Carroll then proceeded to interpret the words of the fragment. These interpretations or explanations are listed in the glossary. When he had finished giving the various explanations, he then wrote:
In an issue dated 1855 (he was then 23), under the heading "Stanza of
Anglo-Saxon Poetry," the following "curious fragment" appears:
Carroll then proceeded to interpret the words of the fragment. These
interpretations or explanations are listed in the glossary.
When he had finished giving the various explanations, he then wrote:
Hence the literal English of the passage is: 'It was evening, and the smooth active badgers were scratching and boring holes in the hill-side; all unhappy were the parrots; and the grave turtles squeaked out.'It is interested to look at the glossary and compare these explanations with those given by Humpty Dumpty. One can also notice that in the final version of the poem, a few of the words are spelled differently: bryllyg becomes brillig, for example.There were probably sundials on the top of the hill, and the 'borogoves' were afraid that their nests would be undermined. The hill was probably full of the nests of 'raths', which ran out, squeaking with fear, on hearing the 'toves' scratching outside. This is an obscure, but yet deeply-affecting, relic of ancient Poetry.
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