Page:Through the looking-glass and what Alice found there (IA throughlookinggl00carr4).pdf/198

 "'T was brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves,  And the mome raths outgrabe."

"That's enough to begin with," Humpty Dumpty interrupted; "there are plenty of hard words there. Brillig means four o'clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."

"That'll do very well," said Alice; "and slithy?"

"Well, slithy means 'lithe and slimy,' 'Lithe' is the same as 'active.' You see, it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word."

"I see it now," Alice remarked, thoughtfully; "and what are toves?"

"Well, toves are something like badgers—they're something like lizards—and they're something like corkscrews."

"They must be very curious-looking creatures."