Can you give an example of a pun used by the Mock Turtle or Gryphon during their conversation with Alice?

Answer 1

Lewis Carroll loved word-play and puns, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has many examples. In particular, Chapter 9, The Mock Turtle's Story, has numerous examples when the Mock Turtle is describing his education:

'When we were little...we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle - we used to call him Tortoise -'

'Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.

'We called him Tortoise because he taught us,'

He goes on to name the subjects he studied: 'Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with...and the the different branches of Arithmetic - Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'

He continues: 'Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling - the Drawling master was an old conger-eel, that used to come in once a week: he taught us Drawling, Stretching and Fainting in Coils.'

The Gryphon contributes: ...'I went to the Classical master, though. He was an old crab, he was.' 'I never went to him,' said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. 'He taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.'

Alice asks a question:

'And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' asked Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.

'Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: 'nine the next, and so on.'

'What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.

'That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: 'because they lessen from day to day.'

Answer 2

"You may not have lived much under the sea," the Mock Turtle said. "I haven't," said Alice. "And perhaps you were never even introduced to a lobster," added the Gryphon. "I once tasted -" said Alice, beginning to grow larger again, "but I don't seem to remember things as I used -and what is a 'Hare'?"