Lorina talks to the Dormouse

The Tales and Trials of Alice and Her Crazy Wonderland

Lorina Talks to the Dormouse

"Wow, you live quite close to the Dormouse!" Lorina said to the Mad Hatter as they approached the Dormouse's house. They had only been walking a few minutes when they reached his house. Lorina was glad the walk was short, though, because the Hatter was quite a strange character and she was happy to add another person to their mix.

"Well, maybe you think we live quite close, but how close is close? That is a question that needs to be examined before you decide how close you think the Dormouse and I live," the Hatter replied as he knocked on the Dormouse's door.

After only a few seconds, the Hatter tapped his foot impatiently, and then marched into the house. Lorina didn't know what else to do, so she followed him in. They walked straight to the the living room. "Ah ha! Just as I suspected. Asleep like always," the Hatter said. He marched right up to the Dormouse and shook him until he woke up.

"Dormouse! Wake up! This is Lorina, Alice's sister. You remember Alice, right? Well, Lorina is much more polite than Alice. I know you will like her. Dormouse, stay awake! Lorina is wanting to have another tea party. Will you be able to come? We are planning on having it at six o'clock sharp. Please don't be late," the Hatter said to the Dormouse.

"Are you sure he is listening? His eyes closed again. Hello, Mr. Dormouse? My name is Lorina, it's so very nice to meet you!" Lorina said in a very loud voice trying to wake the Dormouse.

"Yes. Yes. I'm awake. I heard everything you both just said. A tea party sounds tolerable. And it is nice to meet you too, Lorina, was it?" the Dormouse replied while still lying on the couch looking half-asleep.

"Yes, Lorina is correct. Your home is lovely. Did my sister get to come see it the last time she was here?" Lorina said trying to make small talk.

"Oh, gosh no. I only met Alice briefly at the last tea party. Quite the character she was! I do agree with the Hatter that you are much more polite than Alice. When she came to our last tea party, I was trying to tell a story about three little sisters at the bottom of a well, and she kept interrupting me. It made it so difficult to tell the story that I never got to finish it," the Dormouse explained.

"I am truly sorry for my sister acting that way. If you would like to tell me the story, I would love to hear it and I promise I won't interrupt!" Lorina explained, feeling bad for the Dormouse. She thought he seemed nice, and hoped to help him forget how impolite her sister could be sometimes.

"Yes, Dormouse. Tell your story and I would like to hear the ending this time so make it quick before you fall asleep again," the Hatter piped in.

"Okay great then. Once upon a time there were three little sisters and they lived in a well full of treacle. They loved to draw things, especially things that began with the letter M, but in the end they all got very ill from all the treacle and died." The Dormouse made it through the whole story without any interruptions which he was very glad about, but immediately after the story he fell back asleep.

"Well, that was quite an interesting story. I was confused on quite a bit, but I didn't dare interrupt him!" Lorina said to the Hatter.

"That is for the best. But more importantly, we need to make sure he is awake by six o'clock to be at the tea party," the Hatter said.

"Why don't you have Time come and check on him this evening?" Lorina asked.

"I know. I have the perfect idea. I will just have Time come wake him up before the tea party. I am a genius," the Hatter exclaimed.

Lorina had obviously come up with the idea, but did not want to upset the Hatter so she just let him have his glory. Besides, more importantly, everyone she had talked to was up for another tea party. Lorina was so excited that she was going to get to attend the most marvelous tea party ever! This really seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event, because who knew when the next time she would come to Wonderland? Or if she would ever come again? "Gosh I hope I am not dreaming," she thought to herself.

As she walked out of the Dormouse's house, she had a little skip in her step from all the excitement. "Well then, Mad Hatter, I guess I will see you this evening! I am just so thrilled and honored to be able to attend a tea party with you and your friends," she said as she began walking down the road to meet up with Alice.

The Hatter waved goodbye as Lorina skipped down the road. She was so thrilled! "This has to be the most wonderful day ever! Oh gosh, I hope all this is real. I would be so disappointed if I woke up and this magical day was just a dream," Lorina thought. "Who knows, maybe I am just as crazy as my little sister, Alice, for believing in all this. But, at any rate, I must get going to meet Alice for the tea party!

That evening, promptly at six o'clock Lorina, Alice, The White Rabbit, The Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, and even the Queen herself all laughed and talked over tea at what Lorina thought was the most exquisite tea party she had ever attended. And believe it or not the Queen never once said, "Off with your head!"

"What a perfect end to the most memorable day I have ever had," Lorina thought to herself as her and Alice began walking back to their home...back to reality.

Author's Note: For my version of this story I used information from Chapter 7 of Carroll's version. Because Carroll's version focuses on Alice, I had to change quite a bit of information to fit my storybook theme. In this story I have Alice and the Mad Hatter talking to the Dormouse. Although I left out a lot of details for the original version, I tried to exemplify the Dormouse's character as close as possible to the original version. I used the concept from Carroll's version that it was difficult to keep him awake long enough to have a complete conversation. Also, in my version I used the Mad Hatter again so I tried to play up his quirky personality as well. I kept the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse's relationship the same as it was in the original version. I tried to show that the Mad Hatter felt like he was better than the Dormouse and did not respect him fully. In Carroll's version, the Dormouse tried to tell a story to Alice and the others, but was not able to finish because Alice kept interrupting him. In my version, I had him tell the story to the Mad Hatter and Lorina, and neither of them interrupted him so he was fortunate enough to finish his story. I also included information about the second tea party that Lorina was delighted to be a part of.

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Introduction
Lorina Talks to Alice
Lorina Talks to the White Rabbit
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Bibliography: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (1865) By Lewis Carroll. Web Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Image Information: Picture of the Mad Hatter. Image Source: Disney Clips