--- title: Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tarts? (the court and the first witness) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tarts? (the court and the first witness)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Alice arrives at a court of justice. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-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 XI, part… # Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tarts? (the court and the first witness) Lesson 21 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 21 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/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/0/) — Alice arrives at a court of justice. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/1/) — The King and Queen of Hearts sit on their throne, the Knave of Hearts stands in chains between two soldiers, and the White Rabbit holds a trumpet and a scroll. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/2/) — In the middle is a dish of tarts that look so good that Alice wishes they'd hurry up and hand round the refreshments. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/3/) — Alice is pleased to know the names of things from books: the judge is the King, because of his great wig (with his crown on top, which looks most uncomfortable), and the twelve creatures in the jury-box are the jurors. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/4/) — She is proud of that word. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/5/) — The jurors are writing down their own names, in case they forget them before the end. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/7/) — Another juror's pencil squeaks; Alice sneaks behind him and takes it, and poor Bill the Lizard has to write with his finger, which leaves no mark at all. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/8/) — The White Rabbit blows three blasts on the trumpet and reads the accusation as a nursery rhyme: the Queen made some tarts, and the Knave stole them. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/9/) — The King says «Consider your verdict» at once, and the Rabbit has to stop him: there's a great deal to come first! - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/10/) — The first witness is the Hatter, still holding his teacup and bread-and-butter. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/11/) — He, the March Hare and the Dormouse each give a different date for when the tea began, and the jury adds them all up as money. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/13/) — The Hatter is so nervous he bites a piece out of his teacup. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/15/) — In the middle of the court is «a table, with a large dish of tarts upon it» (tarts = small pastries with jam or fruit). - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/17/) — There are twelve jurors, some animals and some birds, so Alice calls them «creatures»; she is proud of knowing the word «jurors», because she thinks very few little girls of her age know what it means, though «jury-men» would have done as well. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/19/) — The jurors write their names on slates «for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial» (a slate was a small board children wrote on with a slate-pencil). - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/20/) — Alice says «Stupid things!»; the jurors all write it down, and one of them «didn't know how to spell "stupid"» and had to ask his neighbour. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/21/) — Bill the Lizard's pencil squeaks, which Alice «could not stand»; she takes it away, and he has to write with one finger, which «left no mark on the slate». - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/22/) — The White Rabbit is the herald, the officer who reads announcements; he blows three blasts on the trumpet before reading the accusation, and three more before calling out «First witness!» - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/23/) — The accusation: «The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!» — a real old nursery rhyme. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/26/) — «Take off your hat.» — «It isn't mine.» — «Stolen!» — «I keep them to sell... - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/27/) — I'm a hatter.» A hatter is a person who makes or sells hats. - ← previous: [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/) - next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 2: Who Stole the Tarts? (the Hatter, the cook and a surprise witness)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/22-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-2/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)