Explanations like these (and the countless more like them) are all perfectly workable, but none satisfied Carroll himself-who finally admitted in the preface to an 1896 Christmas edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:Įnquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter’s riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: ‘Because it can produce few notes, tho they are very flat and it is never put with the wrong end in front!’ This, however, is merely an afterthought the riddle, as originally invented, had no answer at all. And both of them were famously used by Edgar Allan Poe, whose poem "The Raven" had been published 20 years earlier. Another points out that they both “flap” up and down (an allusion to the wooden rolling tops fitted to some old-style desks and bureaus). One suggestion is that both ravens and writing-desks have “bills” and “tails” (or “tales,” in the case of a writer’s desk). But the fact that the Mad Hatter himself left his riddle unsolved has led to fans of the book (and fans of word games and logic puzzles) proposing countless potential solutions over the years since Alice in Wonderland was published in 1865. “I haven’t the slightest idea,” he replies. In the original story, after much deliberation, Alice gives up and asks the Hatter for the answer. But for some reason the Mad Hatter’s riddle remains a firm favorite-so why exactly is a raven like a writing-desk? Meanwhile the Mad Hatter’s riddle remains one of Lewis Carroll’s most enduring, and most notoriously unsolvable, puzzles.Ī lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University’s Christ Church College, Lewis Carroll (the pen name of author, academic, and Anglican minister Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) composed dozens of riddles and logic puzzles throughout his lifetime, including several acrostic poems and a later set of seven verse brainteasers, “ Puzzles from Wonderland,” published in 1870. Thanks to its fast-paced exchange of jokes and nonsense-and thanks to the long-lasting popularity of both the book and the numerous adaptations of it-the Mad Hatter’s tea party is one of the most famous scenes in all of children’s literature. The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this but all he said was “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” “You should learn not to make personal remarks,” Alice said with some severity: “It’s very rude.” He had been looking at Alice for quite some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. “Your hair wants cutting,” said the Hatter. “There’s plenty of room!” said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. “No room! No room!” they cried out when they saw Alice coming. The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it. Extends the functionality to allow stock notification by email.In chapter 7 of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice sits down for tea at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, flanked by the March Hare and the snoozing dormouse: Allows notification by email of product and order modifications.Įxtends the functionality to allow stock notification by email. Allows you to send a contact email.Īllows you to register for the newsletter and also unsubscribe from it Allows you to register for the newsletter and also unsubscribe from itĪllows notification by email of product and order modifications. This cookie doesn't save any personal Data about any shop client.Īllows you to send a contact email. Deactivating this cookie would stop permitting the orders. This provides, and keeps the products inside your shopping cart. This cookie doesn't save any personal Data about any shop client. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website.
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