The Duchess's Kitchen and the Pig-Baby

Alice's visit to the chaotic kitchen of the Duchess introduces her to the violent Cook, the sneezing baby that turns into a pig, and the enigmatic Cheshire Cat.

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Entering the Kitchen

A Smoke-Filled Room The Pepper Soup Alice, now nine inches high, enters a small house and finds herself in a large kitchen full of smoke. The Duchess sits on a three-legged stool, nursing a baby. The Cook leans over a cauldron, stirring soup that seems to contain too much pepper. Everyone sneezes except the Cook and a large cat sitting on the hearth, grinning from ear to ear. Alice politely asks the Duchess why the cat grins like that; the Duchess replies it is a Cheshire Cat and adds, "Pig!" to the baby. The Cook's Assault The Cook takes the cauldron off the fire and begins throwing everything within reach at the Duchess and the baby—fire-irons, saucepans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess ignores them, and the baby howls. Alice cries out in alarm, but the Duchess tells her to mind her own business. Alice tries to show off her knowledge of the earth's rotation, but the Duchess replies, "Chop off her head!" Alice glances nervously at the cook, who is busy stirring the soup.

The Violent Lullaby

A Savage Song The Duchess's Lullaby The Duchess begins to sing a lullaby to the baby, giving it a violent shake at the end of every line. The song advises speaking roughly to the little boy and beating him when he sneezes, because he only does it to annoy. The Cook and the baby join in the chorus, "Wow! wow! wow!" The Duchess tosses the baby up and down, and the poor creature howls so loudly that Alice can hardly hear the words. The Baby Flung to Alice After the second verse, the Duchess flings the baby at Alice, saying she must go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen. The Cook throws a frying-pan after the Duchess, narrowly missing her. Alice catches the baby with difficulty, as it is a queer-shaped creature, holding out its arms and legs in all directions like a starfish. It snorts like a steam engine and keeps doubling up and straightening out.

The Baby's Transformation

A Pig in the Making Caring for the Baby Alice carries the baby outside, twisting it into a sort of knot and holding its right ear and left foot to prevent it from undoing itself. She fears that if she leaves it behind, the Duchess and Cook will kill it. The baby grunts, and Alice looks into its face. She notices its nose is turning up like a snout, and its eyes are getting smaller. She realizes with alarm that the baby is turning into a pig. Letting It Go When the baby grunts violently, Alice sees that there is no mistake—it is a pig. She sets it down, and it trots away quietly into the wood. Alice feels relieved, thinking that it would have made a dreadfully ugly child but a handsome pig. She begins to think of other children she knows who might do well as pigs, musing on the idea of knowing the right way to change them. This thought is interrupted by the reappearance of the Cheshire Cat.

Conversation with the Cheshire Cat

The Grinning Cat A Puzzling Dialogue The Cheshire Cat appears on a tree branch, grinning. Alice asks for directions, and the Cat, in a series of riddles, tells her that the Hatter and the March Hare both live in opposite directions and that they are both mad. The Cat claims that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice, and proves it with a syllogism about dogs and cats. Alice finds this unsettling but continues the conversation. The Cat's Disappearance The Cat vanishes and reappears several times, each time offering a piece of advice. It asks about the baby's fate, and when Alice says it turned into a pig, the Cat replies, "I thought it would," and vanishes again. The Cat's final disappearance is slow, starting with the tail and ending with the grin, which remains after the rest of the body has gone. Alice thinks she has seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat, and she continues on her way to the March Hare's house.

after the Caterpillar, at the Duchess's house

in the kitchen, during the chaos

after leaving the kitchen, outside the house

after the pig-baby, in the wood