Summary of The Strange Trail
A Strange Trial is written by Lewis Carroll and is found in the book Alice in Wonderland. In this narrative, a little girl named Alice has a bizarre and delightful dream in which she follows a rabbit into its burrow. She finds herself in an unfamiliar world after entering the hole. Alice is attending a weird trial in the present play.
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At the beginning of the play, Alice walks into the courtroom. The King and Queen of Hearts are sitting on their thrones. A lot of animals and the whole deck of cards are all around them. White Rabbit is standing next to the king with a trumpet and a scroll in his hands. Alice looks around the room and talks about the different animals in the courtroom. She notices that everyone on the jury is writing down their own names. The Gryphon tells her that they have to do this so they don’t forget their names before the trial is over.
As a herald for the court, the White Rabbit asks everyone to be quiet and then says that the Knave of Hearts has stolen the Queen’s tarts. The first witness is called by White Rabbit. The Mad Hatter is the first witness. He walks into the courtroom with a piece of bread and a cup of tea in his hands. During the cross-examination, the King keeps making threats to the Hatter, making him more and more nervous. Alice notices that she is growing again. The Dormouse was upset that Alice was getting bigger, so he moved to the other side of the court to avoid getting crushed by Alice. The Mad Hatter gets to go back to his tea, so he leaves. When he gets outside, the Queen orders that he be killed, but the Mad Hatter gets away.
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The next person to talk is the Cook. She is not helping out with the court case. When the King asks her what’s in the tarts, the Cook says, “Pepper.” The Dormouse says the word “treacle” in a sleepy way. The calls to cut the Dormouse’s head off. Things aren’t clear in the courtroom. The Dormouse is being chased and kicked out of the court. Cook goes away in the meantime.
The King asks the Queen to run the next cross-examination. The next witness is called by the White Rabbit. It is Alice. Alice runs to the stand when the White Rabbit tells her to. She forgets that she has grown, so she knocks over the jury stand and has to scramble to put everyone back. The King starts to ask her questions that don’t make sense, but Alice stays completely calm.
In an unsigned letter from the Knave of Hearts, the White Rabbit gives a poem that doesn’t make any sense at all. Since the letter is not signed, the Knave refuses to pay. The King thinks that since the Knave didn’t sign the note like an honest person would, he must have been up to no good. Alice wants the poem to be read. Even though the poem seems to mean nothing, the King explains it and asks for a verdict. When the queen tells Alice she’s going to be killed, Alice says she’s not scared because they’re just a pack of cards. All at once, the cards come up and land on her.
Alice wakes up with her head in the lap of her older sister. She had been having a dream. She tells her sister about what she has done.
