--- title: Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · full text with trees · page 2 description: Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story, «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: “You can’t think how glad I am to see you again, you dear old thing!” said the Duchess, as she tucked her arm affectionately --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/) / Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story # Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/) **2** - [101](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/101/) — “We had the best of educations—in fact, we went to school every day—” - [102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/102/) — “\_I’ve\_ been to a day-school, too,” said Alice; “you needn’t be so proud as all that.” - [103](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/103/) — “With extras?” asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously. - [104](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/104/) — “Yes,” said Alice, “we learned French and music.” - [105](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/105/) — “And washing?” said the Mock Turtle. - [106](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/106/) — “Certainly not!” said Alice indignantly. - [107](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/107/) — “Ah! then yours wasn’t a really good school,” said the Mock Turtle in a tone of great relief. - [108](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/108/) — “Now at \_ours\_ they had at the end of the bill, ‘French, music, \_and washing\_—extra.’” - [109](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/109/) — “You couldn’t have wanted it much,” said Alice; “living at the bottom of the sea.” - [110](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/110/) — “I couldn’t afford to learn it.” said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. - [111](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/111/) — “I only took the regular course.” - [112](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/112/) — “What was that?” inquired Alice. - [113](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/113/) — “Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,” the Mock Turtle replied; “and then the different branches of Arithmetic—Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.” - [114](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/114/) — “I never heard of ‘Uglification,’” Alice ventured to say. - [115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/115/) — “What is it?” - [116](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/116/) — The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. - [117](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/117/) — “What! - [118](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/118/) — Never heard of uglifying!” it exclaimed. - [119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/119/) — “You know what to beautify is, I suppose?” - [120](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/120/) — “Yes,” said Alice doubtfully: “it means—to—make—anything—prettier.” - [121](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/121/) — “Well, then,” the Gryphon went on, “if you don’t know what to uglify is, you \_are\_ a simpleton.” - [122](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/122/) — Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about it, so she turned to the Mock Turtle, and said “What else had you to learn?” - [123](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/123/) — “Well, there was Mystery,” the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers, “—Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling—the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: \_he\_ taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.” - [124](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/124/) — “What was \_that\_ like?” said Alice. - [125](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/125/) — “Well, I can’t show it you myself,” the Mock Turtle said: “I’m too stiff. - [126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/126/) — And the Gryphon never learnt it.” - [127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/127/) — “Hadn’t time,” said the Gryphon: “I went to the Classics master, though. - [128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/128/) — He was an old crab, \_he\_ was.” - [129](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/129/) — “I never went to him,” the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: “he taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.” - [130](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/130/) — “So he did, so he did,” said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn; and both creatures hid their faces in their paws. - [131](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/131/) — “And how many hours a day did you do lessons?” said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject. - [132](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/132/) — “Ten hours the first day,” said the Mock Turtle: “nine the next, and so on.” - [133](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/133/) — “What a curious plan!” exclaimed Alice. - [134](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/134/) — “That’s the reason they’re called lessons,” the Gryphon remarked: “because they lessen from day to day.” - [135](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/135/) — This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought it over a little before she made her next remark. - [136](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/136/) — “Then the eleventh day must have been a holiday?” - [137](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/137/) — “Of course it was,” said the Mock Turtle. - [138](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/138/) — “And how did you manage on the twelfth?” - [139](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/139/) — Alice went on eagerly. - [140](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/140/) — “That’s enough about lessons,” the Gryphon interrupted in a very decided tone: “tell her something about the games now.” [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/10/) **2** - ← previous: [Chapter VIII. The Queen’s Croquet-Ground](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/9/) - next →: [Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/11/) - ↑ back to [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/)