Which Dreamed it?
Chapter 12 Full readingOriginal 1871 book · Project Gutenberg eBook 12 · Chapter 12
1“Your majesty shouldn’t purr so loud,” Alice said, rubbing her eyes, and addressing the kitten, respectfully, yet with some severity. “You woke me out of oh! such a nice dream! And you’ve been along with me, Kitty—all through the Looking-Glass world. Did you know it, dear?” It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they always purr. “If they would only purr for ‘yes’ and mew for ‘no,’ or any rule of that sort,” she had said, “so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?” On this occasion the kitten only purred: and it was impossible to guess whether it meant “yes” or “no.” So Alice hunted among the chessmen on the table till she had found the Red Queen: then she went down on her knees on the hearth-rug, and put the kitten and the Queen to look at each other. “Now, Kitty!” she cried, clapping her hands triumphantly. “Confess that was what you turned into!” (“But it wouldn’t look at it,” she said, when she was explaining the thing afterwards to her sister: “it turned away its head, and pretended not to see it: but it looked a little ashamed of itself, so I think it must have been the Red Queen.”) “Sit up a little more stiffly, dear!” Alice cried with a merry laugh. “And curtsey while you’re thinking what to—what to purr. It saves time, remember!” And she caught it up and gave it one little kiss, “just in honour of having been a Red Queen.” “Snowdrop, my pet!” she went on, looking over her shoulder at the White Kitten, which was still patiently undergoing its toilet, “when will Dinah have finished with your White Majesty, I wonder? That must be the reason you were so untidy in my dream—Dinah! do you know that you’re scrubbing a White Queen? Really, it’s most disrespectful of you! “And what did Dinah turn to, I wonder?” she prattled on, as she settled comfortably down, with one elbow in the rug, and her chin in her hand, to watch the kittens. “Tell me, Dinah, did you turn to Humpty Dumpty? I think you did—however, you’d better not mention it to your friends just yet, for I’m not sure. “By the way, Kitty, if only you’d been really with me in my dream, there was one thing you would have enjoyed—I had such a quantity of poetry said to me, all about fishes! To-morrow morning you shall have a real treat. All the time you’re eating your breakfast, I’ll repeat ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ to you; and then you can make believe it’s oysters, dear!
2“Now, Kitty, let’s consider who it was that dreamed it all. This is a serious question, my dear, and you should not go on licking your paw like that—as if Dinah hadn’t washed you this morning! You see, Kitty, it must have been either me or the Red King. He was part of my dream, of course—but then I was part of his dream, too! Was it the Red King, Kitty? You were his wife, my dear, so you ought to know—Oh, Kitty, do help to settle it! I’m sure your paw can wait!” But the provoking kitten only began on the other paw, and pretended it hadn’t heard the question. Which do you think it was?
3A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July— Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear— Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die. Autumn frosts have slain July. Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes. Children yet, the tale to hear, Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly shall nestle near. In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream— Lingering in the golden gleam— Life, what is it but a dream? THE END
Decoded Meaning & consequence
The returned traveler can reproduce the naming habit she learned to question
Confess that was what you turned into
Alice asks the kitten to confirm its royal identity through behavior it cannot express in her preferred code. Purring remains ambiguous, and turning away becomes apparent guilt. Her interpretation begins absorbing every response into the conclusion she wants.
Back to these wordsThe returned traveler can reproduce the naming habit she learned to question
Alice asks the kitten to confirm its royal identity through behavior it cannot express in her preferred code. Purring remains ambiguous, and turning away becomes apparent guilt. Her interpretation begins absorbing every response into the conclusion she wants.
The earlier Queens demanded answers while defining their meanings. Alice now performs a gentler version of that habit with the animal. Returning from a coercive world does not automatically remove every tendency to impose a role.
Her kisses and play also preserve genuine affection. Discernment can retain that relationship while recognizing the projection. The animal’s life exceeds the identity the dreamer assigns to it.
Participation in a dream does not disclose a single unquestionable owner
part of his dream
Alice remembers both being the dreamer and appearing inside the Red King’s dream. The relation loops instead of yielding a simple owner. Her position within the experience cannot independently establish the ground from which the whole experience arises.
Back to these wordsParticipation in a dream does not disclose a single unquestionable owner
Alice remembers both being the dreamer and appearing inside the Red King’s dream. The relation loops instead of yielding a simple owner. Her position within the experience cannot independently establish the ground from which the whole experience arises.
The kitten supplies no final answer, and the narrator addresses the reader with the question. The source deliberately preserves uncertainty about dream authorship. The real attainment is agency within that uncertainty, rather than a victorious claim to contain every other consciousness.
A participatory world can hold reciprocal appearances without making persons interchangeable or erasing responsibility. Alice can care for a kitten while leaving the ultimate dreamer unresolved. The unanswered question belongs beside conduct, rather than postponing conduct until cosmology is complete.
The tale survives time through renewed relationship with listeners
Life, what is it but a dream
The closing boat carries storytelling through a remembered summer that has faded. Alice persists as an imaginal presence beyond the original occasion. The first letters of the poem’s lines spell Alice Pleasance Liddell, preserving a named relationship within the larger dream.
Back to these wordsThe tale survives time through renewed relationship with listeners
The closing boat carries storytelling through a remembered summer that has faded. Alice persists as an imaginal presence beyond the original occasion. The first letters of the poem’s lines spell Alice Pleasance Liddell, preserving a named relationship within the larger dream.
The stream joins passing time to repeated transmission. New children listen, and the tale becomes another inhabited world through their attention. The poem carries return as participation that can renew contact after its first setting has disappeared.
The final dream question enlarges existence without cancelling its human relations. Memory, affection, and narration remain ways that consciousness enters another life. The book ends with passage continuing through those who receive the tale.
The return preserves wonder while leaving dream ownership unresolved
The return reveals both retained knowledge and an unfinished habit of projection. Alice can question sovereign naming while still assigning dream roles to beings who cannot answer her. Freedom requires continued discrimination after awakening.
The unresolved dreamer and the remembered boat preserve the wider spiritual scope. Participation continues through persons, time, and renewed listening. The tale leaves wonder available without appointing a final owner of every consciousness.
Sources for this passage
Lewis Carroll · Through the Looking-GlassChapter 12: Which Dreamed it?
Robert Anton Wilson · Cosmic Trigger I · Preface to the 1986 EditionModel agnosticism, reality tunnels, and metaprogramming
Rudolf Steiner · Knowledge of Higher Worlds and its AttainmentChapter I · Conditions and Inner Tranquility
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