Chapter VI
A Royal Audience
In which Alice meets with the King and Queen
Alice had never actually seen a royal palace before but she imagined that, when she did see one, it would look something like a fairy-tale castle with high walls, tall towers, and turrets.
‘That is what they look like in books,’ she said to herself, ‘so that is what I should be looking for now.’
But try as she might, Alice could not see anything that even remotely resembled a tall tower, poking above the treeline.
‘This is most disconcerting,’ she thought, as she made her way forward. ‘I know what I expect to see, but I just can’t quite see it!
‘Maybe, I have taken a wrong turning?’ she asked herself, but she knew that she hadn’t because the sign was quite clear, and there had been only one road for her to follow.
After a while, she began to wonder whether the sign itself had been right.
‘Or perhaps the sign is pointing the wrong way?’ she ventured. ‘Maybe, someone has played a trick on me, and turned it around to point in the opposite direction?’
Alice was thinking all these things when she turned a corner and suddenly found herself face-to-face with a tiny castle, no bigger than a doll’s house.
‘There are the walls and the towers and the turrets, for certain,’ she said, ‘and a drawbridge, and a portcullis, and even little people running around inside, but it is all oh so tiny! How ever will I get in?’
As she watched, there was a loud commotion inside the castle courtyard, and a tiny rider on a little white horse rode out over the drawbridge, in her direction.
At first, he was no bigger than a matchstick but as he drew closer to her, he became larger and larger.
‘How curious,’ thought Alice, as she watched the Knight making his approach.
When he was within a few yards of Alice the Knight reined in his horse, and raised the visor of his helmet in greeting.
By now he was full size, and the sight of such a large and imposing figure on horseback quite overwhelmed poor Alice.
She made a show of curtseying to the Knight, but her legs refused to cooperate and she found herself sitting down on the ground, instead.
The Knight immediately climbed off his horse, and helped Alice to her feet again.
Then he bowed elegantly to her and pulled off his helmet, tucking it under one arm.
All in all, Alice thought that he made quite the most dashing figure that she had seen, so far.
‘Greetings, noble lady,’ said the Knight, with a kindly smile on his face. ‘How can I help thee?’
For a moment Alice was at a loss for words, and then she remembered her predicament.
She told the Knight of her adventures as quickly as she could, and the Knight listened in silence until Alice had finished her story.
Then he said, ‘Come with me. I will take you to the Queen,’ and with that ...
