Narrator: Hello! After all her adventures,
Alice has finally found the beautiful garden
she's been looking for all this time.
It's full of beautiful white roses. Alice wandered
through the flowers until she saw a gardener.
He was doing something very strange ...
Gardener: Oh no!
Alice: Why are you painting the roses red?
Gardener: The Queen wants red roses
and I put white roses in by mistake.
If the Queen finds them, she'll cut my
head off!
Oh no! Here comes the Queen!
Narrator: The gardener threw himself
to the ground and lay
with his face down. A line of soldiers and
courtiers came marching into the rose
garden. They didn't look like people at all.
They looked exactly like playing cards:
their bodies were square and flat with
their heads at the top and their hands
and feet in the four corners.
First came was a group of ten soldiers,
who were decorated with black clubs,
then came ten of the Queens servants,
who were covered in red diamonds.
Then came all the princes and princesses,
wearing red hearts. The Knave of Hearts
was carrying a crown on a cushion,
and last of all came the King and
Queen of Hearts.
When they got to Alice,
everybody stopped.
The Queen looked at Alice.
Queen: Who is this?
Alice: I'm Alice, Your Majesty.
Queen: Can you play croquet?
Alice: Yes!
Queen: Come on then!
Everyone get to your places!
Animals: I'm over here...
... and you are there. Are you there?
I am over here...
Narrator: Everyone began running
in different directions until
they got into place and the game began.
It was a very curious game: everything
seemed to be alive!
The balls were hedgehogs
and the croquet mallets were flamingos.
All the playing card-soldiers bent over so
they looked like arches.
The players had to catch the flamingos first,
which wasn't easy because
they kept flying away.
When the flamingos were caught,
each player held their flamingo
tightly under one arm, with the long neck
and head hanging down to the ground.
Then the hedgehogs curled up into spiky
balls ... and the players used
the flamingo's heads to hit
the hedgehogs so that they rolled through
the playing-card soldier arches.
Animals: Oh jolly jolly good shot!
It must be my turn now...
Very nicely played...
Very nicely played, it's your turn again,
Very good! Very good!
Alice: What a curious game!
I suppose I should play.
Narrator: It was a very curious game!
There didn't seem to be any rules.
Everyone played at the same time
and the hedgehogs kept running away.
Alice took a flamingo and tried to hit a
hedgehog with it. But the flamingo moved
its head and she missed. Soon the players
began arguing and fighting
for the hedgehogs and the Queen went
around stamping her feet
and shouting at everyone.
Queen: Off with your head!
Animals: I think you'll find that this is cheating!
(All speak at the same time.)
Alice: How will I get out of here?
Narrator: As Alice was looking around
for a way to escape,
suddenly the Cheshire-Cat appeared in the air.
He wasn't sitting on anything, he was just floating.
Cheshire-Cat: Are you enjoying the croquet?
Alice: No. I don't think they play fairly
at all. Everyone is arguing and there aren't
any rules.
Cheshire-Cat: How do you like the Queen?
Alice: Not at all! I suppose I should try
to play or she might cut off my head!
Narrator: Alice went to find her hedgehog.
She found it having a fight with another one.
While she was trying to pull the two
animals apart, her flamingo flew away.
Alice: Oh dear! I'm not doing very well at
this game. What will the Queen think?
Narrator: Alice was right to worry.
Most of the other players had made
the Queen angry
for one reason or another and the soldiers
took them away one by one. Soon there were
only the King, the Queen and Alice left in
the game.
The Queen turned to Alice.
Queen: You! Come here!
Who were you talking to?
Alice: If you please, your Majesty...
Voice: The trial is starting!
The trial is starting!
Queen: The trial! Oh good! I love trials!
Come along!
Narrator: Alice had no choice but to follow
the Queen. We'll leave her there for now.
Next time. I'll tell you all about
the Knave of Hearts, the stolen
jam tarts and what happened when Alice
met the Hatter, the cook and
The White Rabbit again.
Goodbye.