How Doth the Little Crocodile
"How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a poem by Lewis Carroll which appears in his novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is recited by Alice in Chapter 2. It describes a crafty crocodile which lures fish into its mouth with a welcoming smile.
This poem is performed by Richard Haydn in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and by Fiona Fullerton in the film Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972).
Text
- How doth the little crocodile
- Improve his shining tail
- And pour the waters of the Nile
- On every golden scale!
- How cheerfully he seems to grin
- How neatly spreads his claws
- And welcomes little fishes in
- With gently smiling jaws!
"Against Idleness and Mischief"
"How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a parody of the moralistic poem "Against Idleness and Mischief" by Isaac Watts, [1] which is what Alice was originally trying to recite. Watts' poem begins "How doth the little busy bee ..." and uses the bee as a model of hard work. In Carroll's parody, the crocodile's corresponding "virtues" are deception and predation, themes which recur throughout Alice's adventures in both books, and especially in the poems.
