What does the Queen of Hearts have in common with a typhoon. Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts: Watch your heads!

Queen of Hearts (aka Queen of Hearts, or Queen of Hearts in the English original) appears in the fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland” only at the very end, but this did not stop her from becoming a character no less striking than little Alice herself, who ended up in the Kingdom of Cards through the rabbit hole. And how can one forget the one whom the creator himself English writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll, called "the embodiment of unbridled passion - an absurd and blind rage." Take care of your heads and nerves: if power ends up in the hands of such a villain, both may suffer.

Between fiction and reality

Writer Lewis Carroll endowed the Queen of Hearts with a passion for beheading her subjects, and artist John Tenniell, who illustrated the first edition of the fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland,” with an appearance in which, if desired, one could guess the features of the then reigning Queen Victoria: double chin, heavy weight and short stature . But the English ruler had a much more restrained disposition and did not chop off anyone’s heads, although she ruled her subjects with an iron fist. Named in her honor an entire era(Victorian), and in her desire to “keep up the spirit of the nation” she went quite far. Everything was subject to regulations: from the length of skirts to literary tastes. However, the British adored their queen. Tenniell’s drawings perhaps only indicate that after reading “the queen” in the book (and it doesn’t matter whether it was a positive or negative character), any Englishman imagined the adored and deified Victoria. Carroll also gave the Queen of Hearts some Victorian characteristics. She adored her husband, Prince Albert (after his death, she remained a widow for 40 years and wore only black in memory of him), so in “Alice...” the only one who can cope with the Queen of Hearts' fits of anger is her husband.

However, the story is written in such a way that any researcher in any of the characters will find material for their own interpretations. Historian C.W. Scott-Giles sees in the Queen of Hearts the features of Queen Margaret, who fought York on the side of the Lancaster dynasty during the War of the White and Scarlet Roses. Allegedly, this is why the gardeners of the Queen of Hearts are in a hurry to repaint the white roses scarlet color Lancaster.

But both stories about Alice (the fairy tale has a sequel, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”) were especially loved by Freudians. Since at the end of both fairy tales it turns out that Alice’s adventures are just a dream, all the amazing creatures she meets can be interpreted as creations of her subconscious. Alice, in the Freudian understanding, is an ideal patient, since she treats the monsters from her own subconscious with healthy curiosity, impeccable politeness and even humor.

“More and more wonderful”

The Freudian interpretation is easily discernible in the best this moment adaptation of the book - the 1999 film "Alice in Wonderland". For director Nick Willing, each actor plays two characters at once - a fairy-tale character from Alice's dream, and someone from her environment in real life. The exceptions are Tina Magzorino (Alice) and Whoopi Goldberg, who brilliantly played the Cheshire Cat. According to Willing, the Queen of Hearts from Alice's subconscious is her mother. And Alice's journey is a way to overcome own fears. The film received four Emmy awards for makeup, music, visual effects and costumes. By the way, when creating the images of the characters, make-up artists and designers were guided by Tenniell’s illustrations.

Before the era of special effects, Alice was a favorite of animators different countries- Great Britain, Japan, Russia. The fairy tale is filled with incredible monsters and complex tricks: Alice either decreases or increases in height, Cheshire Cat constantly dissolves in the air, so that all that remains is a smile - all this is much easier to depict on paper than to film with a camera. The psychedelic atmosphere of the fairy tale was also easier to convey with drawings than with decorations. However, there is a film adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” even from the silent film period, with special effects that were very interesting for that time.

In 1951, Alice in Wonderland was filmed by Disney. The cartoon turned out to be entertaining, but without the taste of madness characteristic of the original. In addition, Disney was quite free with the plot: he removed some characters and added others from Through the Looking Glass. Disney's Queen of Hearts is just a crazy fat woman. Much better were the images of the Caterpillar smoking a hookah and the Cheshire Cat with an incredibly wide smile. Later, already in the nineties, on the channel Disney a show based on Alice's adventures was broadcast. It lasted almost five years.

Queens among villains

Tales of Alice continue to inspire directors. Milla Jovovich has already expressed her readiness to play Alice in the film that is planned to be made computer game, inspired by the motifs of “Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”: the psychedelic shooter “American McGee's Alice”. In the game, a girl, armed with a cricket stick, famously blows off the heads of the monsters who have captured Wonderland, and in the final fights with herself. She has yet to wake up harder than Alice from original fairy tale- after waking up, she will be faced with the fact that she is in the hospital. She accidentally started a fire in which her parents burned to death.

By the way, this is not the first time for Mile Jovovich to play Alice. Her heroine from Resident Evil (2002) bears exactly this name, and the film contains many reminiscences from both fairy tales. There is even a Queen there - but not the Red Queen, but the Red Queen ( Red Queen - an allusion to Alice’s antagonist in “Through the Looking Glass”), that’s what the enraged cyber-brain calls himself. The film contains both a white rabbit and a scene of passing through a mirror. The white rabbit is also found in other cult film, "The Matrix" (1999). At the beginning of the film, Morpheus orders Neo to "follow the White Rabbit".

The Queen of Hearts, who appears in the Alice book in just two chapters, is such an archetypal image that her features can be found in many movie villains. In cruelty, she is not inferior to Cruella from “101 Dalmatians”, and in the ability to bring terror to those who depend on her - Miranda Priestly from “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006). Miranda “executes” her subordinates with the same speed and just as unmotivated, and her motives are often as inexplicable as those of the Queen of Hearts. In general, Andy Sacks' adventures in the fashion world are somewhat reminiscent of Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Andy doesn’t understand much, and the laws of this world seem strange and paradoxical to her. It is even more difficult for her to understand her own boss, whom she at some point declares to be the incarnation of the Devil.

It’s hard to blame Andy: the Queens of Hearts establish and abolish the rules of the game with equal ease, and it’s absolutely impossible to predict when the sacramental “Off with his head!” will fall upon the loser who turns up. But if at some point you begin to take the Queens of Hearts seriously, repeat after the wise Alice: “Who are you afraid of? You’re just a deck of cards!”

Insets

The fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland” was written by the English scientist Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1865. He used the pseudonym “Lewis Carroll” only for his “non-scientific” books. Dodgson worked in Oxford, one of educational institutions called "Christ Church" and even had the rank of deacon. "Alice" was not originally a book - it was conceived as an improvisation with which Lewis entertained three girls, the daughters of the rector of Christ Church, during a boat trip. At the request of one of them, ten-year-old Alice Liddell, he wrote down the story and gave the handwritten version for Christmas. A year later, he supplemented the manuscript and agreed on its publication. Thus began the victorious march of “Alice” across Great Britain, and soon throughout the world. Although the book was written for children, it was “usurped” by adults - not only literary critics, but also scientists, historians, and psychologists.

Charles Dodgson had the paradoxical thinking of a true scientist, had a keen sense of language (books about Alice are difficult to translate because of this; in almost every line the translator stumbles upon an untranslatable play on words), and was also one of best photographers of his era. He had difficulty getting along with people, the exception being children, and especially girls. His best books and the photographs are inspired by Alice Liddell, "little friend" as he called her in his many letters.

“Alice in Wonderland” was included in the list of twelve “most English” objects and phenomena compiled by the UK Department of Culture, Sport and Media.

Prototype vs Prototype

Queen Victoria liked Alice from fairy tales, but her prototype, Alice Liddell, not so much. The Queen's fourth son, Prince Leopold, studied at Christ Church, and Alice's father supervised his studies. Leopold often visited the Liddells' house, and at some point a romance began between him and the grown-up Alice. But the queen, of course, considered such a match unsuitable for her son. At her insistence, he broke up with Alice and married a German princess. Alice also married a few years later - to Reginald Hargreaves, a slightly less noble student of her father. On the corsage wedding dress the bride pinned on a pearl brooch in the shape of a horseshoe, which Leopold had once given her. The prince, apparently, also could not forget his youthful love: he named his first daughter Alice.

"Alice" in poetry and music

In 1981 Soviet animator Efrem Pruzhansky made a mini-series based on both books about Alice. Voiced the characters star cast Stars: Rostislav Plyatt, Marina Neelova, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Rina Zelenaya. There's a lot in the cartoon good songs, but there are many more of them in the Soviet radio show of 1976, where the music and lyrics belong to Vladimir Vysotsky himself. Nowadays, Renata Litvinova, Anton Komolov and Nikolai Fomenko have tried their hand at voicing the text of the story.

The UK has its own musical performance fairy tales, 1972 film "Alice in Wonderland". The film's composer was John Barry - before that he was known as the creator of the best musical themes for James Bond films. His songs were performed by such “pillars” as Louis Armstrong and Michael Crawford. Another music idol, "ex-Beatle" Ringo Starr played in a slightly less famous film adaptation of the book, a film directed by Harry Harris in 1985.

After the end of the video, we leave the room and along the corridor, crowded with children, you can examine the nearby rooms. We reach the stairs, go down and go out into the street. Here we make our way forward to the bazaar, where we notice white cat. The further route consists of chasing this fluffy one. Once in the gateway, watch the video.

After the end of the next video, we run across the bridge to the opposite side of the roof and watch the new video.

Wonderland

After talking with the Cheshire cat, we run forward along the path, collect memories and jump over all the obstacles. After some time we reach a small waterfall, where we meet the Cheshire Cat again. At the end of the video, we zoom out, look around and understand where we need to run. We walk forward through the cave, climb up and, after passing through several more similar rooms, we find ourselves in a room with a blue mushroom. Let's step on it.

Going down the board is an easy task. The main thing is to make sure not to miss the teeth. Having landed safely in a pool of blood, we turn right and go out into a clearing, where the Cheshire Cat is waiting for us again. After finishing the conversation, you should not run away from the clearing. If the shells are broken, teeth will fall out, and a memory can be found next to the crying statue. Now you can move to the next location, where the first meeting with the monster will take place. He dies with three or four stabs. After clearing the area, we move on and find ourselves at the cook’s. Here they give us a pepper shaker. The pepper shaker is a weapon ranged. It fires slowly and does little damage, but there are no other ranged weapons at the start.

After the end of the video, we go out into the yard, where we notice a nest of woodworms. These enemies are nimble and when they get to our heroine, they immobilize her, so we need to deal with them from afar. But the first step is to destroy the nests from which they appear.

Destroying one nest will lead to the appearance of new ones. There will be about six nests in total, appearing in turns. The last monster will be the Mud Doll. After it is destroyed, a pig's snout will fly in. We shoot him and run back to the cook.

We pass further along the corridor and find ourselves in a spacious clearing. First, we deal with the screwworm nests, after which we move closer and shoot the patch. Having eliminated the newly arrived monsters, we again find the patch and pepper it. Now the path further is open, all that remains is to jump on the dominoes.

At the other end you will meet a new monster - a mud worm. Its danger lies in the fact that it slows down Alice's movement, although he himself moves slowly. We get to the place where part of the ground falls through, and with the help of red mushrooms we move to the opposite side. Caution should be exercised when jumping over streams of hot slurry gushing from the ground.

Once on the opposite side, we follow the fleeing doll and, having reached a spacious square, we engage in battle with the monsters. Having dealt with the nightmares, we pass through the tunnel leading to a new location, where we will meet new opponents: aggressive gnomes. An ordinary gnome is killed with a couple of blows with a knife. A gnome with a shield requires a more careful approach - you need to wait until he swings, then jump away from his attack, and then run up and finish him off.

After the battle is over, a red mushroom will appear that will help you get out of this place. We make our way along the corridor to the edge of the abyss. To overcome it, you just need to shrink down, and then jump from its edge back onto the firmament. It’s not worth trying to fly; although Alice jumps far enough, she doesn’t jump that far. Now all that remains is to get to the trolley call system and sit there.

Once in the Hatter's domain, the main thing is to get your bearings. There are a lot of secret passages and simple branches here. To avoid getting lost, use zoom out; in this mode, Alice sees various secret signs and arrows indicating the path. First of all, jump over to the platform on the left and rotate the tap so that a steam installation appears. The way forward runs along platforms through a small settlement of aggressive gnomes.

After this, we go inside a huge building, where we have to meet the Eyesman - a new monster. He looks like an extremely evil teapot. The only weak spot is the eye. The teapot's melee attacks are extremely dangerous, so it's best to stay away from him or parry them and hit him while he's confused.

After defeating the first such teapot, two more will appear. Before moving anywhere, let's pepper them to death from afar. Having jumped into the next room, we listen to the Cheshire cat. There is a button at the other end of the platform where he stood. We stand on it and wait until the platform drops all the way. Now we quickly run around the tea streams and jump onto the elevator.

Once at the top, we walk through a small hall and find a ticking hare in a hat. There is no need to be afraid of it, but to pick it up. It's a time bomb. We climb up, break a couple of walls and find ourselves visiting the Hatter. Here, after the conversation, we break a couple of walls and put a time bomb on the pressure platform, and we ourselves run in the opposite direction, to the pressure mechanism.

Once at the top, we raise the umbrella and read about its use. appears immediately new monster- Ruin. The difficulty of fighting him is that the greatest damage can be done to him only by repelling his own ranged attacks.

Having finished the battle, we go to the right, where we sit in the cup and set off on a journey. At the factory we make our way into the first room with lava and pepper the very first button, after which we move on. In a huge hall on the platform, there will be a battle with two Eyes at once. The main thing is not to let them get close and kill the evil dolls before they attack.

Having dealt with the monsters on this platform, we approach its edge and jump down, where we pull the lever. Now, using the rising wheels that appear, we climb back up and jump into the passage on the left.

At the exit from there, Alice will encounter new group monsters. First of all, we deal with the nearby Eye-catcher and the dolls, after which we take on the one in the distance. As soon as the room is cleared, we cross it, turn the crane and return back. From a distance we destroy the nests of screw bees, deal with the Moaning Ruins and climb into the opened passage.

In the new premises our task will be to rise. To do this, we carefully look for red circles, shoot them with a pepper shaker and jump to new platforms using the steam streams that appear.

The next room was under the control of a mad mouse. The first thing Alice has to do is jump from stand to stand to get to the opposite wall. This must be done carefully, because... Along the way, the hanging samovar spills too hot. In addition, sometimes Glazniks will appear on the left and shoot at us. Having reached the crane, we cool the lava below and move along the platforms that appear to the opposite side. Here we pull the lever so that pieces of metal begin to fuse along the hot mass. Carefully jumping over them, we climb to the last tap and turn it off. As soon as the mouse runs away, we climb into its box, press the lever and jump after the hands.

From the Hatter we climb up again, but now we turn right. At the end of the video, we run into a huge hall with bump stops. We turn off the first line of fenders by placing a rabbit bomb on the button. You just need to jump under the second one, after which we go up. There is a button behind the flimsy wall again, press it with a bomb and run along the rising gears. Having made our way under another hammer, we find the last button, hold it again and run to the exit.

In the next room a horizontal vice awaits us. The easiest way to overcome them is to dodge, just do it forward. After them, we turn right and, having climbed up, press the door open button there and jump down, not paying attention to the monster that appears.

The next room will have many traps and obstacles. First of all, we turn right and rush past the hammers. After this, we get to the room where we will meet a crazy rabbit. The algorithm for defeating him is similar to fighting a mouse. First we go through the bumpers, then through the vice, we get to the lever and the path to the control cabin opens. We release the Hatter's legs and go down to him.

After the end of the video, we follow the Hatter. In the first room, where he will try to break the door, Alice will have to overcome the pressing crowds of opponents. At the next door you will have to look for a workaround to find the lever that opens this door. First, we jump onto the ledge behind and aim at the circle. Then we go up in a spiral, go down into the passage, where we find the required lever. In the last room we have to fight monsters again. Let's watch the video.

Alice has her good old killer friend in her hands again!

Chapter 2

We run away from the pier into the alleys, after the white cat. We get to the tavern. The main door is not allowed, so we go forward and turn left. Here we watch the video and run a little forward, enter the building from the back door and go up to the second floor. We enter the only open door and watch the video.

Wonderland

Once in the vastness of the Arctic, the first thing we do is break the stars. Moving forward, we come across a platform where the first attacking monsters will appear. Having dealt with the enemies, we move forward, but the path is blocked by someone blowing from an icy rock. the main problem in overcoming it is that he blows Alice away.

A new weapon will become available in the nearest room - Konyashka. Strong, but slow. And then new opponents will appear - Ice Snarks. Fast, angry frog-shaped fish. Their main danger is that they move extremely quickly across the battlefield. Having dealt with the newly arrived enemies, we go forward through the caves. The path through the caves is extremely linear and clear, there should be no problems.

Having stumbled upon a huge green shell, we go into it. Here we will meet the Cheshire Cat asking riddles. For correct answers he gives rose paint. The answers to the first riddle are the last. The answer to the second riddle is: “His name.”

The next goal is to get to the ship. This can be done in many different ways, but the most optimal is along the left edge through the lake with sharks. At the end of the video, a typical side-scroller mode will turn on. At first, the sharks will attack only from the front, after passing a third of the distance they will begin to attack from behind, and a little later shooting crabs and mines will appear.

Having woken up after an unsuccessful landing, we follow forward along the corridors, jumping over red, dangerous jellyfish. Thus we get to the fiery door and enter it. Let's watch the video.

Now we follow the coral corridors to the fish city. On main square you can turn right and, after going down and passing the test, you can get more paint for roses. The test is easily passed simply by running away from enemies.

After completing the test, return to the square and turn right. Our task now is to get to the theater. There is only one way there and it runs along the backs of white jellyfish. In the process, you will have to meet a new enemy - the Dead Sailor. Physical damage cannot be dealt to him until he is stunned. You can only stun him by detonating a bomb in his hands. Once on site, we communicate with the director and find out our next task. At the exit from the hall, turn right and go all the way.

This is where the Fluff Crab will be encountered for the first time. An extremely powerful enemy that shoots cannonballs. Immune to damage, so to kill it, you must first turn it over. The first two times this is done by reflecting his own cores with an umbrella, and the last time - in close combat with Konyazhka.

Through the opened passage we get to the Octopus. The new task is to find it 3 times in a row. He will hide in bottles, so as soon as you come across bottles, break them. In the first location it will be easy to find the octopus. In the second, it’s a little more complicated, because the bottle you’re looking for is not in the general mass, but a little to the side. When you reach the third location with bottles, look carefully around for a small passage for mini-Alice. The octopus will be waiting there.

After the end of the video, we go back and find the singer. We watch the video and run to the first open location. We jump onto the platform, deal with the monsters that appear and free the tools. We repeat in the remaining rooms and help the singer get in tune.

The next challenge will be to wake up the dancing mussels. The first two of them will wake up only after the fight with the monsters, and the third has already woken up and needs help making a poster. To do this, you first need to find the three missing pieces. The first cube is on your left, the next one is in the cave opposite, and the last one is in the mini-Alice cave. Once all the cubes are collected together, all that remains is to assemble them in the correct order. In essence, these are ordinary tag games and everything is solved in four permutations (you need to put the corresponding picture in an empty space right away).

Following this, we go to the theater, but halfway through the journey we are interrupted and sent to the cemetery to save the lost souls of sailors. To do this, you need to clear three crypts. The cleanup will consist of first defeating one of the sailors in a small area. It's basically just the Sailor's Phantom, with various other monsters just constantly appearing around it. They will stop appearing only after the sailor calms down. After this, we set off along the dark floors to the burial site. Usually, just following the glowing seahorse is enough. If there is an abyss in front of you and there is nowhere to jump, try to shrink down and see if there are any secret platforms.

As soon as the sailors are rescued, we go further through the opened gate and after a while we encounter a Giant Ruin. Defeating this monster is extremely difficult, but quite possible. The main thing is to dodge his close attacks and keep your distance, while not forgetting to pepper the reptile.

After the monster escapes, we enter the city and get to the theater. Let's watch the video.

There was some change in Alice's condition. She has stopped clenching her teeth and we can feed her without using force. When it comes time to take the medicine, she seems to open her mouth slightly, as if inviting a new portion into her stomach.
This, of course, is not recovery, but any change is a step towards success.

Some mangy cat was licking Alice on the cheek. He hissed when I entered and jumped onto the windowsill. He was only skin and bones since he was able to squeeze through the bars. I even thought I saw a smile on his ragged face. It is curious that the facial expressions of animals sometimes seem almost human...
There are a lot of stray cats roaming around the hospital grounds – I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more of them than there are patients.

[I remember when Alice was brought here, a cat jumped on her... True, an even skinnier one. – 04/26/74]

I vaguely remembered my fall. It was as if the Hatter had put me to sleep for a moment in order to transport me to another place saturated with madness...
I came out onto a small platform in the form of an unknown to me magic symbol and, looking around, headed forward. Huge clocks and mechanical parts hovered silently in the air, and time passed differently on the dials. This seemed a little strange: after all, the Hatter always loved precision in time. Tall stone loopholes also decorated huge Wall Clock, and the further I walked, the stronger the impression that the local owner had serious paranoia.
The only door I found led me into long, dimly lit corridors, on the walls of which hung old dials without hands. Inscriptions written in ink were visible on the damp slabs. I tried to make out at least one of them, but the handwriting was simply disgusting. Was this written by the Hatter himself? Although, you never know who could leave them... After all, every madness has its own special language.
Surprisingly, the corridors turned out to be not as confusing as in the mirror maze, and soon I found myself in a rather strange room. The floor was a deep bottom filled with water, and on smooth surface non-sinking stone slabs in the shape of dials swayed. The walls of the room were mirrored, which created the illusion of an infinitely long hall.
– Reflection in the mirror sometimes happens more real than that what it reflects...
The Cheshire Cat smiled, sitting on one of the slabs and not at all embarrassed large quantity water around. He pointed his paw somewhere behind my back and then beckoned me to follow him. Turning around, I noticed a small lever and, pressing it, began to carefully move from one slab to another. A grinding sound was heard around the corner of the room. Heading towards the sound, I saw a secret corridor opening into the next room...
It turned out to be a huge office, perhaps even looking like a laboratory. Behind tall, thick glass in a deep niche stood a large apparatus made of wide pipes from which smoke was pouring out. There were various levers and screws everywhere, which turned one or two turns at regular intervals, as if someone was controlling the mechanism from a distance. The walls of the office were also covered with illegible handwriting, many sentences were crossed out or corrected several times. In one of the niches behind the glass sat a crazy boy with screws sticking out of his shaved head and turned the valves on a wide pipe, completely ignoring me.
I carefully examined every detail of the office, becoming more and more convinced that the Hatter had completely lost his mind. Why does he need all these experiments?..
“Wake up, Sonya, someone has come to our aid,” I heard someone I know say. weak voice from somewhere around the corner.
I walked to the end of the laboratory and froze, looking with unpleasant surprise at two of my old acquaintances, Sonya the Mouse and the March Hare, chained to metal experimental tables. Between them stood another tall working apparatus made of pipes and numerous valves.
- It's just a person. What good is it?! – the Mouse exclaimed and turned her head in my direction.
She looked, to put it mildly, far from the same as before. The fluffy gray skin turned into shabby skin covered with small wounds and burns. sparse hair. The Mouse's paws were now iron limbs with many screws and rivets. The body was covered with uneven metal plates, creating a kind of shell. Only the head and tail remained as original, unaltered parts of the body. Chained to the wall, the March Hare looked even worse - he was missing hind leg, the rest were replaced with steel spokes, which clearly required further development; the body was tied with leather straps so tightly that it remained a mystery how the Hare could even breathe.
“Please get us out of here,” he groaned, trying to extend his steel front paw towards me.
“Or bring us some tea, if it’s not difficult for you,” Sonya the Mouse responded lazily.
It seemed that she was delirious and had little understanding of what was happening.
– Were you rude at the table? Slurped loudly? Or chatted while eating? - I asked, trying to figure out what to expect from the Hatter, obsessed with tea drinking. - Confess, what have you done?
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” the Hare sighed and lowered his eyes. - This is the Hatter. He’s gone completely crazy...” he suddenly stopped and looked at me carefully. – By the way, why does the Queen of Hearts look like a typhoon?
“Its power is enormous, destructive and merciless...” I began to think. – But, unlike the Queen, the typhoon does not know what it is doing.
- Good answer. Wrong, but good.
The Hare groaned and hung weakly on the straps, looking first at me and then at the Mouse, who was humming something under her breath and looking at the dirty, damp ceiling.
“I beg your pardon... You’re in trouble,” I looked guiltily at the Hare, to which he only nodded tiredly. -Where is the owner?
- In trouble? Is it true? Seriously? – as if waking up, Sonya asked in surprise and thought for a few seconds. - Hare, I want to go home. We obviously spent too much time visiting...
The March Hare rolled his eyes and turned away from the Mouse. Apparently, he was tired not only from the experiments, but also from the stupid chatter of his neighbor.
“The Hatter will be here at six sharp,” he said, looking at me hopefully. - It's as accurate as a clock.
“He never misses an opportunity to leave us without tea,” Sonya added and again stared at the ceiling with interest. - This is very cruel of him. And I'm tired of his therapy...
The hare nodded towards the huge lever sticking out of the slabs on the floor, and again hung limply on the wall, supported by the straps. I approached the mechanism, but my attention was immediately attracted by a large inscription on the wall. It’s strange that I didn’t notice it before... It was written in uneven, bold letters in red paint: "You're next!" Beneath it, in ordinary ink, could be seen entire paragraphs of a message unknown to me, but covered over with the same paint on top. Or... No, I hope that it’s still paint, and not someone’s blood.
“We’ll see about that later...” I muttered, looking at the inscription again, and pulled the lever towards myself.
Somewhere behind the walls of the office there was a rumble and an unpleasant creaking of an obviously massive door, as if another secret passage was opening. Waving goodbye to the Hare and Sonya, I hurried out of the office. Beyond it, indeed, an additional corridor appeared, in which I had to deal with several robots before I came out to the wide open high double doors. On each side of them, like guards, stood two bust statues depicting the Hatter. The stone faces expressed as much discontent and anger as their prototype. I grinned, looking at the statues, and turned my gaze to the dimly lit corridor ahead, which should lead me to the tea party...
“Fast as quicksilver, he went crazy because of her... among other things,” said the Cheshire Cat who appeared. He glanced contemptuously at the statues and stepped over the threshold. - He's obsessed with time. Find him. Otherwise, you may not have time left...

Six crazy children ran away today - no word on whether they were found or not. I hope they don't harm the townspeople.

Sister D. put Alice in a wheelchair and took her and the one-eyed rabbit for a walk in the patio. Maybe a change in scenery will awaken the desire to communicate. The Sister follows the latest doctrine espoused by the Guide. The commandment of the day is compassion.
I watched from my office window. Alice didn't move.

Something she saw in the garden must have struck Alice's imagination: when she returned, she drew a very curious picture. Another proof that the girl is capable of not only lying, looking at the yellow painted ceiling.

[At times, her madness reveals talent. - 04/26/74]

The corridor led me into a network of rooms, the architect of which was a real madman. Angular tunnels, broken bridges over half-submerged rooms, staircases made of beautiful carved slabs with images of clocks or letters of the alphabet... Attractive and repulsive at the same time. The lighting changed from an ominous red to a dull bluish one. In some rooms I had to deal with aggressive, huge spiders, but after everything I had experienced, I no longer perceived them as serious opponents...
After some wandering, I found myself in a cold, damp room that resembled a dungeon. The high ceiling formed a glass dome, behind which the starry sky could be seen. In the center right in front of me stood big cage with thick iron bars, whose prisoner was... Griffin. I couldn’t imagine anyone but him as the Hatter’s victim. The majestic resident and guardian of justice in Wonderland bowed his head respectfully in front of me in lieu of greeting. He looked at me curiously, as if checking with something, then asked in a businesslike manner:
– I assume you’ve already met the March Hare and the Dormouse?
I nodded in response and walked closer to the cage. One of the slabs on the floor was clear glass, under which the usual wall clock, and now floor clock, was quietly ticking. The arrows were spinning in different directions, as if time had gone crazy along with the owner of this crazy abode.
“These two don’t seem to understand what they’re doing to them,” I said, looking thoughtfully at my watch and remembering the Hare’s words that the Hatter is not late.
“They are complete idiots... But the Hatter really comes at exactly six,” answered the Griffin, as if he had read my thoughts.
- To drink tea?
- No. “To check the results of his cruel experiments,” he sighed heavily, sadly watching the hands of the clock. “With the help of springs, levers and gears, he tries to achieve absolute precision, like a watchmaker obsessed with the infinitesimal division of fractions of a second, or a mathematician squaring a circle. He will turn everyone into his machines or kill them trying to do it.
“This is just terrible,” I winced, perfectly imagining these creepy pictures, and looked at the grandfather clock, whose hands increasingly began to linger on the cherished number. - You say at six?
- Exactly six at this time.
- Hmm... Perhaps today six o'clock will come earlier than usual! – I grinned, holding the ice staff in my hand, and straightened the knife and part of the Jabberwocky rod held behind the belt of my apron.
The griffin flapped its wings approvingly. And at the same moment the clock struck, echoing throughout all the Hatter’s domains. The hands of the grandfather clock spun wildly and smoothly froze in one straight line. Six o'clock.
I ran out of the dungeon back through a narrow corridor, which suddenly ended and turned into a thin stone bridge, at the other end of which a familiar shimmering green portal could be seen. I could have sworn that before this there was a completely different room! But I had to regard this change of scenery as an invitation to have a cup of tea...

And, of course, the Hatter presented this good old English tradition in his own way. The portal threw me onto a giant table, frozen in weightlessness in the middle of endless darkness with a foggy haze instead of the sky. Around him stood four chairs with red velvet upholstery, their legs buried in pitch darkness. Very close by, a huge clock swayed in space, pointing to six o'clock, and somewhere further away, broken dials with motionless hands froze in the air.
I stood in the middle of the table in front of a small candle stub, surrounded by four huge warm cups. A familiar purring was heard from somewhere above.
– Those who say that there is nothing better than a cup of tea to calm the nerves have never tried real tea; it's like an injection of adrenaline in the heart!
The Cheshire Cat sat directly on the surface of the cup where the tea should be poured and waved its paw at me. Having climbed up with difficulty, I saw a piece of sugar floating in the middle of the liquid filled to the brim, but the Cat disappeared without even saying goodbye or explaining anything. I carefully stepped on this dubious float, and at the same moment an invisible door with another portal opened at the other end of the table. And as soon as I went down, stepped beyond its threshold, I found myself in a crazy hell of a clock and numerous hands...
It seemed as if the clock was striking throughout Wonderland. The hands on all dials froze at six o'clock completely and did not move anymore. Now I stood on a large round platform in the shape of a clock, and in front of me stood stone tower with a pendulum. This place resembled an arena. So, this is where the meeting with the Hatter will take place?..
I walked a little forward and saw a purple cocoon shimmering in the air in the center of the field. It had a metal tip in the shape of a sickle, which, surprisingly, turned out to be light as soon as I touched it and put it in my pocket.
“The only thing left to find for the rod is the eye,” said the Cat, who emerged from the void and stretched contentedly. “Although the Jabberwocky has two of them, he will not part with any of them of his own free will... like anyone in his right mind,” he concluded and looked around, perplexedly examining the many clocks around him. - By the way, where is the Mad Hatter?
The answer to this question was not long in coming. A tall, lanky man in a large checkered top hat appeared silently and, clutching a long cane, confidently walked towards me. His eyes viciously bored into me and the Cheshire Cat, after which my friend hastened to disappear, leaving us alone. What a blessing... This time the Hatter was not even going to talk to me. He swung his cane, and I managed to dodge the blow with a massive handle, from which, in addition, fireballs flew out. Out of indignation, the Hatter’s face contorted even more than before and now looked a little like the grin of a beast.
Of all the people I had to fight, for some reason I least wanted to kill the Hatter... It’s even strange. Of course, the crazy tea connoisseur was dangerous and cruel, it’s scary to imagine what his experiments could lead to... I wanted to bring back the old merry fellow with stupid jokes, sitting at the table with the March Hare and Dormouse. But Wonderland, which had changed its inhabitants, left me no choice.
The Hatter turned out to be quite agile, and at the moment of dangerous proximity to my weapon, he sometimes disappeared, and then appeared at the other end of the field and calmly sipped tea from a small cup. This completely angered me, and I also received several strong blows on the back with the cane. At some point, the Hatter pushed me towards the tower with the pendulum, and, turning the corner, I came across a silver watch on a chain frozen in the air.
“This is a one-of-a-kind clock - it kills time for a short time,” said the Cat, who appeared from the shadows, quietly, looking warily at the approaching Hatter. “But then time comes to life and moves on.” Like those who stood with him...
The Cheshire Cat winked at me and disappeared again. And at that very moment the Hatter ran up to the tower, intending to Once again warm me with a cane, so much so that I never wake up again. I wound the watch at random, and the small hands, turning several times, froze in place. The Hatter froze half a meter away from me, almost piercing with a glassy gaze, and it seemed that now he didn’t even hear me. Perhaps his fatal mistake was that the lanky tea drinker decided to lean closer to me... Without wasting time, I took out a knife and, after hesitating for just a couple of seconds, sudden movement cut the madman's throat. His eyes widened in horror, and at that very moment the effect of the magic clock ended - the Hatter began to convulsively swallow air, clutching his neck with his hands. But the blood poured inexorably through his hooked, thin fingers, depriving the owner of numerous watches of strength. I struck a couple more times with the knife, managing to withstand his distraught gaze full of hatred and contempt. The Hatter wheezed and collapsed to the ground, bleeding onto the dial in the center of the platform.
- Sorry…
The first murder that I even slightly regretted. The Hatter knew some truth unknown to me about what was really happening in Wonderland. And for some reason he saw me as an enemy... Well, the madman was so obsessed with hours, minutes and seconds that he did not foresee that his own time may end abruptly. And all I have to do is find another way to find out the truth and stop this madness in Wonderland...

...Having freed Sonya the Mouse and the March Hare, I returned to the Griffin’s dungeon. The grandfather clock was split into several pieces and, as it turned out, was the key to the cage. Noticing fresh traces of blood on my apron, Gryphon nodded understandingly:
- Thank you. I am at your service.
“Promise only what you are ready for,” I answered tiredly. For some reason, I remembered the dead White Rabbit, and rage began to awaken inside me again. – My destiny is a battle with the Queen of Hearts. Its outcome is unclear.
“You won’t fight alone,” the Griffin objected and, flapping his wings, took a fighting stance. - Let me become your commander. I will bring the troops - with your courage you have already won their loyalty.
I looked at him in surprise. One of the few who offered some serious help... The griffin looked at me expectantly, ready to go into battle right now.
– How will we prepare for battle? – I asked, feeling some confusion.
– Before storming the Queen's Castle, you need to go through the gate leading to her country. Only the Jabberwocky’s rod can open this gate,” the Griffin pointed his paw at the staff with a sickle sticking out from my belt. “If you open them, I will lead the troops into battle.” We will fix this world together!
I smiled and gratefully touched the soft lion's paw. The griffin bent down, nodding his head, pointing to his back, and soon we soared upward. From the open mouth of the Griffin escaped dazzling stream flames that broke the dome into dozens of fragments. With each flap of our wide wings, we flew higher, getting lost in the bluish clouds and leaving behind the abode of the Mad Hatter...

Three days have already passed since I took the rabbit from the ward. Alice's screams coming from behind the locked door are getting louder.

The escaped children were found in a disused school building near Milton Cross. The five returned all bruised and bloody from their excursion to the outside world. One was found at the bottom of an abandoned well.

Queen of Hearts Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts(English) Queen of Hearts) is the main antagonist of Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland. First appears in Chapter 8, "Royal Croquet". Shown as a focus of rage and anger. She has only one solution to any problem: cut off the head, which, according to the Griffin, never happens. In Chapter 11, "Who Stole the Pretzels?" it is clear that she does not care whether Knave is guilty or not. It is important for her to cut off his head.

Movies

In film adaptations that combine the plots of the stories “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, the characters of Chervonnaya (card) and Black (chess, in the original “Red” - English) are often combined. Red Queen) queens:

• In the Walt Disney cartoon, the Queen of Hearts repeats the book's lines from the Black Queen that all paths belong to her, and orders Alice to curtsey and open her mouth wide.
• In Tim Burton's film, the Queen is called a witch (because of her cruelty) and is called Red, and she is the one who commands the cards. In addition, the Queen commands the dragon Jabberwocky, and the White Queen, her sister, commands the chess pieces.
• In the Alice series, the Queen of Hearts is the main villain and mother of Jack, the Knave of Hearts. She kidnaps people from reality and squeezes the emotions out of them. She also destroyed all the Knights so that no one would interfere with her.

In other works

• The Queen of Hearts is the final boss in American McGee's Alice. Alice needs to destroy it in order to return Wonderland to normal. In the sequel, the Queen is no longer the main evil. She hints to Alice who is the main culprit of her madness. Alice then meets her on the Hell Train (along with the Hatter and the Butterfly Caterpillar), where they accuse the girl of inaction and the destruction of Wonderland.
• In the anime and manga Pandora Hearts, the Queen of Hearts, also known as the Cutthroat Queen and Deimos, is the chain of Vincent Nightray, with whom he entered into an illegal contract. The chain turns out to be Miranda Barma, who lived a hundred years ago, and then, during the Sabrie tragedy, was wounded by Glen (Oswald) and thrown into the Abyss, where, after going through a hundred-year cycle, she was turned into a chain.
• In the OVA "Ciel in Wonderland" anime" Black Butler"The Queen of Hearts was Angelina Dules (Madame Red).

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An excerpt characterizing the Queen of Hearts

I suggest you rack your brains a little and try to solve three not very challenging riddles for intelligence.

Answers to them ( with comments and pictures) will be under the cut.

But take your time, try to solve them yourself!

RIDDLE #1.
A man read a book and died from it.
Why did this happen?

RIDDLE No. 2.
A servant brought the king and queen a glass of ice water each night. The king drank all the water in one gulp and nothing happened to him. And the queen drank for a long time and in small sips. By morning she was found dead.
Why?

RIDDLE No. 3.
The man works calmly. But suddenly his clothes are torn, and after a few seconds he is already dead.
Why?

If you were able to answer these "WHY?" , Congratulations!!!
Well, if not, or if you want to check your answers or guesses, then welcome to cat.

ANSWER to riddle #1.
This riddle was the simplest, at least for those who saw the film "Queen Margot", filmed in 1994 (France, Germany, Italy), which shows a version of the cause of death of the 23-year-old King of France Charles IX, allegedly poisoned through a book about a hunt whose pages were saturated with poison.

King Charles IX (1560 - 1574)

Leafing through the book, the man from the mystery, like the French king, wet his finger in his mouth with saliva, which resulted in poisoning.
I’ll say right away that this version of the poisoning of Charles IX seems more than doubtful to me, but the point is not in it, but in the riddle.

ANSWER to riddle No. 2.
A conspiracy was hatched against the royal couple to poison them. The ice cubes were filled with poison, which was supposed to dissolve in the water after the ice melted. Therefore, the king, who quickly drank the water, remained alive, and the queen, who was prolonging the pleasure, died.

To prevent you from repeating the fate of the queen from the riddle, I can give little advice: Do not under any circumstances drink any drinks with ice that are offered to you in bars and restaurants in Egypt, Thailand and other countries with hot climates (to European countries In the Mediterranean this applies to a much lesser extent).
There is, of course, no desire to poison you, a simple Russian tourist, from bartenders offering you water (whisky, vodka, martini, etc.) with ice, no! But you just need to keep in mind that this ice is made from ordinary tap water, the quality of which is more than questionable.

ANSWER to riddle number 3.
This person is a cosmonaut (astronaut) who has worked in outer space.

Fortunately, since then historical event, When Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov March 18, 1965 first came out in open space, and to date not a single person has died.
So, the situation described in the riddle is hypothetical.