Safe and Sound

Alice in Wonderland

"Story Time!" Miss Willow clapped her hands after all six girls had washed their dishes and put them away.

"That pie was delicious! Thank you Prim and Rue!" Petra smiled at the girls.

"Sure! No problem!" Rue waved her hand.

"It was so fun to bake!" Prim said.

"I loved it!" Ella hugged Rue then Prim.

"It was yummy in my tummy!" Flora patted her stomach and Prim and Rue laughed.

"What story are we reading today Miss Willow?" Heather asked, "Alice in Wonderland?"

Miss Willow nodded as she took a book down from the shelf and sat on the chair next to the hearth.

"We're on Chapter 6! Pig and Pepper." Rue reminded her.

Heather said, "The part where Alice meets Cheshire Cat."

"Right!" And Miss Willow began to read.

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. 'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

'I don't much care where--' said Alice.

'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

'--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'

"I want to go into the garden." Alice said.

"Why do you want to go there?" Cheshire Cat asked.

"It looks safe." Alice replied.

"Sometimes things that look safe, turn out nasty. And things that look nasty, turn out safe. That's immoral." said the cat.

Prim's head snapped up and she stared straight at Heather. That's what Heather told me this morning! Has she read the story before? Must be a coincidence. Heather stared blankly back at her.

But why did she say that to begin with anyway?

Primrose could hear Miss Willow reading in the back of her thoughts. . .

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question, 'What sort of people live about here?

Was it a prank perhaps? Primrose puzzled.

'Miss Willow read, "In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, A gentleman called Hare , nicknamed 'March' lives there. Probably having a tea party. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' Cheshire cat said."

Or maybe, a warning? Primrose frowned as these puzzling thoughts crossed through her mind.

Miss Willow read, "But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad. It's only by chance and careful planning if you're not.'

Maybe she's hinting at something? Prim worried.

Miss Willow read, "How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

'Because you're here! You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.' Everyone here is mad!

Primrose's turned her head when she heard Miss Willow read,

"I went to a huntball once. I didn't like it. Terrible people! They all started hunting me!" Cheshire Cat said.

"Hmm, Life must be hard for you." Alice sympathized.

"But I grin and bear it!" Cheshire Cat replied.

A message with a hidden meaning? Primrose thought.

'By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. 'I'd nearly forgotten to ask.'

'It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had come back in a natural way.

'I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again.

Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it did not appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in which the March Hare was said to live. 'I've seen hatters before,' she said to herself; 'the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad--at least not so mad as it was in March.' As she said this, she looked up, and there was the Cat again, sitting on a branch of a tree.

'Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat.

'I said pig,' replied Alice; 'and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.'

'All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!'

Miss Willow read until the last paragraph of Chapter 6 and then stopped. "Well, that's all for now girls."

"Aww! Please Miss Willow! One more chapter?!" Ella whined.

"Pretty Please! With blueberry pie and cream on top?!" Flora asked.

Miss Willow laughed, "No girls, it's nap time. Besides, I stopped at Chapter 7 because it's titled 'A Mad Tea-Party'. And I was going to save that chapter for when we have our own tea party!"

"Oh really?!" Ella clasped her hands together in front of her.

"A tea-party?! Yum! Can Rue bake sweets for the tea-party?!" Flora asked.

"Of course!" Rue smiled. "But you and Ella have to take a nap now.

"Humph! No Fair! How come you don't take naps Rue?!"

"Because I'm a big girl." she replied.

"I'm a big girl!" Flora puffed out her chest and walked around the room like a rooster.

Rue, Prim, Petra, Ella, and Miss Willow laughed. Heather smiled.

Rue helped Flora set up her cot and Ella unfolded blankets and pillows for them both. Miss Willow sang them the Safe and Sound lullaby till both girls fell asleep.

"Deep in the meadow

Under the willow

A bed of grass

A soft green pillow

Lay down your head and

Close your sleepy eyes

And when again they open,

The sun will rise

Here it's safe, here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from all harm

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true-

Here is the place where I love you. . .

Hold on to this lullaby,

Even when the music's gone,

Just close your eyes,

The sun is going down,

You'll be all right,

No one can hurt you now,

Come morning light,

You and I'll be safe and sound