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The Hunting of the Snark
An Agony in Eight Fits
by
Lewis Carroll
With nine illustrations by Henry Holiday
eBooks@Adelaide
2007
This web edition published by
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Last updated Thu Aug 26 10:12:43 2010.
eBooks@Adelaide
The University of Adelaide Library
University of Adelaide
South Australia 5005
T
ABLE
OF
C
ONTENTS
P
REFACE
If — and the thing is wildly possible — the charge of writing nonsense were ever brought
against the author of this brief but instructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on
the line (in p.4)
“
Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes.”
In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appeal indignantly to my other
writings as a proof that I am incapable of such a deed: I will not (as I might) point to the
strong moral purpose of this poem itself, to the arithmetical principles so cautiously
inculcated in it, or to its noble teachings in Natural History — I will take the more prosaic
course of simply explaining how it happened.
The Bellman, who was almost morbidly sensitive about appearances, used to have the
bowsprit unshipped once or twice a week to be revarnished, and it more than once
happened, when the time came for replacing it, that no one on board could remember
which end of the ship it belonged to. They knew it was not of the slightest use to appeal to
the Bellman about it — he would only refer to his Naval Code, and read out in pathetic
tones Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to understand — so it
generally ended in its being fastened on, anyhow, across the rudder. The helmsman
used
to stand by with tears in his eyes; he knew it was all wrong, but alas! Rule 42 of the Code,
“No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm,” had been completed by the Bellman himself
with the words “and the Man at the Helm shall speak to no one.“ So remonstrance was
impossible, and no steering could be done till the next varnishing day. During these
bewildering intervals the ship usually sailed backwards.
1 This office was usually undertaken by the Boots, who found in it a refuge
from the Baker’s constant complaints about the insufficient blacking of his
three pairs of boots.
As this poem is to some extent connected with the lay of the Jabberwock, let me take this
opportunity of answering a question that has often been asked me, how to pronounce
“slithy toves.” The “i” in “slithy” is long, as in “writhe”; and “toves” is pronounced so as to
rhyme with “groves.” Again, the first “o” in “borogoves” is pronounced like the “o” in
“borrow.” I have heard people try to give it the sound of the “o” in “worry. Such is Human
Perversity.
This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words in that poem. Humpty-
Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me
the right explanation for all.
For instance, take the two words “fuming” and “furious.” Make up your mind that you will
say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and
speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards “fuming,” you will say “fuming-
furious;” if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards “furious,” you will say “furious-
fuming;” but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say
“frumious.”
Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words —
“
Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!”
Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but had not been able
to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be
doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out “Rilchiam!”
Fit the First
T
HE
L
ANDING
“
Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
 
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
 
By a finger entwined in his hair.
“
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
 
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
 
What I tell you three times is true.”
The crew was complete: it included a Boots —
 
A maker of Bonnets and Hoods —
A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes —
 
And a Broker, to value their goods.
A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense,
 
Might perhaps have won more than his share —
But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense,
 
Had the whole of their cash in his care.
There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck,
 
Or would sit making lace in the bow:
And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck,
 
Though none of the sailors knew how.
There was one who was famed for the number of things
 
He forgot when he entered the ship:
His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and rings,
 
And the clothes he had bought for the trip.
He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed,
 
With his name painted clearly on each:
But, since he omitted to mention the fact,
 
They were all left behind on the beach.
The loss of his clothes hardly mattered, because
 
He had seven coats on when he came,
With three pairs of boots — but the worst of it was,
He had wholly forgotten his name.
 
He would answer to “Hi!” or to any loud cry,
 
Such as “Fry me!” or “Fritter my wig!”
To “What-you-may-call-um!” or “What-was-his-name!”
 
But especially “Thing-um-a-jig!”
While, for those who preferred a more forcible word,
 
He had different names from these:
His intimate friends called him “Candle-ends,”
 
And his enemies “Toasted-cheese.”
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