Walking through the woods, Alice noticed a tree with a door in its trunk. "That's strange!" she said. "But everything's strange today. I might as well go through the door."
Alice soon found herself in the hall with the glass table. "Oh, I'm back here again! Let's see if I can do things in the right order this time."
First, Alice used the gold key to unlock the garden door. Then, she took a piece of mushroom from her pocket. She nibbled it until she was a foot high. Finally, she walked through the door and into the beautiful garden.
A large rosebush stood near the entrance. Its flowers were white, but three gardeners were busy painting them red. The gardeners wore outfits that looked like playing cards. Alice noticed that they were the two, five, and seven of spades.
"Be careful, Five!" Two said. "You're splashing paint on me."
"I couldn't help it," Five said. "Seven bumped my elbow."
Seven scowled. "You're always blaming everyone else, Five! You should—"
Spotting Alice, Seven bowed low, as did the other cards.
Alice suddenly felt a bit shy. "Would you please tell me why you're painting those roses?"
Two spoke up. "Well, you see, miss, the Queen wanted a red rosebush. We planted a white one by mistake, and if she found out—"
"She'd cut off our heads!" Seven said.
Five was looking anxiously around the garden. "The Queen! The Queen!" he shouted. All three cards instantly threw themselves on the ground, facedown.
Alice looked up to see a parade. First came ten soldiers. Their outfits were shaped like playing cards too, but they had clubs instead of spades. Next came ten royal children, whose outfits had hearts. After that came some others.
"There's the White Rabbit!" Alice said. He seemed quite nervous and didn't notice her as he passed.
Then came the Knave of Hearts, followed by his parents, the King and Queen of Hearts.
When the King and Queen reached Alice, they stopped. Everyone else stopped too, turning to stare at her.
"Who are you?" the Queen demanded.
"My name is Alice," she said aloud in a polite voice. But to herself she said, "They're only a pack of cards! There's no need to be afraid of them."
The Queen noticed the three gardeners. Their backs matched those of her soldiers and her children. "And who are these people?"
"How should I know?" Alice said, surprised at her own courage.
Turning bright red, the Queen screamed, "Off with her head!"
"Nonsense!" Alice said loudly. The Queen went silent, but she still looked angry.
The King put his hand on the Queen's arm. "She's only a child," he said.
"Get up!" the Queen screamed at the gardeners.
The three gardeners popped up and began bowing to everyone at once.
"Stop that! You're making me dizzy!" the Queen shouted. She pointed to the rosebush. "What's going on here?"
"We're trying . . . ," Two began.
"I can see that! Off with their heads!" the Queen shouted, and the parade began to move again.
Terrified, the gardeners ran to Alice for protection.
"I won't let the soldiers hurt you," she said. Alice quickly hid them in a flowerpot while the soldiers searched high and low.
"Are their heads off?" the Queen shouted back at the soldiers.
"Of course, Your Majesty," the soldiers replied. Giving up their search, they joined the end of the parade.
The Queen shouted over her shoulder to Alice. "Can you play croquet?"
Alice was surprised, but she replied, "Yes."
"Then come with us," the Queen called, and Alice joined the parade.