Hora aderat briligi. Nunc et Slythæia Tova
Plurima gyrabant gymbolitare vabo;
Et Borogovorum mimzebant undique formae,
Momiferique omnes exgrabuêre Rathi.
“Cave, Gaberbocchum moneo tibi, nate cavendum
(Unguibus ille rapit. Dentibus ille necat.)
Et fuge Jubbubbum, quo non infestior ales,
Et Bandersnatcham, quae fremit usque, cave.”
Ille autem gladium vorpalem cepit, et hostem
Manxonium longâ sedulitate petit;
Tum sub tumtummi requiescens arboris umbrâ
Stabat tranquillus, multa animo meditans.
Dum requiescebat meditans uffishia, monstrum
Praesens ecce! oculis cui fera flamma micat,
Ipse Gaberbocchus dumeta per horrida sifflans
Ibat, et horrendum burbuliabat iens!
Ter, quater, atque iterum cito vorpalissimus ensis
Snicsnaccans penitus viscera dissecuit.
Exanimum corpus linquens caput abstulit heros
Quocum galumphat multa, domumque redit.
“Tune Gaberbocchum potuisti, nate, necare?
Bemiscens, puer! ad brachia nostra veni.
Oh! frabiusce dies! iterumque caloque calâque
Laetus eo!” ut chortlet chortla superba senex.
Hora aderat briligi. Nunc et Slythæia Tova
Plurima gyrabant gymbolitare vabo;
Et Borogovorum mimzebant undique formae,
Momiferique omnes exgrabuêre Rathi.
| — | Lewis Carroll’s uncle Hassard Dodgson translates The Jabberwocky into Latin. |
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. The original, handwritten manuscript, illustrated by Lewis Carroll. How entirely fascinating! (I wish I could have such casually elegant handwriting.)
undisclosed—desires asked: Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?
Because I can’t figure out how to find it on her Tumblr, I thought I’d reply here:
According to Lewis Carroll after the fact, “enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter’s Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on a fairly appropriate answer, viz: ‘because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!’ This, however, is merely an after thought; the Riddle, as orinially invented, had no answer at all.”
Other notable answers have been produced, most well-known of which is by Sam Loyd the American puzzle genius, in his posthumous Cyclopedia of Puzzles, 1914, page 114. In keeping with Carrol’s alliterative style, Loyd offers as his best solution: because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes. Other Loyd suggestions: because Poe wrote on both; bills and tales are among their characteristics; because they both stand on their legs, conceal their steels (steals), and ought to be made to shut up.
| — |
The Duchess, Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) (I can’t wait to see this movie. I’m very cautious about getting excited because it seems to be so different than the books which I love, but I still want to see whether it’s good or not.) |





