| The Dormouse | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Dormouse |
|
First Appearance |
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) |
|
Original Publisher |
Macmillan |
|
Created by |
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (as "Lewis Carroll") |
Origin[]
The Dormouse sat between the March Hare and the Hatter at the tea party. They were using him, while he slept, as a cushion when Alice arrives at the start of the chapter.
The Dormouse is always falling asleep during the scene, waking up every so often, for example to say:
- "You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, "that I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as 'I sleep when I breathe!"
He also tells a story about three young girls who live in a treacle well, live on treacle, and draw pictures of things beginning with M, including mousetraps, memory and muchness.
Eventually, the Hatter and the March Hare put his head in a teapot. He later appears, equally sleepy, at the Knave of Hearts' trial and voices resentment at Alice for growing, and his last interaction with any character is his being "suppressed" (amongst other things) by the Queen for shouting out that tarts are made of treacle.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Book:
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- A New Alice in the Old Wonderland
Film:
- Alice in Wonderland (1903)
Notes[]
- The character is frequently confused with the Mouse but, the two are, in fact, separate characters.