The Fourth Night:

The Queen's Croquet-Ground

The weekend was coming to an end, and Tyler and Jane were excited about their last story. Although they were sad that their time with their grandmother was coming to an end, the children were buzzing with excitement.

"What do you think the garden looked like?" asked Jane.

"Never mind that," said Tyler, "What about all the people? Who do you think will be in the story tonight?"

Grandma Alice entered the room. "Settle down and we'll get started."

The children immediately fell silent.

"Now let's see," Grandma Alice paused. "I finally made it though the door that led to the garden that I told you about the first night. I started to explore. I had never seen a more beautiful garden. As I walked on, I saw what looked like giant playing cards. They weren't just giant. They were alive! They were arguing and running from rose bush to rose bush, painting white roses red. I thought this was very strange, even after all the other strange things that had happened that day. I went up to them and asked what they were doing."

"Well, we have made a huge mistake! The Queen will have our heads for this..."

"What?" I asked.

"The Queen of Hearts can only have red roses, and HE planted the wrong ones," the Seven of Diamonds said, pointing to the Two of Diamonds.

"I didn't do it. It was Five," said Two.

"No matter who did it, the Queen is going to be furious!" said Seven.

"As if he had called her, she started heading in our direction. She had a lot of people - well, cards - with her. There were children, guests, and her guards, of course, and the White Rabbit. The cards I had been talking to fell down to the ground, bowing to the Queen. They came in with proud faces and a staff that matched his or her suit. They all came to a halt and out stepped the King and Queen of Hearts."

"What's going on here?" she asked me.

"I have no idea. I just got here, but you might want to ask those three over there," I replied.

"She turned to the three cards and stared at them. Finally Seven stood up and explained what was going on."

"Throw them in the pit!" the Queen hollered.

"Off in the distance I could see many large holes in the ground, as well as someone digging another one. It seemed as though that is how the Queen solved all her problems. The three cards were carried off towards the holes."

"Would you fancy a game of croquet?" the Queen asked.

"Oh yes, I quite love croquet," I replied.

"The Queen started to walk away and all of the other cards followed her. I decided that since I had just received an invitation, I needed to follow her too. All of a sudden everyone came to a halt. The Queen started to choose her mallet. They weren't regular mallets - they were small giraffes. Once she had found one she liked, she went to get a ball, only they were grapefruits. I thought this might get very messy. When she started playing, the giraffe head hit the ball and it exploded into big chunks of fruit. One of the cards behind her rolled a ball through her legs, and she watched that ball as if it were her own. I was having trouble holding onto my giraffe since he was wiggling so much. I didn't quite understand the purpose of the game and sat to the side."

Grandma Alice stopped. They heard a scratching outside the window. There was something white in the window, and the children ran over and pressed their faces to it. It was a white rabbit. Grandma Alice joined the children. Tyler and Jane knew immediately who it was, without their grandmother having to tell them. It was THE white rabbit! The children ran outside, followed closely by Grandma Alice. When they reached the front door, Gloria, Alice's daughter, didn't know what was going on, but followed them outside. The White Rabbit had hopped quite a ways in the time it took them to get outside. They all ran after him. They caught up just in time to see him go down a rabbit hole. Gloria looked at her mother with wide eyes. She could believe what she was seeing. They all followed in after him, falling far into the rabbit hole. They landed in the hallway that Alice knew all too well. The little door that had given her so much trouble was open. The table in the middle of the hallway had four bottles labeled "Drink Me" and they each took one. Shrinking to the right size, they all walked through into the garden. The children, with wide eyes, ran around exploring Wonderland.

Gloria walked up to her mother and said, "I don't believe it!"

"After all those years of searching in our backyard, you finally get to see Wonderland!" Alice said. "I'm so happy that I get to share this WONDERFUL place with my family."

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Author's Note:

I really like the part of this story where Alice tries to play croquet with the Queen. The Disney movie does a great job showing Alice struggling with her flamingo croquet mallet and hedgehog ball. I made mine giraffes and grapefruits. The card throwing the grapefruit after the queen smashed hers, went along with the way everyone was falling over themselves to make sure the Queen was happy. I changed the unforgettable "Off with his/her/their head(s)!" with "Throw them in the pit" just because I thought I needed to add something of my own to this well known story. Also in the original the three cards run to Alice for protection when they have been sentenced. Alice helps them hide and they don't get beheaded. In my story, since they weren't really going to die from being thrown in a pit I just let the Queen's guards take them away. I cut this story a little short because I knew from the very beginning, when I was writing my introduction, that I wanted Alice and her family to visit Wonderland. I especially wanted Gloria, Alice's daughter, since when she was a child she searched everywhere for Wonderland, only to end up believing that Alice's stories were made up. I think it was the best way to end the story.

(Image Information: Wonderland - Cinemafique)                                                                                                                 Story Source: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland - Chapter 8
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Story: The Queen's Croquet-Ground
                                                                                                                                                      Author: Lewis Carroll
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Book: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Year Published: 1865