair». - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/8/) — Alice sits with her face in her hands, wondering if anything will ever happen in a natural way again. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/9/) — The next verse goes wrong too, about an Owl and a Panther sharing a pie, and they let her stop. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/10/) — Alice asks for a song instead, and the Mock Turtle, choking with sobs, sings «Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen!» — a sad song about soup, from a creature that soup is made of. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/11/) — In the middle of the chorus a cry rings out: «The trial's beginning!» The Gryphon grabs Alice's hand and runs, only ever answering «Come on!», while the sad words «Beautiful, beautiful Soup!» fade away behind them on the breeze. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/12/) — Alice: «I could tell you my adventures—beginning from this morning... but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.» - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/13/) — The Mock Turtle says «Explain all that»; the Gryphon says «No, no! - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/14/) — The adventures first: explanations take such a dreadful time.» - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/16/) — They stay quiet until she reaches «You are old, Father William» coming out different; the Mock Turtle says «That's very curious». - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/17/) — The Gryphon orders «Stand up and repeat "'Tis the voice of the sluggard"» (a sluggard is a lazy person; it was a real poem children learned by heart). - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/19/) — The Mock Turtle says it «sounds uncommon nonsense» (uncommon = very, in old country talk). - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/21/) — The next verse begins «I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye» (marked = noticed), and tells of the Owl and the Panther sharing a pie. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/22/) — «What is the use of repeating all that stuff, if you don't explain it as you go on?» says the Mock Turtle: «It's by far the most confusing thing I ever heard!», and the Gryphon lets her stop. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/23/) — The Gryphon asks «Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille? - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/25/) — No accounting for tastes!» (= people like strange things), and asks the Mock Turtle to sing «Turtle Soup». - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/26/) — «Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen!» A tureen is a big deep dish for serving soup; «pennyworth» means as much as a penny buys; in the book the line is printed «two p / ennyworth», with the word split across two lines. - ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/) - next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tarts? (the court and the first witness)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)