"I didn't know I was to have a party at all," said Alice; "but if there is to be one, I think I ought to invite the guests."
"We gave you the opportunity of doing it," the Red Queen remarked: "but I dare say you've not had many lessons in manners yet?"
"Manners are not taught in lessons," said Alice. "Lessons teach you to do sums, and things of that sort."
"Can you do addition?" the White Queen asked. "What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?"
"I don't know," said Alice. "I lost count."
"She can't do Addition," the Red Queen interrupted. "Can you do
Subtraction? Take nine from eight."
"Nine from eight I can't, you know," Alice replied very readily: "but—"
"She can't do Subtraction," said the White Queen. "Can you do
Division? Divide a loaf by a knife—what's the answer to that?"
"I suppose—" Alice was beginning, but the Red Queen answered for her. "Bread-and-butter, of course. Try another Subtraction sum. Take a bone from a dog: what remains?"
Alice considered. "The bone wouldn't remain, of course, if I took it— and the dog wouldn't remain; it would come to bite me—and I'm sure I shouldn't remain!"