[General] Alice in Wonderland: My Share of Questions :)

[Ducklet Cat]

Hello,
I've been reading "Alice in Wonderland" since a long while, and it is such a lovely book. I'm mesmerised by the word play it has.
But as a non-native speaker of English, I have some questions every now and then, and I don't want to spam the forums with many topics about the same book. So I thought about dedicating a thread where I can toss my curiosity


Here is today's questions

1.

"HE taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils."

I know that by "drawling" Lewis Carol meant to say "Drawing", but he's playing with words. But what about "Stretching, and Fainting in Coils". What did he mean?


2. The duchess keeps referring to the "moral" of things. But frankly I'm not sure what she means!
I know that the moral is the lesson (ethical usually) that you learn form a story or an incident. So is that the meaning she means?
I know she's crazy, so her moral has to be so. But it's just mind-boggling.


3.

"Oh, don't talk about trouble!' said the Duchess. 'I make you a present of everything I've said as yet."

What does she mean when she says " make you a present of everything I've said as yet".


Oh, and these questions are not for any school homework or anything like that. I just need to know the answers in order to go through the reading.

 

[Munch]

I know that by "drawling" Lewis Carol meant to say "Drawing", but he's playing with words. But what about "Stretching, and Fainting in Coils". What did he mean?

Stretching = sketching
Fainting in coils = painting in oils

I can answer those without reading the text. But you have given me a good excuse to go and read the original text so I can answer your other questions. If you like Alice in Wonderland, you should try to get a copy of The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner..

Lewis Carroll used language and references that are not familiar to modern speakers of English.

 

[Ducklet Cat]

Thanks a lot Munch.
That annotated book seems interesting, but I'm a very slow reader.
So I'm afraid I'll bother the forum members with my questions.

Does anyone know the answer to my other 2 questions?

Thanks.

 

[Ducklet Cat]

Hi again,
I've just looked at "Annotated Alice" in Amazon's Look Inside Feature.
WOW! :up:
It does not answer my linguistic inquiries, but it has many brilliant notes about the time of Carol and some important references.

Thanks for your suggestion.