21/06/2024
It's Guinea Pig Friday! The Guinea Pigs Comfort Bill, Lewis Carroll, 1864
From the classic story, Alice's Adventures Underground (renamed in later publications as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), the animals and birds watch as Bill, the little green lizard, is supported in the arms of a guinea pig, and offered something from a bottle by another, after Alice had kicked Bill up the chimney!
Author/Illustrator: Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge, pseudonym, Lewis Carroll.
****
In the classic story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, the scene with Alice and the lizard occurs in Chapter 4, "The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill." Here’s a summary of what happens:
Alice Grows Inside the White Rabbit's House: The White Rabbit mistakes Alice for his maid, Mary Ann, and sends her into his house to fetch his gloves and fan. Inside, Alice finds a bottle labeled "DRINK ME." After drinking from it, she grows to an enormous size, filling the entire house.
Bill the Lizard is one of the characters the White Rabbit enlists to help get Alice out of the house. Bill is sent down the chimney to investigate. As Bill climbs down, Alice, still enormous, kicks him out of the chimney, sending him flying into the garden. The other animals retrieve Bill, who is dazed but unharmed.
In this drawing, the animals and birds watch as Bill, the little green lizard, is supported in the arms of a guinea pig, and offered something from a bottle by another.
****
The original illustrator for the 1864 manuscript of "Alice's Adventures Under Ground" was Lewis Carroll himself. Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, not only wrote the story but also provided the illustrations for the manuscript. Later, when the story was published as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in 1865, the illustrations were done by John Tenniel.