F in Wonderland {FANFIC} {Alphabet Lore}

Chapter 8: Who Stole the Tarts?🔎❓️🥧

After long hours of playing the croquet game, Y was seated on her throne when she arrived, with a great crowd assembled about her-all sorts of little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards: 3 was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on each side to guard him; and near Y was N, with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in the other. In the very middle of the court was a table, with a large dish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, that it made F quite hungry to look at them-"I wish they'd get the trial done," he thought, "and hand round the refreshments!" But there seemed to be no chance of this, so he began looking at everything about him, to pass away the time.

F had never been in a court of justice before, but he had read about them in books, and he was quite pleased to find that he knew the name of nearly everything there. "That's a red frog-like number" he said to himself, "because of his great fire breathing."

He though about the Knave, who was 3; and as he was chained by the cards (look at the expression if you want to see how he did it,) he did not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly not becoming.

"And that's the jury-box," thought F, "and those twelve creatures," (he was obliged to say "creatures," you see, because some of them were animals, and some were birds,) "I suppose they are the jurors." He said this last word two or three times over to himself, being rather proud of it: for he thought, and rightly too, that very few letters of him knew the meaning of it at all. However, "jury-men" would have done just as well.

The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. "What are they doing?" F said to N "They can't have anything to put down yet, before the trial's begun."

"They're putting down their names," N whispered in reply, "for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial."

"Stupid things!" F began in a loud, indignant voice, but he stopped hastily, for N cried out, "Silence in the court, F! I'm about to read the scroll." F could see, as well as if he were looking over their shoulders, that all the jurors were writing down "stupid things!" on their slates, and he could even make out that one of them didn't know how to spell "stupid," and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him. "A nice muddle their slates'll be in before the the trial's over!" thought F.

One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course, F could not stand, and he went round the court and got behind him, and very soon found an opportunity of taking it away. He did it so quickly that the poor little juror (it was a random lizard) could not make out at all what had become of it; so, after hunting all about for it, he was obliged to write with one finger for the rest of the day; and this was of very little use, as it left no mark on the slate.

"Read the accusation!" said Y.

On this, N blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:-

"Y, the Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer day:
But 3, the Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!"

"Consider your verdict," Y said to the jury.

"Not yet, not yet!" N hastily interrupted. "There's a great deal to come before that!"

"Call the first witness," said Y, and N blew three blasts on the trumpet, and called out, "First witness!"

The first witness was L. He came in with a teacup in one hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other. "I beg pardon, your Majesty," he began, "for bringing these in: but I hadn't quite finished my tea when I was sent for."

"You ought to have finished," said Y. "When did you begin?"

L looked at O, who had followed him into the court, arm-in-arm with Z. "Fourteenth of March, I think it was," he said.