`Twas brillig, and
the slithy toves
Did gyre
and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy
were the borogoves,
And the
mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock,
my son!
The jaws
that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub
bird, and shun
The frumious
Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal
sword in hand:
Long time
the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by
the Tumtum tree,
And stood
awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish
thought he stood,
The Jabberwock,
with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling
through the tulgey wood,
And burbled
as it came!
One, two! One,
two! And through and through
The vorpal
blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead,
and with its head
He went
galumphing back.
"And, has thou
slain the Jabberwock?
Come to
my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day!
Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled
in his joy.
`Twas brillig,
and the slithy toves
Did gyre
and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy
were the borogoves,
And
the mome raths outgrabe.
The Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the
Looking-Glass and
What Alice Found
There, 1872)