View source for Mock Turtle

{{short description|Fictional character from Alice in Wonderland}}
{{otheruses|Mock turtle (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Mock Turtle
| series = Alice
| image = Alice par John Tenniel 34.png
| image_size = 250px
| caption = The [[Gryphon (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Gryphon]] and the Mock Turtle, illustrated by [[John Tenniel]]
| first = ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''
| creator = [[Lewis Carroll]]
| species = Formerly a [[Turtle]]/[[Sea turtle|Sea Turtle]], now a [[Turtle]]/[[Cow]] hybrid
| gender = Male
| nationality = [[Wonderland (fictional country)|Wonderland]]
}}
The '''Mock Turtle''' is a fictional character devised by [[Lewis Carroll]] from his popular 1865 book ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''. Its name is taken from a dish that was popular in the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] period, [[mock turtle soup]].<ref>Gardner and Burstein, p. xv</ref>

==''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''==
{{blockquote|Then the [[Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Queen]] left off, quite out of breath, and said to [[Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Alice]], "Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?"

"No," said Alice. "I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is."

"It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from", said the Queen.<ref>Carroll, p. 137</ref>}}

Carroll enjoyed such puns on [[Victorian fashion]]s and [[etiquette]], and showed this frequently. The drawing by [[John Tenniel]] gives comedic value: mock turtle soup was made from [[calf (animal)|calves']] heads and feet to mimic the taste of real turtle soup, and Tenniel gives Carroll's creature the body and front flippers of a turtle and the head and feet of a calf.<ref>Davidson, p. 510</ref>

Alice encounters the Mock Turtle with the [[Gryphon (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Gryphon]]. The Mock Turtle is a very melancholic character; his sombre attitude is believed to be a result of his having once been a real turtle. He tells Alice his history of going to school in the sea.  He says his teacher was an old [[sea turtle]] called [[Tortoise]], and when Alice asks him why he was called Tortoise if he was a turtle the Mock Turtle answers, "We called him tortoise because he taught us!"<ref>Carroll, p. 142</ref> ("tortoise" and "taught us" both being pronounced {{IPA|en|tɔːtəs|generic=yes}} in [[Received Pronunciation|standard English]]: {{pronunciation|Tortoise-taught-us.ogg}}).<ref>{{cite OED|tortoise}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
* {{cite book | last = Carroll| first = Lewis|authorlink=Lewis Carroll| chapter=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland| title =Alice: A Special Centenary Edition | date =1998|orig-date=1865 | location =London | publisher = Macmillan| isbn =0-333-72272-8 }}
* {{Cite book | last=Davidson | first=Alan |authorlink=Alan Davidson (food writer)| title= The Oxford Companion to Food| year=1999|edition=first | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-211579-9 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardner |editor1-first=Martin|editor-link=Martin Gardner|editor2=Mark Burstein |title=The Annotated Alice |edition=150th Anniversary |date=2015|location=New York|publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-24543-1}}

{{Alice|state=expanded}}

[[Category:Turtles in literature]]
[[Category:Fantasy creatures]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic turtles]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1865]]
[[Category:Lewis Carroll characters]]