answer to a riddle by
Lewis Carroll
as noted by
Martin Gardner

The Annotated Alice

With an Introduction and Notes by Martin Gardner

Copyright © MCMLX by Martin Gardner

The Lewis Carroll Handbook, 1962, reveals (p. 95) that a four-stanza answer to the White Queen’s riddle, in the same meter as the riddle, appeared in the English periodical Fun, October 30, 1878, p. 175. The answer had been previously submitted to Carroll, who polished up the meter for the anonymous author. The answer’s final stanza, as quoted in the Handbook, is:

Get an oyster-knife strong,

Insert it ’twixt cover and dish in the middle;

Then you shall before long,

Un-dish-cover the OYSTERS — dishcover the riddle!

the Riddle

text checked (see note) Mar 2005

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