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CHAPTER XI . Who Stole the Tarts ? The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when they arrived , with a great crowd assembled about them — all sorts of little birds and beasts , as well as the whole pack of cards : the Knave was standing before them , in chains , with a soldier on each side to guard him ; and near the King was the White Rabbit , with a trumpet in one hand , and a scroll of parchment in the other . In the very middle of the court was a table , with a large dish of tarts upon it : they looked so good , that it made Alice quite hungry to look at them — “ I wish they’d get the trial done , ” she thought , “ and hand round the refreshments ! ” But there seemed to be no chance of this , so she began looking at everything about her , to pass away the time . Alice had never been in a court of justice before , but she had read about them in books , and she was quite pleased to find that she knew the name of nearly everything there . “ That’s the judge , ” she said to herself , “ because of his great wig . ” The judge , by the way , was the King ; and as he wore his crown over the wig , ( look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he did it , ) he did not look at all comfortable , and it was certainly not becoming . “ And that’s the jury - box , ” thought Alice , “ and those twelve creatures , ” ( she was obliged to say “ creatures , ” you see , because some of them were animals , and some were birds , ) “ I suppose they are the jurors . ” She said this last word two or three times over to herself , being rather proud of it : for she thought , and rightly too , that very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all . However , “ jury - men ” would have done just as well . The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates . “ What are they doing ? ” Alice whispered to the Gryphon . “ They can’t have anything to put down yet , before the trial’s begun . ” “ They’re putting down their names , ” the Gryphon whispered in reply , “ for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial . ” “ Stupid things ! ” Alice began in a loud , indignant voice , but she stopped hastily , for the White Rabbit cried out , “ Silence in the court ! ” and the King put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round , to make out who was talking . Alice could see , as well as if she were looking over their shoulders , that all the jurors were writing down “ stupid things ! ” on their slates , and she could even make out that one of them didn’t know how to spell “ stupid , ” and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him . “ A nice muddle their slates’ll be in before the trial’s over ! ” thought Alice .
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